As a student at the University of Louisiana Lafayette, I reserve the right to bring my service dog with me to class and around campus. As of now he is just training, so he and I walk around campus on my time off with the hopes of getting him acclimated to the different sights and sounds, as well as the abundance of people throughout the day. Throughout our first few trips I’ve learned many things about the students on campus and how they react to service dogs, so here's my response.

Yes, I’m very aware of how pretty he is and how gorgeous his two blue eyes are. I don’t need every person I pass telling me, or squealing to him about it. It’s distracting to him, he’s trying to do a job and you squeaking like a two year old is not helping him, it’s actually hurting him. He’s still young and has not yet become fully in tune to my needs and what exactly his job is supposed to be. He needs to focus on me and understand that I need him to do a job, you reaching out your hand and exclaiming about his gorgeousness is hindering both of us from being connected the way we need to be.

No, you cannot pet him. Again, he’s working and does not need the distraction. I know he’s pretty and he’s a very good boy. I understand it’s hard not to want to pet every dog you see, but he’s trying to do a job and needs to be focused on me, not getting love from you. You can look but please don’t touch. He’s my ears when we’re on a busy street and I need him focused on listening for me.

Yes, being able to bring him literally everywhere with me is a wonderful thing, but it’s not something I would wish on anyone I know. I bring my husky with me because I am unable to hear people approach me or when I drop something. I do not posses the ability to hear a knock on my front door. I bring him with me because I need to, not because I want to. Your comments of “I wish I had a service dog” or “I thought about having my dog trained as a service dog just so I could bring him everywhere” are unwarranted and in some cases, downright rude. There’s no legal documentation that a person needs to have a service dog according to the ADA, however, the people who fake service dogs make it ten times harder for those with actual service dogs to be able to have the freedoms we need because of fake SD's acting up in public places.

Now, thus far I’ve sounded rather rude, but please understand that I don’t mean for it to come across as such. I do not want to deter people from interacting with those that have a SD. I simply want to raise awareness to the proper way to act around one, basically ignore him completely, in hopes that it will make the training process for the next person that much easier. Please, walk with us, ask me questions if you have them, I’ll gladly answer any that you may think of regarding him, his service to me, and service dogs in general. Service dogs aren’t scary or something that should be shied away from, he’s friendly I swear, he’s just working and needs focus.

If you're ever on ULL's campus and see a white husky with a service vest please feel free to come talk to me. You may have to repeat yourself a few times but Everest and I would love the company at any time.