Comfort Dogs

I am still surprised by the number of people that insist that their “comfort” dog is allowed in many businesses. They have false papers and these comfort dogs are often unruly and become objectionable to the people near to them. Recently a disabled person was being pulled in his wheelchair and had stopped to look at something he was interested in and the comfort dog escaped from the person carrying it. It attacked the service dog and the service dog just stood above it and ignored the comfort dog. Then the comfort bit the leg of the disability service dog and drew blood. The owner of the comfort dog grabbed the comfort dog and tried to leave the store. Several employees would not allow this and asked what would be done to pay for the veterinary fees caused by the comfort dog. The person continued to attempt to leave and shortly the city police arrived and after hearing the facts, took the person with the comfort dog into custody.

The police took the person and his service dog to the veterinary and I followed because I knew the person and had been involved in trained the dog. I was not involved in all the training, but much of the early training. When I arrived at the veterinary office, the dog was being x-rayed. About 10 minutes later, the Vet told the disabled person that the dog had two broken bones and would need a recovery period.

I called Jamie and informed him what had transpired and asked if he might have a dog that could be put in service for the time needed for the dog to recover. He said he would start on his way with a dog and would be there in about 65 minutes. I informed the individual and he asked for a hug. He informed the police of what was happening.

When the bill was ready, he paid the bill and asked for a copy for the police. They thanked him, we left the dog for the vet to work on the leg to prepare the dog for surgery, and the police asked if he needed a ride back to his vehicle. I called Jamie and asked if he could find the hardware store and after he talked to the police, he said he could and the police took him and the dog harness back to his vehicle. When we arrived back at his vehicle, we talked until Jamie arrived. He stated that the police would have all the information available to him to be reimbursed by the comfort dog owner.

When Jamie arrived, he had the dog and adjusted the harness to the dog. Next, we moved around parking area and then went back into the hardware store. The dog worked well and Jamie and the fellow talked briefly. Then Jamie thanked me for alerting him for the need and asked me to stay in contact with the fellow. Jamie took me over the fellow and explained that he could talk to me and I would be in contact with him. Plus, some days he will be working for me in training other dogs. Jamie handed him one of his business cards with my address and phone number written on the back. The fellow thanked Jamie and thanked me again for getting in contact with Jamie when I realized the need for a temporary mobility service dog. Jamie said he needed to get back home and I could work with him if needed.

I stayed with the fellow until he was ready to go to the grocery store. I made sure that he was okay and arrived at the grocery store. When he had the dog ready, I said good-bye and left. Later that evening he called me and said the dog was great and if his dog could not work after the operation, he would gladly trade dogs. He added that he was very happy to work with Jamie and his training of dogs as he followed through with his promises and the first trainer he had worked with did not mean what he promised.

He concluded that this was the second time he had an incident with a comfort dog and this was the worst. The first comfort dog owner had that dog in a container and all it did was raise a fuss at his dog.