As a parent of small children, one of the many things my husband and I are constantly reinforcing is how to treat service dogs when you spot them in the wild. That’s because many service dogs shouldn’t be approached by strangers so that they can remain focused on their job, which usually involves helping their humans with specific tasks, or else keeping them safe.
In fact, service dogs have a pretty important job to do, which is why they have to go through extensive (and adorable) training that requires them to learn how to behave in all kinds of different situations, including sitting in the audience of a live production and shopping at the grocery store. Unfortunately, some animal lovers lie about their “service dogs,” claiming their pets are on the clock as certified service pets when they haven’t had any training. And one couple who appeared to do just that got busted in their lie recently, when their dog got into an altercation with an actual service dog on a flight. But, it’s what happened next that has taken the internet by storm, highlighting how you should, and should not, behave around service dogs when you see them out in the world.
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@_jen_hamilton_ Sometimes being a crusty, musty dingleberry blocks your own blessings.
♬ Little Sparrow – Paul Alan Morris
A Couple Made a Blind Man Move Because His Service Dog Upset Their Pet Dog
A Threads post from @_jen_hamilton_ recently went viral after she captured an interaction aboard a Delta flight where a couple requested to have a blind man with a service dog moved because of his dog.
“Background: These people brought their dog that they called a service animal and freaked out that there was a blind man with an actual seeing eye dog sitting near them,” Jen captioned the video, where the argument can be heard taking place in the background. “If you had a trained service animal, seeing another dog should not be an issue,” the words on the screen continued.
The video picked up the faint back and forth between the couple, the man, and members of the flight crew, who were talking about what should be done about the dogs and the blind man. Jen then stood up on the plane and offered to switch seats, saying it would be “an honor” to sit with the man and his dog.
She filmed herself getting up to move, and she could be heard having a conversation with the man while getting settled before asking him if anything like that had ever happened before. After the pair made their introductions, the video cut to a selfie featuring the two, where Jen said that she had “the best flight of her life” while traveling with her seatmate Ed, who she was later filmed walking off the plane with when they landed as a voice over thanked “the crusty, musty people” who raised a stink and let her move her seat in the first place.
Related: Mom’s Hack for Flying With Kids Could Change the Way You Travel
People Are Angry That the Non-Service Dog Was Allowed Priority Seating
Commenters quickly came to the man (and his dog’s) defense, saying that clearly there was only one service dog on that flight, and he belonged to Jen’s seatmate.
“If your ‘service’ dog is reactive towards other dogs or humans and you can’t control it with voice command, it is NOT a service dog,” one person wrote.
“And this is why people with disabilities make a huge deal over people faking this kind of stuff, but we’re told to ‘chill out’ or ‘mind our business,'” another person wrote. “What may seem harmless to you is detrimental to millions, but screwing over the disabled is an American past time.”
The OP Clearly Handled This the Right Way
So many of us have been in situations like this, or else witnessed something like this happening, and wished we stood up and said something. According to one commenter, Jen handled everything exactly how she should’ve in a way that made the flight more comfortable for both her seatmate and the other passengers, nothing that she:
- De-escalated the problem
- Showed kindness
- Acted as a great seatmate
It looks like Jen and her new friend ended up having a great flight, despite the bumpy start. However, this interaction serves as such an important reminder of how people should behave around service dogs and their humans, and what you shouldn’t do when traveling with pets.
