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If you ask if you can pet a Service Dog, and the handler says "no, he's working", then... DON'T: start making kissy noises talk in a high sing-song voice to the dog squat down and talk to the dog whistle at the dog like he's a ranch dog wrangling sheep Oy.

While shopping at Sprouts today, I had a guy in the next checkout lane actually whistle at Frankie. WHAT?! He whistled to him like he was calling the hounds back from the barn. Then he went to reach for him. I actually placed my hand on this guys chest and said: "He's not a ranch dog, you shouldn't be distracting him, he's working." Mr. Cowboy didn't even apologize... but he got schooled! Oy.

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- Guide dogs for the blind go everywhere with their human partners, but when their destination is a plane ride away, it's not always so easy. ...

More than 50 law enforcement officers pay respects to Ringo A grieving Jesse Ray Jordan, who became acquainted with K-9 Ringo at Anderson County High, is comforted by his father, Spartacus Jordan, during Friday's memorial service for the police dog. Ringo, the Anderson County Sheriff's Department K-9, died of kidney failure Feb. 20. Sherri Prewitt, with Samuel Franklin Florist, places a wreath atop the cruiser where K-9 Ringo CLINTON - During an elaborate memorial, Ringo the police dog received a final send-off Friday befitting canine aristocracy. A motorcade of 30 police cruisers rolled slowly beneath a giant American flag stretched between fire department ladder trucks. A floral arrangement spelling out the dog's name was put across the windshield of the cruiser in which the Belgian Malinois traveled with his human partner, Anderson County Deputy Rick Coley. Taps played so...

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Thomas Brent Mowrey and his service dog, Lady, were denied service at a Baton Rouge Waffle A disabled man who uses a dog for assistance was denied service at a Baton Rouge restaurant last month and said ignorance of federal disability rights law was probably the reason. Thomas Brent Mowrey, a former Arizona resident who has lived with his wife in an RV in Baton Rouge for two months now, said he was denied service Jan. 26 at the Waffle House on Siegen Lane near Interstate 10. Mowrey said a cook and the restaurant’s manager both said he had to leave because he had a dog with him. Mowrey, who said he is deaf in his left ear, uses a service dog to assist him. Mowrey provided documentation showing his dog, Lady, is certified as a service dog. Staff members at the Waffle House, however, told Mowrey that state health laws prohibit dogs from going inside restaurants, he said. “My dog has been on airplanes, inside Wal-Mart, CC’s (Community Coffee) and I’ve never had a problem,” Mowrey said Tues...

Entering their freshman year at Oscar Smith High School, Adam and Wessley Amick did most everything together. If Adam dropped a pencil, Wessley picked it up for him. Whenever Adam's wheelchair moved through the crowded school hallways, Wessley always lumbered right behind him keeping an eye out. And when a class got rowdy, Wessley stood up to get between Adam and the noise. Adam, 17, has moderate cerebral palsy. Wessley served as Adam's service dog, accompanying the boy through middle school and nearly four years at Oscar Smith High. Wessley died Jan. 21. He had lymphoma. The flat-coated retriever left behind a young man who is much more independent than when the two first met. "Wessley helped Adam gain his confidence," said Terry Langdon, the guidance secretary at Oscar Smith. "Adam and Wessley weren't just a dog and a boy. It was just amazing the bond that these two had." The bond began when Adam was 10. He and his parents, Kevin and Tammi, went to For...

A police drugs sniffer dog has died of a rare nose cancer after years sniffing cocaine during his work. Springer spaniel Max, aged nine, may have caught the disease because of the effect of cocaine and other drugs he was taught to detect. Police Inspector Anne Higgins, the dog's owner, fears the training may have led to the disease which led to him being put down last week. Max worked as a drugs dog with the Avon and Somerset police but lived with Insp Higgins, who is based at Tiverton police station in Devon. She said: "It is ironic the wonderful organ that made him successful in his work has been his demise. "It may or may not have been connected with what he used to do. Up until a couple of weeks ago he seemed fine and was doing well but it was an aggressive tumour. "It was very hard to have him put down but we had to do it. "I took him to the police station which he usually loved and was his favourite place but he did not show any reaction to being there and...

A teen who felt cheated after fundraising to help his brother starts a charity. By Felisa Cardona The Denver Post Image via Wikipedia Mark Rinkel, 13, of Aurora started Red Alert Dogs for Diabetics to train canines such as Lucy, the puppy he is holding, to be service dogs. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post ) By selling his secret recipe of regular and sugar-free lemonade, 13-year-old Mark Rinkel raised enough money to get a service dog to help his little brother Jason cope with Type 1 diabetes. But Mark says the dog he worked so hard to get did not detect serious changes in his brother's blood sugar, as was promised, and the dog also bit Jason's hand when he tried to pet him. "It turned out to be a scam," said the boys' mother, Marisa Rinkel. "After he bit my son, we gave him back." The story of Mark's lemonade stand was featured in summer 2007 on ABC's "Good Morning America" and CNN, helping him raise $17,000, more than the $6,000 needed ...

Woman buried in snow for 3 days found alive (CNN) -- No one expected to find Donna Molnar alive. Ace, who found Molnar buried alive in 3 feet of snow, will soon be enjoying a T-bone steak as a reward. Searchers had combed the brutal backcountry of rural Ontario for the housewife from the city of Hamilton, who had left her home three days earlier in the middle of a blizzard to grocery shop. Alongside his search-and-rescue dog Ace, Ray Lau on Monday tramped through the thick, ice-covered brush of a farmer's field, not far from where Molnar's van had been found a day earlier. He kept thinking: Negative-20 winds? This is a search for a body. "Then, oh, all of a sudden, Ace bolted off," said Lau. "He stooped and looked down at the snow and just barked, barked, barked." Lau rushed to his Dutch shepherd's side. "There she was, there was Donna, her face was almost totally covered except for one eye staring back at me!" he said. "That was, 'Wow...

Blind man's guide dog barred from restaurant for offending Muslims A blind man has been turned away from a fashionable Indian restaurant because his guide dog offended Muslim staff. Alun Elder-Brown was barred from bringing his guide dog, Finn, into Kirthon Restaurant Alun Elder-Brown, a recruitment executive, said he was left feeling "like a piece of dirt" after being barred from bringing the animal into Kirthon Restaurant in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on religious grounds. The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association said the decision was illegal under the Disability Discrimination Act and Mr Elder-Brown, 51, is now considering suing the establishment in The Pantiles. It follows a series of successful prosecutions of Muslim taxi drivers who refused to carry guide dogs in their cars because they considered them unclean on religious grounds. Mr Elder-Brown was taking his girlfriend out to celebrate her birthday with her five year-old daughter last week when he was told he would h...

Well folks, it's time to simmer down. Without going into any detail so as to retain Bobby's well-deserved privacy, suffice it to say that the saga ends here. Over the last week or so, I've been "talking" (internet-wise) to Bobby. I now know the entire story behind Fake Service Dog Gate and it is completely a non-issue that was borne from an off-hand conversation Bobby had with Rosie O'Donnell. It was that conversation that elicited Rosie's comment on HSN. Bobby did NOT try to sneak his dog onto a flight (recent or otherwise) by lying that it was a Service Dog. Bobby has NEVER claimed his dog was a Service Dog. Not only did Bobby explain the whole story, he provided me with definitive proof: the receipt he received after purchasing an extra airline seat for his dog. So it all needs to stop. I do fault myself for going off the deep-end with this story. I realize now that I was being overly sensitive due to my own personal experiences with coming into contact...

Great article from blog " Service Dogs: A Way of Life " Everyday in the service dog community there are discussions of what to do about people who do not have disabilities passing their pets off as Service Dogs. Furthermore, just because a person happens to have a dog, does not automatically make the animal a service dog [See my previous post What is a Service Dog ]. The combination of the presence of a disability, the fact that a dog can be trained to mitigate the effects of that disability, and the facts the animal has been individually trained to performs tasks that mitigate that disability are the key elements to defining whether or not a person and animal comprise a working service dog and are protected under the ADA. People buying service dog gear and passing off themselves and their pets as service animals are not only possibly committing federal fraud, they may also be breaking state and local laws. The definition of fraud according to Free Dictionary.com is : fraud n...

Kayla Pollock has type one diabetes and relies on her service dog, Dakota. Ms Pollock says she has had problems with people not accepting her great dane as a service dog. Violating the care animal laws could result in a heavy fine. Violating care animal law could cost you high fines For a life-saving hero, Dakota doesn’t always get the respect she deserves. The year-old great Dane is a service dog for Keswick resident Kayla Pollock. While most people are familiar with seeing eye dogs for the visually handicapped, few know that there are other dogs just as important for the health of their owners, Dakota being a notable example. Ms Pollock, 22, has type one diabetes, which requires her to take four to six insulin shots per day. “I often have severe low blood sugars that can be life threatening,” she said. “To make matters worse, I live alone.” Dakota comes for Dogs for Diabetics in Dakota, Neb. — hence, her name — an organization that specializes in training dogs to recognize symptoms ...

Video NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. -- The service dog to a 5-year-old girl with cerebral palsy was shot point-blank in an alley behind the house. The gunshot shattered the dog’s hind leg. Pumba was the best friend and lively motivator of Kathleen Micholas, 5, but is now forced to hobble around on three legs. The organization Animal Protectors of New Kensington came to the rescue to provide cash for veterinarian bills for a temporary cast for the dog’s shattered leg. However, an expensive operation costing thousands of dollars will likely be necessary in order to save Pumba’s leg. Animal Protectors is asking people to donations for Pumba’s operation. Police said they have no suspects in the shooting.

Manny was waiting up for Abby when she got home a little after 3 a.m. last Saturday from the Chatsworth train crash scene. "Where you been?" he sniffed. The two search dogs had worked together after 9-11, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the La Conchita mudslides. They were tight. Manny was hurt that Abby was on the job without him. "He sniffed her up, like he was asking: `Where were you? What were you doing without me? Tell me what happened,"' handler Ron Weckbacher said. Manny was Weckbacher's search partner for 10 years, until the dog retired at age 11 a couple of years ago. The Thousand Oaks resident got him from the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation in Ojai, which provides search dogs for fire departments and a few civilian handlers, including Weckbacher. Manny was one of the best. But trying to find victims still alive in the rubble of a disaster is strenuous, dangerous work. It's a young dog's job. "I knew at La Conchita that it was...

Starting around 8:44, Rosie mentions that her friend, Bobby, tells the airlines that his pet dog is his "service dog" so he can have it fly with him in the cabin. I wrote and asked her to PLEASE inform people not to follow his lead. I love Rosie, but this is such a bad example of someone misusing the system to get their pet dog on a plane. Imagine if her friend's dog, not being trained as an actual Service Dog, were to interfere with an actual Service Dog on it's flight. A bad experience with a pet dog passed off as a Service Dog could ruin it for those of us who REALLY NEED THEM and who struggled for so long for access rights. For non-disabled folks with dogs, instead of lying, please follow these guidelines (from Airfare WatchDog ): In order to bring your dog into the main cabin, the kennel must be able to fit in the area under the seat in front of you. The maximum dimensions for the kennel is 17 inches x 12 inches x 8 inches, but keep in mind that it varies, depen...

Service animal being trained to help deaf woman Candice Benavides and her new hearing dog Cookie participate in team training at Texas Hearing & Service Dogs' training center in Dripping Springs Sept. 9. After five days of training, Cookie and Candice will undergo 13 weeks of in-home training. ALICE -- Single mom Candice Marie Benavides' biggest fear has been that her 4-year-old might need her at night and she won't know it. Born deaf and unable to wear her hearing aids to bed, the 24-year-old has had her daughter, Leana, sleep with her. But now Benavides can rely on better hearing than any human ears. On Sept. 8 after a more than three-year wait, Benavides began bonding with Cookie, an 18-month-old mixed-terrier being trained as a hearing and service dog. The final day of weeklong training in Austin was cancelled because of Hurricane Ike-related problems. But Tuesday, a trainer brought Cookie to Benavides to settle into her new home. "I love her already," Ben...

Video here SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- A dog specially trained to call 911 when his owner suffers seizures grabbed the phone and whimpered for help when the dispatcher answered Wednesday morning, police said. Chris Trott, a veteran police operator, said she heard a cry from Buddy, who she later discovered was an 18-month-old German shepherd. Buddy's owner, Joe Stalnaker, was suffering one of his more severe seizures, said Sgt. Mark Clark of the Scottsdale Police Department. Ten years ago, Stalnaker said he was in a military accident that severely injured part of his brain, leaving him prone to potentially fatal seizures. He got Buddy when the dog was 8 weeks old through the help of Paws With a Cause, an assistance animal adoption service. Stalnaker said he trained the animal to recognize when he is having a seizure and respond by grabbing the phone and bringing it to him. "He doesn't actually sit there and dial 911, but whenever he picks up the phone, one of his teeth inevitably ...

We have a weekly lawn service that comes on Tuesdays. Usually they arrive while I'm still sleeping. No, the grinding lawnmowers and weedwackers don't wake me up! But sometimes they come in the early morning when I'm waking up in front of the TV. For some reason the dogs don't bark when they come early, but the bark like maniacs when they come and I'm up. Instead of listening to the barking for the next 15 minutes while they mow, I would usually "kennel up" both dogs in our guest bathroom. Recently I started just staying on the couch and yelling "Kennel Up!". Both dogs will run to the guest bathroom AND STAY THERE until I say OK to release them. I never have to move. Sweet. Yeah, I'm a dog trainer.