This was shared to me by a friend who volunteers with an organization that raises and trains service dogs for handicapped people. The dogs spend their first year being raised by prisoners at Albion and Cambridge and then go to a training facility to learn specialized skills before being paired with their person. Please share this far and wide. The court of public opinion carries much weight. Thanks.
Hi PHD friends:
I am writing just to share something that happened last Friday. Kind of a "day in the life of working with service dogs". It is an experience that I hope none of you ever have to go through!
Written Friday evening, 2/19/2016:
My supervisor from Canine Partners For Life, Jen Swank, and I got kicked out of a nice restaurant tonight - - the same place we almost always go on prison day when she is here, and have always been warmly welcomed and treated nicely! It is the microbrewery - Timber Creek Tap and Table, on Rt. 19, going south from Rt. 322.
Tonight the owner was there. I had gone in first and been seated, and Jen came in with Harvey, 10 month old black Lab, coming towards the table, when this tall, unkept looking man with bristly gray hair came out from behind the counter, stepped directly into Jen's path, and confronted her about the dog. Jen kept her cool, tried to explain that he is a "service dog in training", and that he had the same legal rights as a full service dog. The man would hear none of it! He wanted to know how he would know if it wasn't just a pet. (Ah - - he's wearing a vest that says Service Dog In Training, he has a personal ID card, we're both wearing CPL shirts and our prison badges, and the CPL VAN covered in dog pictures and their ID information is in the parking lot!)
He said that she could stay but that the dog could not. She pulled out the law book and offered to show him the law, and he wouldn't look at it. She told him he was breaking the state law, and he said "I don't care!" He said she obviously did not know the law. She said she worked for the organization that the dog belongs to, and he said he doubted that. He kept stepping closer to her, making her back up, and he tried to put his hand on her shoulder, like he was "herding" her towards the door. She shirked away from him. He said "I love dogs, but they can't be in my restaurant". Jen persisted in telling him that he was breaking the law, and he said "You mean to tell me that you are going to stand there and argue with me, the owner of this restaurant?" And Jen said "Yes, because you are breaking the law!" And again he said, louder, "I don't care!!"
By this time, I had my coat on and was standing beside him. She asked for a card with his contact information and he said he didn't have one. She asked for his name and he said "Ed". Wouldn't give a last name. Jen said that charges would be brought against him because he was breaking the law, and he kept saying over and over "I don't care!" So we left.
By the way, Harvey was extremely well behaved through all of this - sat at Jen's side or laid down for the whole thing - quiet, calm, not phased!
Both of us were really rattled by this time. I just wish I had the presence of mind to videotape the whole thing!!
We drove across the street to Montana Chop and Rib House. We were greeted nicely by three staff people who were in the entryway. I told them we had just been kicked out of the place across the street for having a service dog in training, and the manager said he was very sorry for our experience, "but you are most certainly welcome here! Please come in and enjoy your meals!" And we did!
What an experience! Imagine someone disabled having to go through that! At one point he said "if it was a service dog, that would be different, but it's just in training."
I had heard a few months ago that this man kicked a person with a service dog out of his Grove City establishment - same kind of discussion. He was obnoxious! Not a pleasant way to end the day! I am sure he has not heard the last of this!
(Since Friday, I found a "review" of the restaurant on YELP where a patron of his Grove City restaurant by the same name reports witnessing him kicking a woman with a service dog out of his Grove City restaurant! There is also a 2 star review on the Timber Creek Tap and Table Facebook page about his "policy" in regard to service animals, written by a woman who has a son who is a wounded veteran and who has friends with service dogs. His "policy" is that they are not permitted in his restaurants. He has three - Timber Creek in Meadville and Grove City and Creekside in Cochranton.)
Thanks for letting me vent! You can rest assured that he has not heard the end of this! Please feel free to share this experience with anyone who might be interested!
Take care,
Ruth read more
