Understanding Service Dogs – Rights, Responsibilities & Respect: Words of Wisdom from a Handler

Yerington NV – July 5, 2026

By Eric Vawter

Hello to all whom this may be reaching. My name is Eric Vawter. I’ve been back home here in Mason Valley for 4 years now and have to say it’s good to be home. I’m putting fingers to keyboard in the hope that I can give back something since here lately the community has really stepped up for me. Recent incidents that have happened in a variety of settings both public and private leaves me a prime opportunity to give back in the form of knowledge.

I am a disabled guy and I handle a service dog. I would like to draw some very public attention to the subject of service dogs and handlers. So as not to lose interest in what could be a bit of a long but not that bad I hope of a read I’ll list my subjects in order now and work from that list. Many of you already know well what I’m going to write about here and in the hope of reaching more this is a start.

First up I will talk about the rights of those teams. Next I will go into the fake service dog epidemic how to spot the posers and what you can do to help with that. Further in I get into certain rules of etiquette interacting with handler/dog teams. That’s it in a nut shell but there is ground to cover so lets get rucked up and moving.

Rights of Service Dog (SD) Teams:

The Americans With Disabilities Act states that service animal teams (which only includes dogs and miniature horses) have full unfettered access to places that can normally be occupied by the general public.  For example I can go into a store restaurant etc. with my dog and cannot be denied access. Exemptions obviously exist such as sterile operating rooms ICU wards pretty much all sterile field places. Employees of non animal friendly establishments are allowed to ask two questions of a dog team entering. Is this animal trained to mitigate a medical issue/disability? What tasks is the dog trained to perform? That’s IT. I can’t emphasize that enough. There is zero requirement for the dog to wear a vest there is no certification paperwork so documentation is not required either. Employees cannot ask to see the dog demonstrate any task. Of course asking about a specific disability is a big no no.

Service dog (SD) teams (or miniature horse) can go anywhere anyone else can go unmolested. Operative that last word. I’m going to relate a personal experience my team mate and I had right here in town, Main street old section: Dini’s, Rex, Infinity stretch. I had gone up to pick up a prescription like I have a hundred times before but this time there was another dog team (loose term) across the street where we needed to go.

That animal keyed on us the second I unloaded my dog and he took his post. The discretion/valor relationship prompted me to go up the street a ways and cross and give it distance. It did no good. That cretin had zero control over that animal except for his whole body laying on top of it. This…thing..was 130 pounds easy of bull breed mongrel mix. Heretofore referred to as “cur.” He was dragging this clown straight at us with blood on his mind. My dog is a 43 pound Border Collie/McNab mix. Safety and security are MY job and I take that job very seriously. This got very ugly very quick. I was fully willing to use lethal force. Not something I expect to run into as the odds would have it around Yerington but I reckon it do happen.

It’s here I would like to say thanks with all my heart to all the folks who formed up a shield wall on my dog and I. You folks at Infinity customers and employees, from Rex the same and just from the surrounding street. You saw a need and an injustice and acted. Not just pull out smart phones and hit record. Hail and well met. Particularly in this area I would like to address Law Enforcement (LE) and thank them for looking into my concerns that afternoon. We service dog teams are quite often told by LE in such situations that it is entirely in the civil arena however that is not actually the case. It is a felony to attack harass intimidate and certainly to cause injury to a service dog team. For the benefit of Law Enforcement that is considered assault on a disabled person. I would have been fully justified in using lethal force and most certainly would have in my related incident but thanks to a community that still has the American heart it wasn’t necessary.

Fake Service Dogs

That brings me straight into my next on the list. Fake service dogs. It is an epidemic and it’s making my life overly hard as a handler. Just like that cretin and his cur (I hope he’s reading this) if a dog cannot behave and does not have a specific JOB with the person attached to it, it does not belong in ANY public venue. You folks out there (you know who you are and so do I) that are using the American Disabilities Act ADA to pass off your pet as a service animal are a sorry lot. I had to say that and by gum I got a right as well. I’m going to start calling you out and clean things up out there.  I’m also going to start talking about how to spot you now so I won’t have to. This is my happy face.

Spotting and calling out a fake team is not that difficult. Establishments do have a right to call out fake teams and most certainly should. It’s all behavior based. How is the dog in question acting? If it is pulling at the lead, barking, growling lunging, messes inside any sort of behavior like that is considered an unmanageable dog and can and should be removed. The little rodent you see riding in the shopping cart or strapped into a chest rig is not likely a service dog. I have bad news for a few folks out there but an emotional support animal (ESA) is NOT a service dog (SD). An actual SD works from the ground and is large enough to perform physical tasks. Putting a rat dog into a shopping cart is illegal. And it does not qualify as a service dog. That sort of nonsense needs to be called out big time. I for one intend to do so and I hope others armed with what I’m writing here will do as well. ESAs do NOT have the same rights as true SDs and far to many people believe that they do.

That being said there are certain medical alert tasks that the small breeds can be trained to do. Diabetic alert so on and so forth so there are exceptions however even if it is an alert dog placing it in the shopping cart is still illegal. If you’re a real handler and you do this you need to be taken to Captains Mast. Let me help. DON’T do that!

Far to often there is conflict with real teams because of people who just have to take their misbehaving even overtly aggressive and dangerous cur or their neurotic mess of a yapping rat into public. A true SD will be working from the ground it will be obviously focused on its handler it will be responding to command and in a very overt fashion be stating it is on the job. You will see a team at work no less impressive than any LE K9 duo with a true SD team. Just different jobs is all.

Rules of Etiquette Interacting with Handler/Dog Teams:

To the EMS team that responded to me Monday morning who had never dealt with an SD team on the ambulance before: so happy Dingus and I could help expand your professional knowledge and thanks for being such great students as it were.

Now I’d like to get into how to properly interact with SD teams in public. As a general rule that’s pretty simple. Don’t interact with them. Remember the dog is working and it takes it’s job seriously. Distraction takes away from job performance. That being said I also realize that interactions are going to happen and speaking for my dog and I personally we don’t mind at all so long as  proper etiquette is observed.

Dingus has two public settings. WORK and FREE>>SOCIAL. Those are two specific commands. Free social allows him to drop his focus from me and into a social interaction with whomever may have requested it. PLEASE do request to pet or interact in any way including eye contact and talking. Uninvited interaction of any kind is a distraction. Distractions confuse working dogs, and personally I consider all distractions to be dangerous.

Especially with the youngsters, I don’t mind letting Dingus interact at all, but I have gotten to where I demand the respect of being asked. Too many people have come up and just groped at him without so much as a by your leave. That is something that seriously torques we SD teams. Dog does not bite…But handler might. Cute saying but a very serious one as well.

Just like folks don’t run up to K9s and paw at them we SD teams deserve the same respect. We train just as hard. An SD may or may not be wearing a vest. I don’t always put Dingus in uniform especially around town here because folks know us. So going back into how to spot fakes look for behavior. Obviously don’t ask to interact or let your child interact with an obvious fake. Be respectful and ask real teams if its OK.

Dingus has a very strong liking of little girls. Kids in general are fine but he just goes gaga with silly giggly little girls. Enthusiastic licky boops and ear snerfles are for little girls. If I didn’t let him interact with such a child he would pee on my pillows that night. So if you see us out and about, we are an interactive team; so if you feel the urge just say hello and meet us. He’s also a very friendly and social dog but he is a bit wary at first. Always remember with any dog team let things unfold at their own rate but never in a hurry. Whoever had Dingus when he was a puppy was overly harsh with him discipline wise so he’s a little headshy. I believe that when he was just a puppy a wee lil’ guy a little girl was his safe place. Someone was harsh with him discipline wise before he came to me. I believe a little girl made it all better for him at some point. How can I say no to an interaction with that thought stuck in my head?

That comes from being punished even though you did come when called because you shredded the toilet paper 10 minutes ago. At any rate moving along I just came back to this after a break to get errands done. First stop I make I’m a ways away from the door and when Dingus jumps out and posts I hear this yowling ruckus. Sure enough right by the entrance is two kids, young girls, with a spaz reactive dog. This one around Dingus’s size but nowhere near his level of training. I stayed put and yelled up to them that I was coming in. They needed to back their dog away from the door. All I got was jack rabbit in the spotlight.

One even sat down. I reiterated my request only this time it was phrased as a point of fact. I’m coming in back your dog OFF and I started to move. Dingus and I practice for these situations and we are fully prepared to deal with them in an appropriate manner. As if the All father heard my plea at that point the parental unit came out and took control of the dog. My oh my DON’T leave your untrained reactive dog in the hands of incapable handlers anywhere let alone in public. Just like a Law Enforcement (LE) officer with a K9, I insist upon the respect and the room for my dog to work.

It may sound harsh what I did in this situation but my dog is there for a dern good reason, has an important job he is focusing on and distractions like reactive dogs in inept hands blocking our route just chaps me. I’m in lesson teaching mode these days. How I approach my lessons depends on the attitude of those being taught. Those girls were plenty old enough to understand plain English and they should have immediately yelled for the parent.

The parent who did apologize sincerely I doubt will leave the bubble gum unit in charge of K9 handling in public again..  Still I’ll take it since it was another hard lesson being taught being avoided.  Next stop we’re inside gathering up the things we need and here come these two clowns straight at us down the aisle whistling and making those silly annoying mouth noise waving their hands at him. Jeeeezus wept! Did I trigger a cascade effect by sitting down to write this? I gotta wonder. Two pet peeve distraction incidents back to back.

I just locked eyes with the bigger of the two and firmly told him “Do NOT do that!” The look in my eyes could not have been good either. Them that know me well know that look. This clown didn’t know me plus I don’t think either spoke English very well if at all. He threw me a challenge look which I was happy to return. I’m pure plumb serious about my service dog folks. He is a trained professional and we are a working team. To often I feel as if service dogs are being treated as some sort of outlier joke to a lot of folks and that their niche in the Americans With Disabilities Act is just some sort of way for them to be able to haul their cur with them everywhere hiding under the umbrella. It’s no different than stolen valor to me and I take that nonsense plumb serious as well.

My partner and I train long hard hours perfecting our relationship. Mastering communication fully understanding the tasks he’s training for honing obedience and response to a cut a floating hair edge. No less a professional working team than a Law Enforcement K9 team. I’ve seen teams that just drop my jaw. Had the privilege of interacting with them as well. Jaw dropping pure focus and performance. Dingus is good but he’s still in training. He’s primary tasking beautifully. He’s holding focus when other dogs that aren’t are making that tough and that alone is something I pinned a medal on his chest for. But I’ve seen dogs work that are just awe inspiring.. That is what I am aspiring to with my dog. We are in the “owner trained” category but that is not in any lower classification to professionally trained dogs. Same thing just different groups. Its also good to know that there is no such thing as a service dog certification registry. Nor is there any requirement that there be any documentation stating the dog is certified.

If the dog is obviously focusing and tasking in accordance with what the handler needs that is all the certification that is required. It is actually illegal for an establishment to demand any sort of documentation on a service dog. There is no such “license”. It doesn’t exist. I had an establishment here in town deny us entry by demanding I provide documentation and that he be vested. That one got a few people educated. I’ve been kicked around a lot over the course of my life because of my disability. I know full well what harassment and discrimination really is. Not once till I started working a service dog did I ever just stand up and demand my rights when they were denied to me. I found ways around got resourceful made it happen one way or t’uther. I find myself too old and tired to put up with that anymore.

More and more disabled people are standing up for the rights they’ve always had but never insisted on. I personally have had open obvious deliberate bigotry cost me a piece of my life. One I can’t get back and couldn’t spare but that’s part of a whole other story ain’t it just. But since I’ve started working with this dog I have become totally unwilling to compromise anymore. I did actually comply with their demands but in so doing gathered priceless video. Video that will never be seen by any other than them that needed to and they have seen it. I followed the chain of command up the ladder and spoke with a very gracious lady who also happens to be the commanding officer of this outfit.

I believe she was terrified she was going to hear me use the word “attorney”. That was never my intention but in the …contemplative…state I was in it could have become an arrow in my quiver. But I was not met with discriminatory felgercarb telling me to ruck up and move out. There’s people worse off than me in the Olympics. Yes I have heard that. That didn’t happen this time though and we actually wound up hitting it off really well. It wound up being a teaching moment for a few people but that’s all I wanted to see. No more has ever been said about the incident and I do business there all the time. Same crew. One of them does have some sort of heartburn with me which could be I know not what. Still has a job because I’m a decent guy and her boss is a gracious lady.

I reckon it takes all kinds. At least I think I’ve heard that said. People with service dogs have serious disabilities. All people with disabilities have experienced some sort of very negative human interaction where their disability was used as a weapon. Service dog teams are juicy targets for cruel and ignorant people. That there’s a ton of misinformation out there coupled with the fake team problem that really paints a negative picture of service dog teams. Once again a situation that sees the legitimate honest people take the hit for the rotten eggs.

It really is a war zone for we handler teams out there at times. People will just come flying out of nowhere straight through all those neon colored WORKING DOG patches on his uniform and just start pawing then ask if its OK. `All this time poor Dingus is confused and his focus broken and I have to pull him aside and reorient his compass. SD teams are in a sort of hyperspace. A zone of or own. Not everybody operates the same but its to the same end. Smooth operational harmony. It takes a lot of training. As a handler it is my responsibility to maintain 360 degrees of situational awareness at all times. Making constant course corrections making decisions as to the safest route to follow scanning always for potential threats and keeping that connection with my dog. Its a constant stream of quiet commands using hand signals small noises a certain touch its a language all its own. Its also a totally different dialect with each individual team.

Still even after all the training all the work even with years of experience working in public and dealing with some of the most moronic people and taking it in stride a service dog is not a machine. They’re still a good ol’ doggo at the end of the day. They can and will spook startle get a bit skittish and defensive or go t’uther way and have a sudden silly spell and just get all wiggly and happy dog. It’s been my experience that every dog has a trigger of some sort. Some memory from distant puppyhood that is not their happy place. Inadvertently tapping into that place via some unconcious movement or sound or some other such ubiquitous thing isn’t good . So if there is a desire to interact just approach it slow and let it unfold. Let the dog process the situation always let them get a good sniff before you try to touch. ASK to do so.

The sniffer that sniffs is the nose that knows. A dog processes 99 percent of its information through that wonderful thing on the end of their muzzle. With any working dog if there is a desire for interaction please be considerate of whatever the handler says. If no, hey no means just that, if yes be aware before hand most of we handlers have a procedure for public interactions. Just listen to the handler and follow their instructions that makes it easy. And let that critter sniff. Working dogs are tuned in on a much higher level than pets. They have conditioned themselves to be fully alert and totally focused when that WORKING command has been given and that wonderful nose is right out in front.

I’ve said it a lot in this piece, think of a service dog the same way you would a police K9. That dogs job may be less cool and glamorous but its no less important. Civilian service dogs are no less focused dedicated loyal and self sacrificing than a dog attached to a uniform. The same holds true for their handlers.  With that I believe I will wrap things up. Just to summarize I have attempted here and hopefully have succeeded to some degree to clear up confusion dispel misinformation put the actual facts and the law in clear simple terms and thus give them folks that care anyway the tools needed to safely and considerately interact with SDs and their handlers.

I have also tried to inform with the aim of folks being able to spot the posers and hopefully call them out in a proper manner. That really needs to be a thing. The posers make it very hard for we real SD handlers out there. Not just hard but downright dangerous. Speaking as the handler of a service dog its hard enough what my dog and I deal with just focusing on our immediate bubble. Having to maintain a state of constant full bore defensive readiness just to run out and do simple errands is exhausting. So please if you see us out and about or any SD team I sincerely hope that what I have written here made a mark on your memory.

Thank you, Hail and well met from Dingus James McNab and Eric.