Argh, die you evil gerbil-felching idiot!

The BBQ Pit
1

(First, let me say hello again, I’ve been away for a while, missing reading the dopers’ pearls of wisdom - so “Hello” to those who remember me, “Hello, I’m Elenfair” to those who don’t know me, and “Screw you guys, I’m going home…” to those who don’t remember me)

Ok. Here goes. This is my first pit thread, and I’m usually more of a diplomat than someone who can swear up and down… but… I need to get this off my chest!

I train guide dogs, assistance dogs, SAR dogs, bomb-sniffing dogs, arson and narcotics dogs for a number of organisations.

On Friday, I took my current trainee on the bus to work on his urban orientation skills, and “working in a mall” skills. He is destined to work with autistic children as a therapy dog, assistance dog, and part-time in-house help for parents with disabled children.

So far, so good. We take the bus, get to the mall, chat a little with the bus driver (who knows us well by now), and then in we go. As we get into the building, this hysterical woman comes up to me and starts swearing up and down at me, blocking my way in. I swear, there were flames comin’ out of her ears, and probably her ass, too.

I sorta blinked and asked what the matter was. WELL! You see, my dog shouldn’t be allowed in any public place in case it bit a child, like hers (she had two snotty nosed whiners with her). That, and dogs are unclean. AND they are a menace to society. And she has allergies. AND she is going to call the cops on this. (Fucking idiot! You could be fined!)

I blinked again, and burst out laughing… I said, sorry ma’am, but this is a licensed working animal, and has the right to be here just as much as you and your children do.

Meanwhile, her son proceeds to start screaming and punching the dog. My dog was PATIENT, lied down and looked at me with this, “Take it AWAY!” look on its face. I told the child “No.” but he wouldn’t stop, and the woman just stood there with her cell phone in hand, calling for “help”. The brat was pulling at the dog’s ears, and poked the dog in the eye. The dog yiped, the child started to cry that the dog had bitten him, and the evilbitchwoman screamed because her child was now scared. This was all MY fault. There was no mark on the child, and I knew the dog hadn’t bitten him.

The mall security guard came and asked me what was going on. I explained the situation to him, he explained to her that legally, we were allowed to be there. She still screamed up and down and was calling up the cops, because my dog had “bitten” her child, and the cops appeared shortly thereafter.

I was not impressed. Nor were the cops. She tried to pass a bruise the child had on his knee as the mark my dog had made when he “bit” her little futuregerbilfelching son (the dog had “bitten” him on the hand, though, according to her phone call - what a BITCH!). The cops knew the bruise was old just by the color, and by the fact there were no marks or anything…

I did get my revenge though… By this point, people had gathered, and understood what was going on… They all told the cops that this woman was preventing me from moving about freely to do my work, and the woman was fined 3000$ for hindering access to a working dog in a public place.

What an evil bitch from hell… I bet she got pregnant by felching gerbils every Sunday night for a year. Fuck fuck fuckadee fuck fuck fuck! Wish I’d had my star protection dog with me instead and had him go for the kill. Would have been fuckin’ legitimate defence.

I feel better now.

2

Many dogs are cleaner and better behaved than many children. I would hazard a guess the your dogs are cleaner and better behaved than most children. I think people with snot nosed dirty little brats who don’t know how to behave in public (and who would poke a dog in the eye) should be left home in their crates.

I’ll bet you also get shit from uneducated morons about how your protection-trained dog will “turn on you one day.” Many people don’t realize that a very stable temperament is an extremely important quality in a good protection dog; they think you just “teach um to be mean.” :rolleyes:

3

Is the dog OK?

4

Any parent who would let their kid punch a dog deserves to be executed.

What a fucking tool.

5

At least she got fined! Justice prevails! What a psycho nutbag. Good thing her kid didn’t punch one of my dogs, or they would have been missing an arm.

Zette

6

Keep doing what you’re doing, my friend. It takes a lot of patience to train these helper/companions, and I’m sure the pay is zilch, but the pure satisfaction you must get has to be a wonderful thing, especially when you place a a guide or helper with someone less fortunate and see what a difference you’ve made in someones life.

Ignore the poor woman, she and her kind deserve our pity.

However, a fine of $3000 sounds pretty steep, (typo?)

7

Thanks for the support, guys - and yeah Zette, justice prevailed for once!!!

I get all sorts of weird things from people - especially with the protection/police K9s… That they are time bombs, etc… Argh! Sure, if they’re trained for all the wrong reasons, you’ll have problems… but… err… some people have shit for brains.

Jeep’s - the dog is fine - he was jumpy for a good half hour after that, and then went into “work” mode. I am just glad it wasn’t a young, inexperienced pup just starting out - that kind of experience is enough to leave them with a scar that I wouldn’t trust in a working dog… :frowning:

8

VaHermit - nope, not a typo… 3K. 3 Thou. 3 grand. Lotsa smakaroos.

It comes from a law passed in 1976 here to protect the disabled… :slight_smile:

And for the pay, well, it’s not the best, but it’s worth it. I like what I do… So I supplement the income by teaching some university courses :slight_smile:

9

My first simul-post (Sic?), do I get a prize?

10

It is my understanding that you’re not even supposed to pet a working dog-am I right?

I love when people bring guide dogs into Kmart-most of them are so wellbehaved and beautiful! I remember this one guy came in with a wheelchair and a beautiful Irish setter. He saw me looking, and I said, so he wouldn’t think I was staring, “That’s a beautiful dog!” He smiled and went on his way.

11

3k seems like she gets off easy. People like that she be thumped with large hard tubes. I was going to say that I hope her kids try that on a dog with little patienece, then I realised that that ould result in the dog likely being destroyed. :frowning: So here’s hoping they go out in the woods and decide to throw sticks and a group or rabid angry sexually frustrated racoons.

12

The behavior of that woman and her children is revolting. I’m disgusted that you had to put up with that. I don’t have anything else to add, really. Just… ugh.

13

Three grand is just right for that sort of behavior. Although I’m still a bit partial to oldscratch’s thumping idea too.

The joy that your efforts bring into the lives of people who will be forever grateful for such a boon is immeasurable. I am sure that you have seen the looks on a disabled child’s or blind adult’s face when they receive their first guide or assistance animal. Need I say more about that?

The woman’s behavior was simply disgusting. I can only be sure that her tirade will never be repeated. Thank goodness that some person with a disability did not have that sort of outrage perpetrated upon them. As to her child assaulting the animal, I could only hope that you had witnesses to that so that the fine could be increased.

I know how hard I work at training my animal, and I’m positive that your job is much more difficult. Out of respect for your efforts I always avoid petting an animal while it is at work. However, it is an extra thrill if I get a chance to give some major strokes to a work animal once it is out of harness. I’m just relieved that your animal was already stabilized enough so that it was somewhat immune to such provocation. Keep up the good work! Whenever I see our nation’s SAR dogs at work in a foreign contry after some disaster, I feel an enormous pride. Thanks for contributing to that feeling.

14

Dear God, it is so hard to conceive that people like this actually exist in the world. I have nothing but respect for working dogs, they are absolutely magnificent animals. Kudos to you for the work that you do.

Even if I were afraid of dogs, I would stay the hell away from them, not get right up next to them and start screaming. DUH!

I pray that that woman “gets it” and understands that what she did was wrong–unfortunately, nowadays, it seems that very few people are able to accept the consequences of their actions. “Waaahhh! It wasn’t my FAULT!! WAAHHH!!!” I hope that if she tries to fight the ticket that the judge has as much sense as the cop.

15

I thought $3000 was a typo, too-- it seemed too good to be true! It warmed my little heart, Elenfair, when you said it really was 3K.

I applaud your patience and self-control, both in training your dogs and in dealing with animals like the people in your post.

$3000! Hee hee…

16

I think that woman should be strung up by her toes right in the food court and have the skin sliced off her with those cutters they use at the Gyro shops.

But if that can’t happen, you should teach that dog to point like hunting dogs do. That way, if the woman protests the ticket and takes you to court, you can bring the dog with you. I think it would be absolutely hilarious for the prosecuting attorney to say “So, Mr. Dog (um…or whatever his name is), could you please show us the woman and child that harassed you?” and the dog runs over to their table and points them out. Case closed.

17

Isn’t this why they have laws against cousins marrying?

If someone allowed their child to hurt either of my dogs they had better worry about what I will do more than what my dogs would. They are just little cuddly balls of fur and don’t have a mean bone in their body.

I have a mean bone and it’s a big one.

Bwahahahaha! I realize now how that just sounded… it’s true anyways.

I’m an evil little shit… Oldscratch said it so it must be true.

$3000 fine? Most excellent!

18

Dogs are “unclean” and a “menace to society”?

Ha!

I work in a hospital and dogs are allowed in places that children are not!

3K? Good for them!

19

Eh eh… thanks for the suggestions on what to do the next time. Yep, there were witnesses to the event, and people filed in their version of things with the cops.

I’m really glad it wasn’t one of our beneficiaries ending up in this situation, though I hear it happens more often than we’d care to report… Grrrrrr…

I have to say, though, that most people I meet in public places with my dogs (be it SAR dog in urban search training, or a guide dog) are really nice, and know the basic “rules”. They ask their questions, are always very friendly, and teach their children manners around assistance/working animals. I appreciate that no end!

There are always the odd few that you meet that make you seriously wonder about the human gene pool… and if we shouldn’t throw a little more chlorine in it to prevent such infections from poping up and taking human form…

Woofs and wags - gotta go feed the crew before they go eat the neighbour’s children, crap all over his lawn, destroy everyone’s newspapers, and maim/disfigure a few people…

E.

20

Shoulda had the wench arrested for filing a false police report or obstruction or something.

3k? Way too light.