Media and Service Dogs

From Service Dog Training

The Portrayal of Service Dog Partnerships in the Media

Recently I was reading a news article about a piece of service dog legislation the New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney plans to introduce this fall. What struck me about this article was not the legislation in question, but a statement made by the senator proposing the bill. He mentioned that he was putting forth this legislation because he heard in a news article that there was a lawsuit in another state and he thought his state should act preemptively by passing legislation to avoid similar issues.^[1]

This is just one example of the influence the media can have on the service dog community. It is important to consider the effects that the media has on the public perception of service dog users.

Let’s look at three common types of media reports about service dogs:

-Sally needs to get a service/guide dog so she can be independent/have friends/leave the house…give her money so she can get one.

-Johnny just got a service dog, his life is much better/he is more independent. Everything is going extremely well. Johnny thinks it’s cute that his dog gets excited when he sees squirrels.

-Bobby and his service dog got kicked out of a restaurant. Bobby has filed a lawsuit under the ADA.

Now here are some common public reactions to the same articles:

-Sally: That poor woman. She has a disability, which means she can’t work. Let’s give her some money so she can have a dog and go out with her friends sometimes. After all, people with disabilities need a service dog to be independent, and they can’t possibly get one without the generous contributions of the public.

-Johnny: Isn’t it amazing what these dogs do? Dogs are such perfect companions for people with disabilities! Disabled people with service dogs have much better lives those that do not have dogs. All disabled people should have service dogs!

-Bobby: That poor man! Doesn’t the business realize that service dogs have to be allowed everywhere? They don’t want this man to be independent! After all, why would he say he has a service dog if it really isn’t one? Let’s boycott this business.

Now here’s the follow-up to each situation that never made it into the media:

-Sally was extremely withdrawn after she became disabled, but she was hoping the dog would be her ticket to an independent life. Because she was getting the dog, Sally didn’t pursue other independent living skills training. After getting the dog, Sally finds that some of her friends don’t like dogs and don’t understand why she wants to have a service dog. They quit asking her to do things with them. Beyond taking the dog out to use the bathroom, Sally doesn’t get out of her house any more than she did before she got the dog.

-In the month after the article about Johnny hit the press, he’s been kicked out of a store, had a waitress spill soda on his dog right before a big meeting. He had to take a sick day when his dog started throwing up at the office and had to be taken home. The cute interest in squirrels turned into a dangerous obsession. After a squirrel chase left Johnny with a broken arm, he sadly returned his dog to the service dog school. He’s now sitting on a waiting list to get another dog.

-Bobby’s “service dog” isn’t particularly well behaved. Bobby has a note from his psychiatrist saying he needs to have the dog with him at all times, and the psychiatrist says that the note is enough to make the dog a service dog. Bobby’s dog hasn’t received any training at all, not even basic obedience. The lawsuit is thrown out by the judge because Bobby can’t provide any proof that the dog has received training.

Now, these are generalizations of course. But the point is that the media generally reports only those stories that elicit warm and fuzzy feelings towards the dog user or indignation against a business. This gives the general public a very skewed view of what life with a service dog is really like. For most service dog users, getting a service dog did not flip a switch to make them independent. A service dog can be a valuable part of an independent living plan, but the dog can never replace basic independent living skills. Likewise, life with a service dog is rarely idyllic. Each dog has his quirks, sometimes amusing, other times exasperating. Some dogs never make it as service dogs and have to retire early. And finally, not everyone that claims they have a service dog actually has a dog that meets the federal definition of a service dog. Many of these people strongly believe their dog is a service dog, but when faced with producing proof in court, have nothing to fall back on.

In the end, people whose knowledge of service dogs is drawn mostly from news sources may use these incorrect views in their interactions with service dog users. If they assume service dog users are charity recipients and do not work, they may be reluctant to hire a qualified dog user. Unfortunately, if these people at some point become disabled, they may get a service dog expecting the picture perfect partnership portrayed in the media and without a clear understanding of what it really means to work with a service dog.

What can be done to remedy this situation? The goal would be to have the media give a more balanced view of service dogs. As service dog users, we can help by giving the media a realistic view of life as service dog users when we are interviewed, discussing both the good and bad aspects of service dog use to present a balanced picture of what life is really like with a service dog.