Frontiersman

WILLOW — It was a routine shopping trip to a local store.

Mesha Ambert and her dog, Lukas, were approached in the aisle by a female store employee. Lukas, a small brown Yorkshire terrier who sits inside Ambert’s purse, is a natural attention-grabber. In this case, Lukas, a registered working service animal, was on the clock, helping prevent Ambert from having a panic attack.

ROBERT DeBERRY/Frontiersman Mesha Ambert and her Yorkshire terrier service dog, Lukas. Ambert has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder. Lukas has been trained to help Ambert, including reminding her to take medication and helping defuse potential stressful situations in public.

“The lady went to pet him and I told her to please not,” Ambert said. “That’s when I usually get bombarded.”

Diagnosed in 2000 with bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder, Ambert has trained Lukas to perform specific tasks necessary to help with her medical condition, safety and comfort levels. Not a conventional pet, Ambert refers to Lukas as her “medical alert dog.”

“Lukas alerts me to take my meds twice a day,” Ambert said. “He also senses when I’m having a panic attack, contradicts my hypervigilance [when Ambert is scared for no apparent reason], or when I’m feeling really insecure. So he’s trained to check it out, to see if there’s something in the area or if it’s all in my head.”

Early signs

When she was 12, Ambert knew she was different. Rarely feeling comfortable around people, she said she began exerting symptoms of depression, mood swings and erratic behavior.

“Life has never been normal,” Ambert said. “There’s more normality now, but before I was diagnosed, life was very chaotic.”

Through learning about her mental illness, Ambert and her family were able to find early relief through heavy medication and counseling. Then, she began to isolate.

“I would literally avoid going out unless I absolutely had to,” she said. “I would shop once a month at the grocery store, but even then someone else had to [help] go and do it. I just couldn’t.”

While visiting her mother in Texas last Christmas, Ambert had what she calls “an episode” — a mental and physical breakdown that resulted in her hospitalization. Ambert’s strained relationship with her husband and two children got worse, forcing her to live in her own little bubble, alone in Alaska. It was then that Ambert’s mother started to research what else could be done for her daughter.

Her mother contacted the Service Animal Registry of America (SARA), a Texas-based organization specializing in training and certifying working service animals. SARA reports that health care professionals have been recommending animals for psychological or emotional support for more than two decades. Based on research, benefits include longer lives and less stress for pet owners.

“She found this Web site that showed people using dogs as companions to treat psychiatric disorders,” Ambert said of her mother. “This woman knows how to find anything.”

With the help of her mother, the two purchased Lukas and sent him to a service animal trainer in Texas for three months. Lukas learned to respond when Ambert is in stressful situations, barking at her to leave immediately. The dog also wakes her up from extended naps, alerts her to noises, reminds her to take her medication twice a day, and responds to a slew of other commands. The dog became her security blanket and nursing assistant rolled into one.

Ambert purchased two purses and hung visible signs around their edges that read, “Working service animal. Please do not pet or talk to me,” and “Do not distract. Working service animal.”

Returning home

With Lukas fully trained and Ambert feeling more confident to take on the world, she headed back to her small house in Alaska.

“It was great,” she said. “Until I got home.”

At first, Ambert said her and Lukas were finally able to shop and do “normal things,” receiving the occasional doting and comments from other shoppers. Problems surfaced when Lukas began repeatedly being approached and petted. Without warning and with people ignoring the signs on her bag, Ambert’s dog became the center of attention in public, bringing back the anxiety and forcing her to abruptly stop and explain herself to complete strangers.

“I would have to say that I wasn’t trying to be rude, but there are signs that say please don’t talk or pet my dog,” she said. “Then some get offended and ask ‘Why? What’s the matter with you?’ It then gets to the point where I need to get out quickly.”

Ambert is not alone. Along with seven others in the Mat-Su Valley, Ambert is a member of an emotional support counseling group that meets once a month to discuss daily battles, accomplishments, dog stories and share their struggles living with mental disorders. A common frustration within the group, Ambert said, is being turned away when in public venues with their service animals.

Although Lukas, named after the “Star Wars” hero Luke Skywalker, is registered with SARA as a licensed working service dog, there are few rights protecting people living with mental disabilities and their animals in public under federal law.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines a service animal as any guide dog, signal dog or other animal individually trained to provide assistance to an individual with a physical or mental disability. If clients meet this definition, animals are considered service animals under the ADA, regardless of whether they have been licensed or certified by a state or local government. The determination of whether any particular condition is considered a mental disability is made on a case by case basis.

Because of his size, Lukas has been purse trained, leaving many to disassociate him as being a working service animal; rather, he’s viewed as a trendy pet along for the ride.

“The problem I’m having is that even though the purse has three signs that say ‘do not pet me,’ people still do and the training has gone out the window,” she said. “I have a hard time with confrontation, so when I tell people politely to not talk to the dog, they either get rude or start asking me personal questions.”

Ambert said most people recognize larger service dogs, such as shepherds, retrievers and Labradors, working typically with people with noticeable physical disabilities. But with smaller dogs and mental disabilities, she said the correlation is missing.

“I think it’s because of lack of education,” she said. “It’s obvious to see the disability of a blind person. You don’t interfere with those animals. With small medical alert or emotional support dogs, that same respect isn’t there. These are unseen disabilities, so people have a perception that there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s been causing me a lot of trouble. Now, when I leave the house once a week I run into problems. I can’t go to the local gas station I’ve been going to for 10 years because dogs aren’t allowed in here. It doesn’t help my disease; it’s an added hindrance.”

It causes more than personal discomfort when they are out in public and Lukas is doted upon.

“The truth is that I sometimes get accosted because people get offended when I ask them not to touch Lukas,” she said. “He’s becoming desensitized to the training and won’t stay in the purse as a result.”

The Delta Society, a service animal and owner advocacy group based in Washington, helps validate the important role of animals. The National Service Dog Center (NSDC), a Web-based Delta Society program, provides information and resources for people with mental disabilities who are considering getting a service dog or who are partnered with a service dog. The NSDC also provides resources for people with disabilities who have access problems entering the workplace and other public places with their service dogs. There are no Delta Society branches in Alaska.

Ambert carries a laminated card describing her working service animal, especially handy when traveling, and said talking about Lukas is also stressful, but she hopes it will help people gain a better understanding of service animals and the work they do.

“This is really a hard thing for me,” she said. “If I don’t speak up and advocate, not just for myself, but everyone else, then we’d [not] be on the right track. Everyone can help Lukas if they would just ignore him in public. If people have questions, don’t look at the dog, look at the handler. Most service dogs should never be distracted because they’re doing a job.”

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife-        @frontiersman.com or 352-2269.