Animals provide vital service, education

BIG LAKE — A confused encounter between a woman with an unmarked service dog and employees of Steve’s Food Boy has led to a modest education campaign on which animals must be allowed into commercial enterprises and when.

Barbara Jean Dineen has a handful of disabilities incurred from a career in commercial fishing. She has a service dog, Rin Tin Tin, that helps steady her when she gets up after taking a fall. On a trip to Steve’s Food Boy, she ran into employees who were confused as to why she had the dog in the store.

Dineen said she was told Rin Tin Tin had to leave because he wasn’t wearing a vest identifying him as a service dog. She admits she didn’t have the best attitude in responding to that, but said she couldn’t afford a vest and, anyway, the law doesn’t require it.

“They rose to the occasion,” Dineen said of Steve’s Food Boy.

Jerry Hill, who runs the store decided to pay the more than $100 to buy Rin Tin Tin a vest. Dineen is beyond grateful.

Monday, she and a pair of volunteers from Alaska Assistance Dogs gave a presentation to the Big Lake Chamber of Commerce to help familiarize the business community with service animals.

“We can educate people one person at a time,” she said.

AAD head Carole Shay said that Alaska Assistance Dogs started in 2001 to train dogs to help people with mobility problems. The organization has also started helping train dogs for help with psychological problems. The dogs can do dozens of tasks — picking up keys, dialing the phone.

“They can do everything short of cooking,” Shay said before wondering aloud if maybe she could teach a dog to operate a microwave.

Scottie, a trained golden retriever, gave a demonstration of one task: picking up pocket change with his mouth and depositing it in a coffee can.

Shay said that on March 15 new laws go into effect under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The new rules get more specific about what constitutes a service animal. For instance, a business owner will no longer be required to allow a service ferret, chimpanzee or iguana into an establishment.

It’s now just dogs. Well, dogs and miniature horses.

“Somewhere in the country miniature horses have some influence with the Department of Justice,” Shay said, drawing chuckles from the crowd.

But service dogs can come in all sizes. Shay said she knows a service Pomeranian that helps her aged master remember to take her medication and calm down if she gets excited. She’s also heard of service pit bulls.

Still, she noted, it’s not a blanket acceptance of all dogs. If a dog poops in your store, a business owner can ask the dog to leave.

“Obviously, that is not a well-trained service animal,” Shay said.

But the dog’s owner must still be served. Similarly, if a dog starts barking and acting aggressively, it can be booted from the store, but the owner must again still be served.

Dineen said that Rin Tin Tin is her helper, companion and her comfort.

“Petting Rin Tin Tin is better than any valium,” she said.

Dineen said that she had been having a terrible day. Her caregiver hadn’t come to work with her that day. She went to find Rin Tin Tin’s vest and couldn’t find it anywhere. She later found out it had blown away when she went to visit a neighbor, a fact she didn’t realize until the surveyors working in the area found it and brought it to her friend’s home and dropped it off.

In short, Dineen said, she was a mess. “Today was just not my day.”

It was a good example of why she needs a service dog. Her previous dog, Mogi, who has since retired from service work, once took it upon himself, unbidden, to help her get up after a fall outside. She said it saved her life and that Mogi has been presented an award for his heroics.

“I couldn’t go anywhere without my dog,” Dineen said. “And we love Food Boy.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.