Amazing People

One of our trainers had a wonderful experience while they were out training with one of our teams. For those who don't know, we frequently train out in public which can be very challenging for veteran, dog AND trainer!  Understandably, people see us in the stores and are curious so we get all sorts of reactions when we are out. Every encounter is a training experience, but sometimes the team that we are with are not ready for a particular scenario and the interaction makes the session more difficult than intended. So we never know if an encounter is going to help or hinder the learning process.

However, on this instance, the person had excellent sevice dog etiquette.  He was an employees and when he caught sight of the first team (we had two in the store that day), he approached and asked if they needed help finding anything. Before leaving he asked the trainer if they were with Dogs of War.  When he learned that they were, the employee burst into a big smile, stating that he watched the show every week and he loved it.  He walked away, beaming and was still beaming when he came in sight of the second team working in the store, but he didn't approach them.

Why was this wonderful?  The employee did not interfere with the training sessions.  He was polite and asked a couple of quick questions and then left BOTH teams alone after only speaking to one. He is one of those amazing people who appreciate the work that is being done and understand that they should not interfere with the service dog.  This employee is in the same group of people as those wonderful parents who explain to their children that they can not pet that puppy because it is working.

Thank you, amazing people!!