Barking Mad

Hello!

I rarely get exercised about much, being inherently a laid-back kind of person. Today was my birthday, sweet hubby Bill and I went out to eat at a nice restaurant.

You will notice that I posted a picture of Frax and I at Christmas this year. He is wearing his vest, service tags, and harness. When he goes out and is working this is what he wears. It's quite obvious that he is a service dog, assisting me to walk with his harness, wearing his vest and identification.

Bill and I were in a nice corner of the restaurant that had extra room so Frax could lie beside me. He attempted to 'go under' the table when we arrived, did make it~ however he is a big boy and didn't have enough room to put his long legs and tail comfortably under the table.

I improvised and had him in a down-stay next to me. He was a bit restless, due to the fact we had waited about 20 minutes for our table, and during our wait a child was horsing around with his parents and had squealed loudly. That had rattled Frax. He thought the child was in trouble and I had to calm him down and reassure him all was well. He actually hid his head in my lap he was so upset. A few mini mbdb's (milk bone dog biscuits) later he shook it off.

Hence, Frax's normally imperturbable facade was a bit off. He stood up and repositioned himself a few times next to me. Each time, I helped him reposition and gave a micro mbdb.

It was nearly the end of the meal....and some neanderthal actually BARKED AT FRAX across the restaurant! Frax jumped to his feet, and stood beside me. I again reassured him, and he immediately lay down next to me.

My husband was livid. He and I looked at one another in astonishment that anyone could be so increadibly stupid. Do they trip blind people too? Take candy from babies? What is their major malfunction?

Louder than I normally speak, I looked in the direction that the 'bark' had come from and said "Well, you know, you can't fix STUPID." The teasing immediately stopped.

Shortly thereafter we left, my beautiful tall service dog helping me walk out of the restaurant boldly past the offending diners. He didn't look to the left or the right, he did his job perfectly and precisely.

I'm not really sure why people are so evil these days. When Jet and I were a team there were unintentionally uninformed people, but they weren't trying to hurt our feelings or tease Jet. Now not only to I have to be on the alert for that, but I have to be on the alert for mean people trying to tease him, or hurt my feelings. Do these people not have hobbies? Is going out to dinner not enough stimulation that they have to make a service team miserable? Frax and his service dog cousins have more decorum and manners than many so-called people that we encounter!

Do these folks realize that they made fools of themselves in front of lots of people? I guess if they are that ignorant, well...they wouldn't. >sigh<

All is well that ends well. Folks need to realize that service dogs occasionally come in jumbo size and have a little handler. Personally, I would never try to antagonize any person or animal that was protecting another person...but well, I'm not ignorant, thank goodness! lol.

Frax is 35" long nose to butt. His tail is 16" long. He is 29" at the shoulder. Obviously, he doesn't fit under some tables. He's all long legs and tail! He also thinks right now I'm crazy because I've been measuring him!

Ah, well...dinner was very good, the lovely flowers from my hubby are cheerful and bright next to our bed, and all in all it was a beautiful day! I can smell the daffodils blooming all around us, despite the fact it rained steadily today.

I remind myself there are more nice people than wierdos and appreciate you all letting me get 'barking mad' for a bit! It's good to vent occasionally, even on one's birthday!

Later...

LV, FX & JT

#peopleteasingservicedog