The commute home was an adventure, and it started before I even left work.
Paper Over the Button
Just this morning, my office installed an automatic door, so all I have to do is push a button to get in and out. Well, almost. When they installed it, they told me that for now I’d have to push the button and turn the handle, because the button isn’t set up to work with our security lock yet. The door won’t unlatch automatically, so I have to trigger the latch manually.
I don’t know what happened, but on my way out I discovered someone had put a piece of paper over the button no note, no explanation. That made it extremely difficult for Surley to push it, so I had to do it myself. If it’s still there tomorrow morning, I’m taking a picture and sending it to my supervisor and our ADA specialist to investigate.
A Good Conversation at the Bus Stop
While I was waiting for the bus, I had a nice chat with a gentleman who trained service dogs while he was in prison. Can Do Canines, the organization I got my service dogs through, has used prisons in both Minnesota and Wisconsin to train their dogs. He didn’t say where he trained or which dogs, but it was great to hear about a formerly incarcerated person having a life-altering experience working with service dogs.
The Stroller in the ADA Seating
The bus was a little crowded when we got on, and there was a stroller parked in the ADA seating across from me. Unfortunately, Metro Transit allows this instead of asking the parent to fold up the stroller and hold their child. I truly believe this is a disservice to everyone who needs those dedicated spaces. Being a mother doesn’t make you more special or more deserving of seating specifically designated for people with disabilities or limited mobility.
The wheelchair seating on Metro Transit buses is a little cramped, and Surley is a larger dog, so keeping him fully inside the designated ADA area is sometimes a challenge. He’ll often lie in the aisle, and I move him as needed when people have to get through. Usually this is not a big deal. This time, though, the mom across from me was throwing a hissy fit because she thought Surley was bumping into her stroller. I did everything I could to keep him away from it, and from where I sat he may have been brushing the stroller, but he was clearly not bumping it. She was getting loud and upset, and I was thankful we were getting off at the next stop because if she had laid a hand on him, I would have immediately called the police. In the state of Minnesota, it is a crime to harm a service dog or interfere with its ability to do its job (Minn. Stat. § 343.21, subd. 8a) — and depending on the harm done, it can be charged as a felony.
The Walk Home
The adventure continued on the walk home from the bus stop. Surley had to poop, and he has a talent for picking the wrong time and place — this time, right in front of a nearby apartment building’s parking garage entrance. I try to be a good dog owner and clean up after him, but as I was picking it up, a car pulled up trying to get into the garage. I moved out of the way, and then a second car came out of the garage and ran right over the poop. Oh well. I tried to be a good person.
We were just feet from our building when a man came down the sidewalk with his dog — WITHOUT a leash. I pulled Surley to the edge of the sidewalk and put myself between him and the other dog. Even frazzled from the events of the walk home, I kept my calm and informed the man that his dog needed to be on a leash. He didn’t seem to care. But I knew that if his dog came after Surley, I was going to run it over with all 400 pounds of my wheelchair. And Minnesota law is on my side here: if you let your dog run uncontrolled and it harms a service animal, that’s a crime (Minn. Stat. § 609.226, subd. 4) — and the court must order you to pay restitution covering not just the vet bills, but the handler’s lost income, transportation, temporary replacement services, and even the cost of replacing or retraining the dog.
The rest of the evening, thankfully, was uneventful.
Your Turn
Service dog handlers: have you ever had to defend your dog’s space — on the bus, on the sidewalk, or anywhere else? And if you don’t use a service dog, did you know these protections existed? Tell me about it in the comments — I’d love to hear how you’ve handled these moments.
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