cabanafrau
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 10, 2006
Depends on the job the animal does. Certainly a guide dog shouldn't be handled, even though they love the affection. It may distract the dog from its primary duty. I have seen some handlers just shrug it off if they were sitting down, but they didn't want to seem to be rude.
I remember meeting a woman who said she had a condition where she'd suffer seizures and wouldn't necessarily know how to get home when she came to. Her dog was trained to recognize when she was in this condition and guide her home. She was perfectly OK with people playing with this dog, but let everyone know about her condition. I suppose that would let people know if she had a seizure that it was time to let it work.
My skepticism wasn't that there was a request not to pet the animal while working, that's a standard expectation. I call shenanigans on the idea that a support animal, let alone one trained to aid someone in need of controlling anxiety, cannot tolerate interaction with anyone other than their owner and would be a risk of snapping if approached.