[nagdu] Engaging distractors

[Sonja O]

I trained chief to ignore distractions. Often times people get offended when he doesn't respond to them. Some have yelled at me, cause my dog doesn't want to look at them.
People can be really crazy....
For the average encounter, I usually either ask to not touch my dog, cause he needs to focus on keeping me alive, which is usually the most successful response. 
I don't care about drive by cuddles, because chief ignores them. 
I do care about children a lot. If they want to come pet and I have time, I engage them and teach them how to pet and when not to pet. Children respond very well to education, age appropriate, of course.
My greatest annoyance are adults, who really don't care about boundaries.
I have removed myself, I have stopped someone from petting by taking their hands off my dog and telling them to back off. I have called security or asked bystanders to make people go away.
Engaging others, when you feel your boundaries are being overstepped is usually a really good technique. 
I'm usually kind but clear about what I need or want in regards to chief.
Normally I give out me flyers about service animals and explain that trying to distract my dog can kill me.
Good luck and I hope my thought process helped you a bit, sonja and chief 

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 15, 2015, at 6:15 AM, Tracy Carcione via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I usually don't try to engage with people who are distracting my dog.  I'm
> so concentrated on controlling my wild young beast and getting him back on
> track that I don't think of it, really.  I tend to treat human distractors
> like yapping dogs or scampering squirrels, I guess.
> 
> Last night, we ate at our local diner, and, as I was working Krokus through
> the tables, where he is very apt to be distracted by food, some guy we were
> passing was saying "Hi buddy!", more than once.  I told Krokus softly but
> sharply to hopp up, and moved him on past and out the door.  Then I wondered
> if I should have tried to engage the guy and explain to him why distracting
> my dog was a bad idea.
> 
> I wouldn't do it in New York City, probably, but my neighborhood here in
> Jersey isn't so fast-paced.
> 
> What do other people do?
> 
> Tracy
> 
> 
> 
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