Golden Retrievers are no doubt incredibly adorable that many cannot resist to pet them. However, you might have to think twice to pet one if the dog is a service dog.
A mother has become the subject of scrutiny on the internet after a video of her getting enraged at a dog handler who refused to allow her 2-year-old daughter pet the dog went viral.
The video which was recorded on December 19 shows the mother throwing a fit at Megan Stoff at a Pittsburgh shopping mall in Pensylvania.
It began after the mother and her daughter approached Megan and asked her if the child could touch the dog. However, as Nala was in training, Megan and her co-workers had to say ‘No’ to the mother.
Petting service dogs can interfere with their training.
A few minutes later, the mother returned to Megan and her co-workers after walking away and began shouting at them.
In the video, the mother can be heard shouting, “That was definitely very rude how she talked to me.”
“Firstly you should have a sign [saying not to touch the dog], and secondly she should not have said “no”, she could’ve said “sorry the dog is in training”, that would’ve been nicer.”
Megan later explains to the mother that Nala is indeed wearing a vest that writes “Please do not pet me I’m working” which is written on both sides of it as well as “Do not touch” and “Do not pet”.
The tension between the two parties later escalated when the mother realized that she is being recorded during the heated argument.
This was not the first time Megan received such request from the public as she often gets them on a daily basis.
“They don’t know they’re not supposed to talk to them and distract them. They think they can go, hi puppy, hi doggy, and get in their face, and that can also distract them even though we’ve trained them to hopefully ignore that,” she told Pittsburgh Action News 4.
“I guess something else I’d want the public to know is that, service dogs are not just for people with physical disabilities or visible disabilities.”
“A lot of people have service dogs for things that are not visible such as seizures, diabetes, PTSD,” Megan said.
However, the mother seems to hold a different side to the story. In a written statement to the station, the mother wrote that she was not offended when Megan said ‘No’. It was when she heard a member of Megan’s group telling her to “F— off” in front of her two-year-old daughter.
“My daughter, friend and I were walking behind a group of people with dogs. I asked one woman if my daughter could pet her dog, she’s responded with No in a rude manner,” the mother wrote.
“We accepted the answer of NO and was proceeding to Starbucks line for coffee when my friend and I heard a woman from the group tell us to F*** off. My daughter was being held by me when she used profanity.”
“I left Starbucks line to discuss my concerns of her profanity and clarification. After that the woman started recording me as shown.”
Watch the full incident here.
Credit: Daily Mail
