My mom and I went to the musical "Urinetown" last night, and as always she brought the dog along. Whenever we go out into public with Nico he dons his little vest and does his best to act professional.
Now, despite the fact he is wearing the BRIGHT orange vest and has a BRIGHT orange leash all of which are covered in writing saying, "Hearing Dog" or "Guide Dog - Do Not Pet" I am constantly surprised with how ignorant people are about the whole thing. I understand the occasional restaurant waiter who upon first seeing us gives my mom the ol, "You can't bring dogs in here," and then they have the double take moment when the see the vest and go, "oh. nevermind." That's legit. They're doing they're job and then see their mistake.
Nope usually its the common man which has a tendency to udder the stupidest stuff. What I really don't understand is that for some reason they all think because it's a hearing dog everyone in my mom's party lives in Cone of Silence. Because there is nooo possible way we would be able to hear you talking about us from 3 feet away is there?
Here's some gems from last night.
1. After we had been waiting in the lobby for 20 minutes next to this old woman and her daughter who were saying the usual things like, "Oh look at the puppy," and, "Wait mom, it says Heeeearing dog," we head into the theater. Then the mother leans into her daughter and goes, "She's bringing the dog into the theater?" (Her utter tone of disgust not able to be communicated in type) Yes, you dynamic duo. Even though you've got the brain power to figure out that it is in fact a service dog of some kind, you would think we would just leave Nico sitting in the lobby for two hours? Riiiight.
2. As we were walking out of the theater this man says to his entire posse, "Oh my god. Look that lady brought a puppy in here, that is sooo Californian." Right. Or you could take the 2 seconds to look at the BRIGHT orange vest and not look retarded.
3. Then of course there is the everyday, everywhere we go comments of, "It's a puppy." "It's a little training dog." Which isn't that bothersome in itself because I get it, he's small. But I cannot express how we hear this about 20 times when we go out anywhere. Which goes back to the whole Cone of Silence thing. we can hear you. all of you. Would you walk down the street and say in a normal voice, "Oh my god. Look how tall that lady is!" No, cuz it's rude to talk about the other people even if they have something that makes them stand out. Unless there's a dog involved and then all bets are off.