Sophie'sDaddy
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- Aug 11, 2018
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Has this happened to you or anyone you know:
I’m an upper-arm amputee who, along with my service dog travel alone. We were alone in a deserted blm campground in winter, with no witnesses to see what happened.
My service dog and I walked together, ID’d as service dog/handler team, w/o leash as always. No leash is legally required of a service dog handler as protected by federal law (the ADA of 1990). I carried photo id of our service dog/handler status just to have (though that’s not a legal requirement, either. Inconspicuous travel in a public place can make the difference between being safe or in danger and service dog IDs are a big, red arrow pointing to any service dog and handler, completely defeating the purpose of having a service dog at all.)
My dog is a superbly trained, working dog with nine-plus years working at my side. She’s not a pet and I am her handler, not her “owner.”
On this occasion she and I were accosted by a neophyte ranger who seemed to suddenly show up.
He confronted me about the lack of leash - I cannot carry one nor do I even own one- and, thinking he as a fed ranger would know the federal law on service dogs as protected by the ADA of 1990.
So after id’ing myself as her handler and she as my service dog I believed he’d know what I was saying.
But this young man abruptly turned from ranger to belligerent thug at my mere mention that I was within the law.
I’m convinced that no matter what I said about any subject this person was going to cause trouble-my service dog just happened to be the first thing that popped into his head.
But my dog and I take our work seriously and still continually train to stay sharp.
My dog and I have worked together for 8 years then and she’s long since established a good sense of alerting me to danger. She’s an extremely intelligent dog with a police/military pedigree and I inherently trust her judgement of others’ intentions and know right away if somebody’s a good guy or not. This guy, she indicated was not.
SUte enough, the look in the ranger’s eyes turned stone cold and I knew I was facing serious danger.
With a very visible physical disability we’d been a mark for opportunistic bad guys before. But this was criminal because the bad guy was armed and in uniform, wearing a badge.
Without any human witnesses and knowing full well what was happening I got scared and turned tail and ran. That was not a crime just a knee-jerk response I had to running literally in the face of danger.
The ranger followed me (I have trouble walking, let alone running) and tackled and brutalized me, dragging me through the rocky sand, my legs bleeding. Though I couldn’t believe it, here I was, being attacked without provocation.
My dog’s training in a medical emergency is to stand by me if I should fall to the ground. We couldn’t guess in a million years we’d face an emergency situation like this-who would?
My dog couldn’t have cared less about the ranger-I am her only job. Still, as she approached me the agent pepper sprayed her in both eyes. After she turned and ran the ranger, standing directly over me as I lay face-down deployed his taser into my back.
Long story short: We were separated for a full week, not knowing if the other was still alive.
The cruel young ranger thought it all a great big joke and an apparent badge of honor to take down a fifty-something, out-of-shape amputee and to hurt his well-identified service dog. Wow, the enthusiastic tall tales he spun to his colleagues who arrived were of the David vs. Goliath sort.
I was charged with no crime but was made to sit for hours, my arm cuffed to the bumper of his truck. At least I was in sight of my injured dog, and I spoke constantly to her, and I think it calmed us both. We’d never faced any sort of violent situation and were terrified at our sudden helplessness.
Once the young man’s supervisor arrived, a phony charge- assault, if you can believe it- was drawn up with phony police report to match.
Though I didn’t know it then my sweet dog was held hostage in an animal control shelter until I, under threat of her immediate euthanasia said “Yes” when presented with their guilty charge. I’d have said anything then just to be together again.
Until that moment I’d never committed a crime in my life - that being lying about committing a crime I hadn’t - and I had to believe my dog was as terrified alone as I was.
Separated for a full week by then, confused and still scared and without any of my meds all that time- I said whatever I had to just to be back with my service dog.
These awful agents played their little game well and knew full well their deception.
While I’m glad we survived that nightmare and am grateful we’re together again I cannot trust the same thing won’t happen again as I try to meet up with other RVers.
Today I find I’m wearing a scarlet letter - G for “guilty” - and afraid to ever return to that area, which I was there for health reasons to begin with.
Becoming part of a tribe where I can safely find kindred spirits just to avoid this sort of thing now seems a foregone conclusion.
The real criminals here have gotten away and nobody should be made to feel like a fugitive in their own country. This could and probably already has happened to others.
I’m not asking for preaching that I “should have used a leash or put on a service dog vest” or “don’t be so naïve” or any such thing. That’d just be hurtful and this ordeal has already provided us plenty of that.
I just want some well-conceived input on how I might handle these threats who wear a badge. And your thoughtful ideas on how we might connect with other, similarly vulnerable nomads.
We’re supposed to be able to trust these rangers, yet I still have nightmares over this breach of trust.
Plus, I have no idea what else may have befallen my sweet dog throughout all this and it’s heartbreaking. Her sweet disposition is a direct reflection of my own and also the loving bond we’ve otherwise shared with our world.
Still apprehensive about this today, I’ve remained intentionally vague about our specifics here, only offering the bare essentials. I firmly believe this would never have happened had we not been alone. What do you think?
Edited to remove political reference. Also removed two subsequent posts referencing the statement ~ cyndi
I’m an upper-arm amputee who, along with my service dog travel alone. We were alone in a deserted blm campground in winter, with no witnesses to see what happened.
My service dog and I walked together, ID’d as service dog/handler team, w/o leash as always. No leash is legally required of a service dog handler as protected by federal law (the ADA of 1990). I carried photo id of our service dog/handler status just to have (though that’s not a legal requirement, either. Inconspicuous travel in a public place can make the difference between being safe or in danger and service dog IDs are a big, red arrow pointing to any service dog and handler, completely defeating the purpose of having a service dog at all.)
My dog is a superbly trained, working dog with nine-plus years working at my side. She’s not a pet and I am her handler, not her “owner.”
On this occasion she and I were accosted by a neophyte ranger who seemed to suddenly show up.
He confronted me about the lack of leash - I cannot carry one nor do I even own one- and, thinking he as a fed ranger would know the federal law on service dogs as protected by the ADA of 1990.
So after id’ing myself as her handler and she as my service dog I believed he’d know what I was saying.
But this young man abruptly turned from ranger to belligerent thug at my mere mention that I was within the law.
I’m convinced that no matter what I said about any subject this person was going to cause trouble-my service dog just happened to be the first thing that popped into his head.
But my dog and I take our work seriously and still continually train to stay sharp.
My dog and I have worked together for 8 years then and she’s long since established a good sense of alerting me to danger. She’s an extremely intelligent dog with a police/military pedigree and I inherently trust her judgement of others’ intentions and know right away if somebody’s a good guy or not. This guy, she indicated was not.
SUte enough, the look in the ranger’s eyes turned stone cold and I knew I was facing serious danger.
With a very visible physical disability we’d been a mark for opportunistic bad guys before. But this was criminal because the bad guy was armed and in uniform, wearing a badge.
Without any human witnesses and knowing full well what was happening I got scared and turned tail and ran. That was not a crime just a knee-jerk response I had to running literally in the face of danger.
The ranger followed me (I have trouble walking, let alone running) and tackled and brutalized me, dragging me through the rocky sand, my legs bleeding. Though I couldn’t believe it, here I was, being attacked without provocation.
My dog’s training in a medical emergency is to stand by me if I should fall to the ground. We couldn’t guess in a million years we’d face an emergency situation like this-who would?
My dog couldn’t have cared less about the ranger-I am her only job. Still, as she approached me the agent pepper sprayed her in both eyes. After she turned and ran the ranger, standing directly over me as I lay face-down deployed his taser into my back.
Long story short: We were separated for a full week, not knowing if the other was still alive.
The cruel young ranger thought it all a great big joke and an apparent badge of honor to take down a fifty-something, out-of-shape amputee and to hurt his well-identified service dog. Wow, the enthusiastic tall tales he spun to his colleagues who arrived were of the David vs. Goliath sort.
I was charged with no crime but was made to sit for hours, my arm cuffed to the bumper of his truck. At least I was in sight of my injured dog, and I spoke constantly to her, and I think it calmed us both. We’d never faced any sort of violent situation and were terrified at our sudden helplessness.
Once the young man’s supervisor arrived, a phony charge- assault, if you can believe it- was drawn up with phony police report to match.
Though I didn’t know it then my sweet dog was held hostage in an animal control shelter until I, under threat of her immediate euthanasia said “Yes” when presented with their guilty charge. I’d have said anything then just to be together again.
Until that moment I’d never committed a crime in my life - that being lying about committing a crime I hadn’t - and I had to believe my dog was as terrified alone as I was.
Separated for a full week by then, confused and still scared and without any of my meds all that time- I said whatever I had to just to be back with my service dog.
These awful agents played their little game well and knew full well their deception.
While I’m glad we survived that nightmare and am grateful we’re together again I cannot trust the same thing won’t happen again as I try to meet up with other RVers.
Today I find I’m wearing a scarlet letter - G for “guilty” - and afraid to ever return to that area, which I was there for health reasons to begin with.
Becoming part of a tribe where I can safely find kindred spirits just to avoid this sort of thing now seems a foregone conclusion.
The real criminals here have gotten away and nobody should be made to feel like a fugitive in their own country. This could and probably already has happened to others.
I’m not asking for preaching that I “should have used a leash or put on a service dog vest” or “don’t be so naïve” or any such thing. That’d just be hurtful and this ordeal has already provided us plenty of that.
I just want some well-conceived input on how I might handle these threats who wear a badge. And your thoughtful ideas on how we might connect with other, similarly vulnerable nomads.
We’re supposed to be able to trust these rangers, yet I still have nightmares over this breach of trust.
Plus, I have no idea what else may have befallen my sweet dog throughout all this and it’s heartbreaking. Her sweet disposition is a direct reflection of my own and also the loving bond we’ve otherwise shared with our world.
Still apprehensive about this today, I’ve remained intentionally vague about our specifics here, only offering the bare essentials. I firmly believe this would never have happened had we not been alone. What do you think?
Edited to remove political reference. Also removed two subsequent posts referencing the statement ~ cyndi
