Longmont, Colorado resident Brian Hergert has been legally blind since birth. But he doesn’t let his eyesight, or lack thereof, stop him from living life.
“I got Sherman in August of 2013 and without him. I don’t even have any idea what my life would be like now,” Brian said. Sherman is officially from Guide Dogs for the Blind. “So, mainly his job is to help me get around and take the place of the cane and be an obstacle avoider instead of an obstacle locator,” Brian explained.
Before he ever got to Brian, Sherman had to earn his job. “For the training, they spend about, I think it’s roughly 12 months with their puppy raisers,” Brian said.
John Baptista Jr. and his wife Susan have been training dogs from birth for nearly 20 years. “We had a lot of people asking if we would train their children,” Susan laughed.
They say service dogs have to be a certain type, “very mild-mannered, easy-going.” And they’re taught to be calm in social and busy situations.
John said, “You have the dog for 12, 14 months then they go back for formal training.”
The four months of formal training with Guide Dogs for the Blind is so strict, John said only 42% actually make it to be a working guide like Sherman. It’s a real job with a payment in petting, fully earned.
Brian said, “I signaled for Sherman to go forward and cross the street and he stopped and kind of curved himself in front of me. About the time he did that, a car comes flying around the corner and I don’t know how fast they were going, but if I would’ve stepped out, I would’ve been dead.”
That’s why Brian gets upset when he hears about ads promoting businesses selling vests and certifications to anyone wanting to portray their dog as a service dog. “I know, you can go on Amazon and you can purchase the same style harness that we use,” he said.
John said of the vests and certifications, “To create something like this, that says hey, take your dog anywhere.”
“I think it’s a lie,” Susan said.
And though the State of Colorado passed a law in 2017 making it a misdemeanor for people to falsely claim their pets as service animals, they said it still goes on and it’s not a harmless crime, especially when untrained animals misbehave in public places.
Susan said, “You know if you’re gonna really do it, you have to follow a procedure.”
“Those with true working animals, service dogs that have been trained by reputable companies, there is no if ands or buts, they are being impacted,” John said.
“I’ve gotten into restaurants and been told that I have to leave because he’s not a legitimate service dog,” Brian said. “His puppy raisers have done all this training and guide dogs has done all this training and to have somebody come in and say hey he’s not legit, it’s kinda like a slap to the face. It’s like wait, what?” Brian wishes this is a problem he could fix. “It kinda makes me feel insulted,” he said.
Brian said if an untrained fake service animal attacks his guide dog, it could cause his dog to not want to work, which would be a severe impact on his life. He said it could take years to get another guide dog.
It’s not illegal for websites to sell vests or certificates for guide dogs. Each of them have disclaimers essentially saying they’re trusting customers to use them legally.
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