Last Updated on: 3rd February 2017, 04:15 pm
Update: The cabby’s license has been revoked. Still haven’t heard anything concrete about what has happened with the woman. I heard rumblings that the school, it appears to be GDB, is investigating. But they’re just rumours.
I was hoping to come back to the blog with a happy bouncy woo wee ha ha kind of post. Uh, not so much. Looks like I come back with snarling teeth and claws.
I’ll start by linking to the article. Service Dog Forced To Ride In Taxi Trunk
I’ll let you process that for a moment.
My first thought was this cabby had done something, physically separated handler from dog and placed the dog in the trunk or something. It had to be pretty damn crazy.
Turns out that Judie Brown was going to be late for an appointment, so when the driver said either you put the dog in the trunk or get another cab, she chose column a. And this wasn’t like a big hatchback thinggy with a sealed tailgate or the pulled down backseats inside the main part of the car. It was a trunk. Ya know, tight, dark, not much air, all that stuff. A trunk, where you would stow a suitcase or some groceries. Then she cried about how now she’s afraid to walk with her dog, and she feels she lost her independence.
Let’s make one thing crystal clear. If you aren’t a long time reader, I have a guide dog of my very own. So you can’t tell me “you don’t know how it feels.” I do, quite a lot, and this is why this story makes my blood boil. Part of getting a guide or service dog involves knowing that you have to look out for the dog’s interests. You’re a team. The dog looks out for you, you look out for the dog. And at the end of the day, that dog needs you more than you need the dog. If the dog decides it doesn’t want to work anymore, you can retire the dog or use the cane. If you decide to throw the dog in a trunk, it has no voice and noone to speak up for it. It is completely dependent on you to do the right thing.
I wracked my brain, trying to think of a circumstance where I would comply with putting Trix in the trunk. I had a hard time coming up with one. I have had a cab driver nearly refuse me service, and Steve and I have nearly been stranded downtown because of a cab shortage, but in neither circumstance could I say “Sure, cabby guy, let’s put Trixie in the trunk.” Never, ever, ever! I would call a friend or another cab before doing this. The only totally extreme circumstance would be if someone had a knife to my throat and someone said I can save you and the dog but the dog has to go in the trunk. Then maybe I would go with it for a block or so…maybe…ish. But that’s a pretty extreme circumstance.
So what if she had an appointment? Doesn’t she have enough problem-solving skills to call the place where she has an appointment and tell them the situation? Even if she doesn’t have a phone, I’m sure she was near a building with functioning telephone service.
Then this woman has the sheer unmitigated gall to cry about how she’s afraid to walk with her dog and she’s lost her independence. Ok lady, your independence, or this dog’s well-being. I think if the dog could talk, he would question his safety with this woman, and he would wonder what she would do to him next. Can he trust that he will get food and water? Can he trust that she will not put him in harm’s way to save her own skin? Now, comparing the two, who has the bigger complaint?
And what in the name of all that’s holy did she think calling the media about this would do? Did she think she would gain sympathy? I’m sorry, but anyone with any sense has more sympathy for the dog than her. Sure the cabby was wrong for telling her to do that, but she is triple wrong for excepting his direction! At the end of the day, she is responsible for that dog, not the cabby.
I hope the school from which she got this dog reads this story, and is on her doorstep post haste. This is absolutely disgusting.
