HOMOSASSA, Fla. — Cassie gets plenty of stares as she walks down the aisles of Home Depot, taking an occasional sniff at some of the items on the shelves or standing still while people stroke her long black hair.
Her handler, Lorraine Clark, maintains a firm grasp on Cassie’s leash. Sometimes she gently tugs it to keep the Australian Shepherd walking straight and not running into customers or their carts.
Clark, owner of Suncoast Service Dogs Inc. in Homosassa, is an expert in training service and therapy dogs. Cassie is the latter, and Clark often takes her out in public to make sure she behaves correctly and follows directions. Clark takes her dog to area elementary schools during reading time, where students are eager to read to Cassie. Sometimes Cassie goes to nursing homes, where she is greeted with smiles by patients and residents who need therapeutic help.
But even though Cassie is properly leashed, she’s not always met with smiles, Clark said. Other customers rarely confront Clark, but she says their body language suggests they are not at all pleased with Cassie’s presence.
That friction occurs much more often these days — especially since, Clark says, many people are passing off untrained canines as therapy dogs or, worse, as service dogs. That gives trained dogs a black eye, Clark said.
“It is getting out of hand,” she said.
Under federal law, the only kinds of dogs allowed in public places are service dogs — though some stores, such as Home Depot, have “dog-friendly” policies. Service dogs are what most people think of when they think of support animals — properly credentialed, mitigating a physical disability and more well-behaved in stores than many toddlers.
Today, the lines have blurred. While there are therapy animals that have undergone training for their roles, certification is not legally required to call an animal a therapy animal. For someone subject to panic attacks or post-traumatic stress disorder, peace often comes with a hairy face and four legs.
