Thank you.
I really appreciate having the opportunity to come and talk to you for a few minutes today. I wanted to come to make sure that people understood the differences between a guide or service dog and a pet, and to differentiate those when looking at rules, regulation, and legislation.
A guide or service dog is specially trained, usually by an organization of specialized and qualified trainers to mitigate a disability and to ensure the safety of the individual they are protecting because of their disability. It also enhances their independence and allows them to be more free to do the things they want to do and give them a higher quality of life.
When I was first thinking about this topic, I found it quite ironic that I was having the opportunity to come and talk about this, because a year ago I tried to get my dog in the cabin of a plane and was refused. I was going to London. I had a three-month issue where I couldn't convince the agency that my dog should be in the cabin though, finally, it did happen. I think it's kind of ironic that I'm here today to talk about not having pets in the cabin of a plane.
Dogs that are trained as guide or service dogs are trained very well. They usually take between $30,000 to $60,000 to train and get qualified. The people who are the handlers are also trained. We go to special schools to train with our animal. There's a big process and a heavy-duty process to go through to have and work a service or guide animal.
One of the things that we learn is to handle the dog in any situation. The dog has a natural instinct to be distracted by other animals and to want to go and interact with other animals, but they are trained to work through that process. But there's still an instinct. You can't train the instinct out of them, you simply train them to work through it. Having pets on an aircraft in the cabin is a distraction for guide and service dogs. I have been on a plane where there has been a cat right next to me. My dog wasn't nearly as stressed as the cat was, but there were still some distractions there. In a situation where there may be an emergency evacuation, it may be difficult for a guide or service dog to maintain its attention.
My main purpose for being here is to make sure that people understand that guide dogs and service dogs are there for a reason and should be exempted from any regulation refusing the allowance of pets inside the cabin.
Thank you.