This is one of those “I figure everybody’s already seen it, so why post it” ones, but that’s because everybody that I know has seen it, and I have to remember that doesn’t mean most people have.
Last Friday night, ABC’s “What Would You Do?”, a show “that uses actors and hidden cameras to create compelling dilemmas – and then captures how people react” as they describe themselves, ran a segment with this scenario:
“What would you do if you were in a restaurant and heard the manager tell a disabled woman that she was not permitted to dine with her dog by her side? We set up hidden cameras at Alfonso’s Trattoria in Somerville, N.J., to see how people would react to a disabled person and her service dog facing discrimination. Our actors play a couple who complain about the dog, a complacent manager, a woman who is in the early stages of multiple sclerosis, and Hercules, a trained service dog. Would anyone come to the rescue of our canine and his companion?”
Hercules is a Canine Companions for Independence dog currently in professional training at the Northeast Regional Center on Long Island, and I’m lucky to know his deservedly proud Puppy Raiser, Emily Bracken.
I had the pleasure of watching this segment at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center Friday night with a number of CCI people, including three graduates – Dawn Ramsey, Jason Morgan, and Nancy Patterson – all of whom (like every CCI graduate I know) have experienced things like those shown in the video, and so they really enjoyed watching it. In fact, the reaction among CCI people I know around the country has been universally positive, which is a tough trick to accomplish (and I’m the worst of the bunch and toughest to please on that one).
Watch for yourself (As an aside, note how well Hercules behaves, too, and remember – he’s still IN TRAINING and still acts much better in public than many “service dogs” you will see.):















I'm very active with Canine Companions for Independence as a volunteer, to include being a past member of the Veterans Task Force and puppy raiser. Retired US Air Force Chief Master Sergeant with my last assignments at the Air Force Academy as the Fourth Group Sergeant Major and Dean of Faculty Superintendent.