If you’re not an old blues guy like me, you may not recognize that the subject line refers to a great old Albert Collins song.

I’m at one of those points again where I’m really taking a hard re-look at the focus and direction of this site and where things will go in the future.

The discussion goes on all the time in the blogging world about how when you’re shutting a blog down, or letting it go dormant, or just taking a break, or going in a different direction, should you tell everybody that or just say nothing about it at all?

I’ve been wrestling for some time with what I’m gonna do, and honestly still don’t know for sure. I don’t wanna spend a lotta time talking about things I really don’t wanna talk about, but I also don’t wanna just disappear without saying anything, either. So, if you come here and don’t see any activity for a long time and this post is still at the top, or the overall direction here has changed, you’ll have a good idea why.

Not that I’ve had much to say lately, anyway, and that’s because there hasn’t been a lot good to say. Oh, I’ve had some great things go on personally, most of which are directly related to service dogs, but I’m talking about the state of things in the service dog world in general.

(That, by the way, is exactly how it is lots of times, too. There’s always a lot of truly good stories that happen, but you may never read about those anywhere publicly, including here, and appropriately so, because they are very personal and very private. So what you often get instead is the schlocky, not-so-hot story masquerading as something wonderful.)

Most of that’s because, as I look around that world right now, I don’t see a lot to like, and, contrary to the prevailing opinion, I think things are headed firmly in the wrong direction and getting worse, not better. That’s primarily due to a combination of three things:

  • The loosening (contrary to how it’s been portrayed as tightening things up) of the ADA when it comes to service dogs. Sure, it’s nice that the snakes and parrots are gone, but they aren’t the real problem – it’s dogs, and in that area, the range of what’s acceptable and potentially acceptable has been significantly opened up.
  • The proliferation of new places training service dogs, particularly for veterans, and primarily concentrating on one area – post-traumatic stress.
  • The public and media’s unwillingness or inability to look beyond the superficial and ask the hard questions instead of supporting something just because it feels good.

That last one is the one that’s hurting things more than anything else, and that’s because it drives all the other stuff. Not a day goes by where I don’t see a story that really bugs me, and it’s not the obviously bad ones, it’s the “good” ones. The ones where the angle is “Wow, how great is this!”, but I look at them and think “Are you kidding me?” Where stuff is staring you right in the face if you’ll only look, and you know what to look for.

Always reminds me of the old Billy Crystal as Fernando Lamas line “It is better to look good than to feel good.”, only with a little different twist: “It is better to feel good than to actually be good.”

The really sad part is much of it is doing irreparable damage to the service dog concept. And, even worse, it’s bad enough when the public or the media who don’t know any better do it, but when those who do know better (and will be happy to tell you that they do) – service dog handlers and service dog organizations (in some cases, ADI-accredited ones) – do it… disappointing is putting it mildly.

You don’t have to be a genius to see the problems coming – in fact, they’ve already started and we’re well down that road.

I’ve gone back and forth about whether to give you specific examples of what I’m talking about, but ultimately decided not to because, if I did, it would go against the very point I’m trying to make here. In spite of what I said a long time ago about “waving the BS flag”, I really don’t like being “that guy”. If all I’m gonna do is spend my time moaning about stuff here with no achievable objective in sight (other than just moaning), why bother? Even if you were making a dent in things, which I don’t believe I am, you’re still spending a lotta your time around people and subjects you don’t wanna be around. Not to mention dealing with being yelled at, called the names I’ve been called, told how I’m not this or not that, and even threatened – all things that have happened, although, thankfully, very rarely. And who wants to do that?

Trust me, though, the examples are out there, and some are very serious. But I’m just one little guy, and I don’t have the reach or following, nor is it my job to ask the questions that need to be asked. The media, the celebrity talk shows – and when it comes to veterans – DoD, VA, and Congress need to step up, do their jobs, and start asking some very pointed and tough questions, instead of posturing for and playing to the public, trying to look good and create the appearance they “support the troops” without necessarily actually doing it.

It’s not only their job, it’s their responsibility to ask those questions, but they haven’t been doing it up to now, and there’s no reason for me to believe they’re gonna start anytime soon.

Somebody else is gonna have to take that one on, though, because I’ve been saying the same thing for several years, and have had enough for now. There’s a fine line between persistence and obsession, and, ultimately, you have to spend time where you can have an impact, and, ideally, have a good time while you’re doing it. Neither one of those things is true for me where this stuff’s concerned.

Ultimately, though, it’s just like always – it’s everyone’s personal responsibility to do the hard looking. and ask the tough questions. There’s a lotta crap out there, and most of the time, it doesn’t have a big sign on it that says “Crap” – you gotta figure that out on your own.  And the people promoting that…”stuff” …aren’t gonna make it easy for you, either.

I’m not going anywhere, though. I’ll still be around, and very much involved and active with service dogs within the focused area that I want to be, just like I have been mostly behind the scenes for years. You just won’t necessarily see that reflected here.

All those wonderful stories you usually never hear about that I mentioned earlier are exactly why.