Spokesdog

Cranston dog is popular advocate for service dog laws

By Mary Johnson
Posted 11/29/16

Earle the Service Dog is fast becoming a media celebrity and spokesdog for well trained and properly socialized service dogs. The cheerful and calm yellow lab had his 15 minutes of fame recently when a photo of him greeting Vice President-Elect Mike

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Spokesdog

Cranston dog is popular advocate for service dog laws

Posted

Earle the Service Dog is fast becoming a media celebrity and spokesdog for well trained and properly socialized service dogs. The cheerful and calm yellow lab had his 15 minutes of fame recently when a photo of him greeting Vice President-Elect Mike Pence in the Capitol Building went viral.

Trained by an inmate at J.J. Moran correctional facility in Cranston, as part of the NEADS prison pup partnership to raise service dogs for the deaf and disabled, Earle has lived in Massachusetts with his partner, Chris Slavin, since February 2016.

Slavin uses a wheelchair and the team have become advocates for the laws that allow them to function as a team in public. His adventures are chronicled on Facebook, where he has his own page, “Earle the Service Dog.”

Earle was once bitten in the face by a pet dog being presented as a service dog, one of the reasons why the pair has become vocal on the issue.

“Without question” said Slavin, “the biggest obstacle to service dogs being accepted is fake service dogs. I understand people's desire to bring their dogs places with them, but it is unfair to businesses, it jeopardizes the safety of trained, professional service dogs, and gives a bad name to real service dogs.”

“Public access for our clients and their service dogs, while covered and permitted under the Americans with Disabilities Act, can nonetheless be very challenging for any individual with a service dog,” said Gerry DeRoche, the president and CEO of NEADS.  “The federal laws are in many ways vague and confusing, which is compounded by the proliferation of fake and/or poorly trained service dogs.”

During the organization’s recent graduation, DeRoche noted that well trained service dogs “disappear” – people don’t notice them because they are unobtrusive and quiet. These skills are developed over nearly 18 months of training provided by NEADS trainers, the inmate handler at J.J. Moran, and the weekend puppy raiser, in Earle’s case, Ed Polom of North Kingstown, who take NEADS puppies on out in public on the weekends to expose them to the everyday tasks of life like grocery shopping, soccer games, and car rides.

Pets rarely have this level of training and socialization and can be easily spooked by unexpected sounds and experiences: a balloon popping, a squirrel dashing across the street, or a costumed character wandering around at a ball game. When poorly trained pets, with capes and “credentials” purchased online, are passed off as service dogs, and when they damage property or create a disturbance, it leads to “business owners being skeptical of all service dogs,” said Slavin, and adopting rules that are against the law and make life difficult for people whose service dog is a medical necessity.

Slavin was a competitive snowboarder when a 2007 crash on the slopes at the USASA Nationals in Lake Tahoe resulted in 10 fractured vertebrae and a spinal cord injury. Not accepting the injury as a barrier, she began training for the Paralympics as an elite level monoskier. In the last competition of the 2014 season, she sustained a second spinal cord injury, one that makes it hard to be independent due to limited arm and hand mobility. She applied for a NEADS and was placed with Earle the service dog last year.

A service dog has a level of training well beyond pets and significantly more than therapy dogs that visit hospitals and nursing homes. Service dogs need to be calm and relaxed in public and to remain focused on their partners, no matter how stressful or chaotic the situation. Earle provides task support like most service dogs, picking up dropped items, opening and closing doors, and retrieving items. Because of the limited mobility of her arm and hands, Slavin drops things regularly and would face significant obstacles if she fell out of her wheelchair while reaching for a dropped item. Earle’s help allows her to be independent and to travel widely.

“He has changed my life,” said Slavin, “and has improved the lives of many others.  This fall, we were in Ireland where we were able to do a fair bit of general education around service dogs, including at a primary school. Service dogs like Earle are fairly rare there.”

During the Ireland trip, Earle was featured on the local TV news.

Part vacation and part advocacy trip, the pair recently returned from Washington D.C., where they met with staffers from Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Seth Moulton, to thank them for supporting the Affordable Care Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act and to encourage them to fight for an evolution to the laws regarding service dog access.

“The connection I feel with Earle is an incredible gift,” said Slavin. “He gives me a confidence that I never knew I was lacking. Through Earle I have become a far better advocate and have found a clearer voice.”

When they were touring the Capitol building, they happened by a cordoned off section of Statuary Hall that was full of Capitol police officers and Secret Service agents. When the Secret Service parted the crowd, Slavin realized that Vice President-elect Mike Pence was in the room. He came over to her and, Slavin said, “followed service dog etiquette and did not attempt to pet, interact or distract Earle at all.” The press corps snapped a number of photos of Earle greeting Pence once Earle was asked to do so, and Slavin said she joked that the press now had a photo of Pence interacting with a felon, since Earle was raised in a state prison. She told him about NEADS and about service dogs. Photos went out on the AP wire and were picked up around the country. CNN ran a story on “This Week in Politics” and the photos were widely shared on Facebook and Twitter.

Slavin said she doesn’t know if the J.J. Moran inmate and weekend puppy raiser who trained Earle had any idea that he was going to be the peaceful, gentle Change Agent he is.

“I am sure that they knew he would change my life, but I doubt anyone knew he would change the lives of people across the world, and he has.” 

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