I recently made a significant life change that means I’ll be traveling more than ever before. If you know me, you know I always travel with a guide dog. This means I spend significantly more time preparing for a trip than most people. Traveling with a service animal requires more steps than you might expect. In the next few posts, I’ll discuss some of the challenges that make traveling with a service dog more difficult than necessary.
Why a Dog?
I have always traveled with my dogs. It helps me be as independent as I can. I feel faster and more confident when I am working with my dog. I am a proficient white cane user, but it’s just not for me. I’ve always felt it’s wrong to avoid running into someone or something by hitting it with a stick. When I travel with my husband, my dog’s job is to follow and keep me close to him. This way my husband doesn’t have to guide me, and we don’t create a two-person-wide obstacle in airports or other public spaces. I also love being able to walk at my normal pace, since my husband tends to walk much faster. The dog and I walk at our own pace, and we catch up with my husband whenever he stops.
Navigating Airport Security: The TSA Gauntlet
I always felt a thrill when leaving on a trip, but nowadays it’s not as fun or exciting. Going through TSA is always a chore no one likes, but it’s worse when you add a service dog to the situation. As with most difficult situations involving service animals, the lack of education among the people involved is what causes the problems. All the service dog schools teach the same procedures to their graduates and have done their best to reach out to local airports and TSA offices, but this still isn’t enough. More often than not, when I am in the TSA lineup, multiple problems occur. I was trained to have my dog sit in front of the metal detector while I hold onto his leash and walk through, then call him to me. However, the leash always sets off the metal detector. I’ve modified the process: when my dog sits, I tuck his leash into his harness and have him stay while I walk through the detector. Once I am through, I call him to me. I expect the agent will then pat him down and check his harness for any foreign objects. While he is being patted down, I expect him to sit or stand quietly. And he always does! However, most agents seem nervous and fidgety and are afraid to touch him. Some go the other way and talk very excitedly, which overstimulates him. It’s a very tricky balance.
At no point should a service animal handler be expected to remove any of the animal’s equipment. However, on one occasion when I was going through the TSA lineup, agents insisted that I had to remove my dog’s collar, harness, and leash so they could send them completely naked through the metal detector. This is completely against the rules. I don’t normally have my dog’s collar off even at home let alone in a busy airport! But when you’re standing in the TSA lineup and people behind you are getting angry, what do you do? My dog, as always, performed phenomenally in this situation.
The Constant Challenge: Advocacy and Logistics
These incidents are just a few examples of the constant negotiation and advocacy required simply to get through the airport. I’ll share more stories in upcoming posts, focusing on the regulations that consistently fail to provide safe travel and simplicity or support for service dog users, and delve into the intense logistical burden of preparing for a trip when juggling health restrictions alongside the service dog’s needs. The challenges often feel insurmountable, but sharing these experiences is the first step toward greater understanding and systemic change.