Do you know what a service dog is? A service dog according to the ADA (Americans with disabilities act) a service dog is a dog that is individually trained to do a task for someone with a disability. That does not include an emotional support dog, emotional support dogs are dogs that are there only to comfort someone they are not task trained. For example, if someone has a dog that they bring places because they have frequent panic attacks and they bring the dog because if they pet them it helps calm them down. The dog is not trained to do any tasks in that situation. There are still psychiatric service dogs that can give DPT (deep pressure therapy) by laying their body weight on their owners legs and torso to help calm them down. That is a task that the dog is trained to perform making it a service dog. On that note of tasks, service dogs a working piece of medical equipment. This means that you should not interact with service dogs and their handlers. You could distract the dog and put the handler risk. Most service dog handlers  will have their service dogs in a vest, most of the time those vests have patches on them. These patches might say, “do not pet” or they might have symbols like a circle with a line going through it that might have a hand in it symbolizing not to let the animal. Sometimes there is an image of an eye, this doesn’t mean you can’t look at the service dog but it means that you shouldn’t maintain prolonged eye contact with the animal. While on the topic of harnesses, vests, leashes, collars, service dogs are not required to have any of these as long as they have a good heel. With some medical conditions, for example a type one diabetic might have a severe low blood sugar and pass out. The dog would have to go find someone to give the proper treatment to the handler, but if the dog is on a leash that the handler is holding there is no way for the dog to go find help. This meaning that leashes are leashes are not required. Something else you should never do is bring your pet to a non pet friendly store. If your dog is not a trained service dog and you try to make your dog look like a service dog you have put yourself, your dog, a real service dog, and a service dog handler at risk. If you bring your pet to a non pet friendly store and there is a real service dog in there, this can be heavily distracting and dangerous. A service dog is still a dog, they are going to have emotions and they can still be distracted. Although they are supposed to be trained very well it is very hard to focus when another dog is lunging at them or barking at them. They could not only be distracted but they could be afraid causing them to miss an alert for their handler meaning you have caused a medical issue with the handler. This petition is to bring awareness apon service dogs, what they really are, and what you should do if you encounter one. Please do not distract them.