Caitlin is a freshman in college. Away from home for the first time. With her Diabetic Alert Dog, Ellie. Caitlin trained puppy Ellie from the day she took her home, the summer before her senior year in high school. They are an incredible team. Here is what happened recently in the town where Caitlin's college is located. These are her words.
"My roommate was going to take me to Walmart so I could get
some soup and cold medicine. We were going with three of her friends as well.
The guys wanted to go to Sally Beauty Supply Store to get some stuff so we
stopped there before going to Walmart.
"When Kelsey, my
roommate was looking at the many different hair extensions and I was standing
next to her pointing out that there were even Dancing with the Stars sponsored
hair extensions, the manager of the store came over to me and told me that dogs
were not allowed into the store. I told her that Ellie was my service dog and
pointed out that she had service dog stated clearly in two different spots on
her bright pink service dog vest and also on her collar. She then asked me to
leave the store. I did not leave the store because I knew that I was allowed to
be there with Ellie. This is when the other employee also asked me to leave.
"After that
I did leave the store because I was getting mad and did not want to cause a
scene in the store and make myself and Ellie look bad. Kelsey told the guys
that if they could get the stuff they wanted at Walmart to do that and then
explained what had happened. They put back what they could get at Walmart and
only got the things that they could not get at Walmart.
"Kelsey then went back
into the store to ask for the manager's name and the corporate number that I
could call to make a complaint. The manager gave her first name only and said
she had no clue what the corporate number was. When we got in the car Kelsey’s
boyfriend Ryan looked up the number to call the headquarters for the store. I
called the number and got a really nice lady named Gina who was very nice and understanding. After getting my
side of the story she put me on hold for ten minutes and called the store to
talk to the manager. When she took me off hold she proceeded to tell me that she
had explained to the manager that what she had done was against the law and
that there were severe consequences that could happen if that ever happened again.
Because of this a training program is being set up and the store had to
apologize. The person that I talked to was extremely nice and I was happy with how the situation was
handled. They are sending me a gift card and a coupon to use if I choose to do
so.
"I am happy with how things
were handled and now everything is all better.
"The group of people that I was
around during this were supportive and stuck up for me when I was unable to do
so for my self. Things at college
are so much better than they were in high school and I would not change
anything if I was given the chance."
As the trainer who oversaw Ellie's DAD training, I could not be more proud of these two. Caitlin has consistently exhibited incredibly mature behavior in training and caring for her service dog and knowing their rights. She is a rock star in my world!
This is Caitlin, Ellie and two Type 1 Diabetics who hope to get their own DADs soon.
In addition to everything else, Caitlin educates others about T1D and DADs.
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1 comment:
Good for Caitlin. She and her friend handled this well. The end result was a very positive experience which included education. I'm sure it took will power to not explode at the people who were asking her and Ellie to leave the store. That reaction may not have ended the same way.
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