I hate to admit it, but sometimes I find myself ignoring the “dog for adoption” photos that my friends post on Facebook or the fliers that get posted at the pet store. There are just so many of them and sometimes it feels overwhelming how endless the overpopulation problem is. Obviously this kind of promotion works. I found my puppy, Scuttle, when a friend posted her photo online and I'm so thankful for that!

I am a disabled woman who requires a certified service dog to assist me. I find that if I take my dog where other dogs are, some owners think that a service-dog vest ensures that my dog won’t bite theirs, and they allow their dogs to maul mine, climb all over her and essentially have no boundaries. This prevents her from working and quite frankly, scares her. When I have asked nicely for the dogs to be removed, I often get “bitten” by the owners, who make sure everyone in the vicinity knows what a problem I am.

I have been doing animal-assisted therapy and activities with my dogs for the past 10 years. When I started, my dogs were registered with Delta Society’s Pet Partners Program. A few years later, we switched registration to Therapy Dogs, Inc. (TDInc.). Founded in 1990, TDInc. is an organization with more than 12,000 members in the United States and its territories, as well as Canada.

As a volunteer for Dayton Dog Training Club in Moraine, Ohio, I teach advanced obedience and therapy-dog classes. I was pleased to see your recent article, and agree with the author’s observations. Many handlers are called, but few of their dogs are chosen. As part of the therapy-dog training class, I include a couple of field trips, one to the nearby Little Miami River, where the University of Dayton rowing club meets to practice.