Idaho State University doctoral candidate Michael Riley and his seven-year-old service dog, Annie, have been together for over six years. In those years, Riley said he has come to see Annie as much more than a service dog.
“The law sees [Annie] as a tool, I see her as an invaluable part of my life,” said Riley.
Riley has worked with service dogs for approximately 18 years. Annie is Riley’s third service dog and, according to Riley, she is vital to his independence in daily life.
“She’s like my other right arm,” explained Riley.
Annie assists Riley, who is confined to a motorized wheel chair, in numerous daily activities including pushing buttons for automatic doors and picking up dropped items.
Riley said he and Annie are never separated and he never leaves her at home. If he wishes to go to an event, it has to be able to accommodate Annie or he foregoes it.
“I ask a lot of [Annie]. She’s not just a tool,” said Riley. “If I’m going to ask so much of her, I have to make some sacrifices, too. It’s a partnership.”
Riley mentioned that service dogs often get separation anxiety when they are away from their owners due to the long hours they regularly spend with them.
Riley, reportedly proficient in training service dogs, got Annie as a six-month-old puppy and trained her to be his service dog.
“Some folks seem to think that when owners and trainers train their own dogs that it is some disguised attempt at just taking your pet wherever you go,” said Riley. “I don’t see it that way.”
Riley said he trained his own service dogs so they would be prepared for his particular needs and in order to allow similarly-situated individuals without the ability to train their own dogs access an already-trained service dog.
“Why should I take a resource away from someone who doesn’t have the abilities I do?” said Riley.
In addition to daily life and training service dogs, Riley began the “Safe Working Environment for Service Dogs Initiative” after experiencing issues with other dogs attacking Annie, in addition to advocating for equal access.
According to Riley, he has reached “a point of utter frustration” after unleashed companion dogs have “viciously attacked” Annie on two separate occasions, most recently last year on Thursday, Nov. 8, outside of the Physical Science Complex at ISU.
“This wasn’t just a situation of a pet attacking a pet, it was a pet attacking a service dog,” said Riley of the situation.
Riley explained that once service dogs have bad experiences like Annie’s, it takes them a long time to recover.
“We’ve got a lot of good people in Pocatello and we’ve done really well,” said Riley. “We’re just struggling with people turning their pets loose and that’s why I decided to start the Safe Working-Environment for Service Dogs Initiative,” said Riley. “I want to see people embrace diversity and part of that diversity is accepting service dogs.”
Riley noted Bartz Field and the Hutchinson Quadrangle as main campus areas he’s had issues with dog-owners letting their dogs off-leash.
“People might say, you know, ‘Oh, my dog is friendly,’ and so on but I don’t know that for sure and more importantly Annie doesn’t know that for sure,” said Riley.
Regarding equal access, Riley wrote a letter to Jackson’s Food Stores requesting a modification to their entrance bell system.
In the letter, Riley explained that service dogs commonly misinterpret the tone of the entry bell as a fire alarm, and service dogs are trained to evacuate a building in case of fire. Because of the issue, it was a struggle for service dogs and their owners to enter the store.
Jackson’s Food Stores, which is currently remodeling its location on Fifth Avenue across from the Pond Student Union Building parking lot, agreed to modify the bell system during the remodel and is working to adjust it in all stores, according to Riley.
“The bottom line is we need to reinvigorate the discussion about the importance of service dogs,” said Riley.
Annie is a Labrador retriever and Great Dane mix, according to Riley. His past service dogs included an Australian shepherd and a German shepherd.
“I don’t consider myself a person with a disability,” said Riley. “I am a person with a different degree of ability.”
Riley grew up in South-Central Los Angeles before he moved to the Pocatello area in 1990. He began attending ISU in 1994 and completed his undergraduate degree in 1999, followed a master’s degree in 2008 after working for Qwest Communications for a number of years. He was accepted into the doctoral program at ISU for political science in 2008 and is currently working on the second chapter of his doctoral dissertation.
