It’s an important reminder that we all need to hear:

“Do not pet service dogs. Do not call to service dogs. Do not taunt service dogs. Do not talk to service dogs. Do not do anything to service dogs.”

Those words come from Hayley Ashmore, who was 16 at the time she suffered a dangerous seizure with accompanying injuries after one of her father’s co-workers couldn’t get it through his head that he could not distract her service dog.

Feeling that her dog, Flynn, was just too cute, he didn’t seem to believe the pup also had a job to do.

And that was despite the sign ON Flynn saying “Do not pet.”

We often see service dogs out on the street or in stores and airports. They’re always adorable – they’re dogs! But petting one means distracting it from doing its job and putting human lives at risk.

Ashmore has struggled with several conditions throughout her life, including epilepsy, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, and reactive hypoglycemia. She also has seizures and Flynn is trained to help her detect their onset.

The two have been together since 2014 and Flynn was just 7 months old when the incident occurred in her father’s office in 2015. The dog was distracted and missed the crucial opportunity to warn Ashmore of her oncoming seizure:

“I thought I had 10 minutes to get safe, take medication and call somebody for help,” Hailey told The Dodo. “Unfortunately, I didn’t and ended up getting a nasty rug burn.”

When she fell to the floor, the body movements her seizure caused made her head rub up against the carpet until she had something resembling second-degree burns on her forehead and cheek.

“Out of nowhere, I remember the world going black. I woke up with Flynn on top of my legs and my father cradling my head. On the whole left side of my face, there was a terrible sting that made me tear up.”

At the time, the dog was still learning to ignore people who tried to distract him – but as we know, that’s really our responsibility. We know better.

“My service dog is my lifeline,” Ardmore said. “I don’t say that to be cute. He helps keep me alive just like life support . . . If he gets distracted I can die.”

On her Instagram page (that was last updated a few years back), Ardmore explained that service dogs aren’t just extra-cute well-trained companions. Yes, her Australian Shepherd is adorable and she knows people want to pet him, but they also need to respect boundaries.

Not just anyone gets a service dog – only the people who truly need them:

“To get a service dog you must be disabled to the point where you can no longer function at a normal quality of life without the assistance of service dogs,” she explained in a post on Instagram. “It takes around 2 years of intense training and thousands of dollars . . . to actually be able to call your dog a service dog.”

If you want to learn more about Flynn and Hailey Ardmore, scroll down below for a video made by the teen explaining her condition and Flynn’s role in helping her manage it.

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Source: Flynn the Service Dog via YouTube, The Dodo, @theadventuresofflynn via Instagram