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Flynn the service dog has saved his owner on numerous occasions. Sadly, on one occasion, someone distracted him, and the results were terrible for the owner.

Some people may wonder if it’s actually ok to pet a service dog. After all, many service dogs are cute and friendly. But Hailey Ashmore’s story shows just how reckless petting a service animal really is.

As a child, Hailey aspired to become a dancer. She would practice as often as she could.

But when she was a teenager, Hailey learned that she had Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. This is a degenerative genetic disease that affects collagen.

The symptoms include chronic pain, joint dislocations, subluxations, hyperextension and fatigue.

Hailey had to abandon her dreams of becoming a dancer. And she had to use mobility aids to get around.

Then the seizures started. Hailey would now spend most of her time in the hospital. But eventually, she was able to gain her independence once more, thanks to Flynn.

Flynn was a puppy who had been selected to be trained as a service dog.

Together, Hailey and Flynn learned to manage the world around them. Flynn could detect when Hailey was having a seizure and could help out.

In fact, Flynn has already saved Hailey’s life on numerous occasions.

He is able to alert Hailey about an oncoming seizure, find others to help, fetch medications, open doors and many more amazing things.

And thanks to Flynn, Hailey was becoming ever more confident. But then the incident happened.

Hailey was visiting her father’s workplace one day with Flynn. One of the father’s coworkers thought that it was ok to play with Flynn. The distraction would have terrible consequences.

As the coworker was petting Flynn, Hailey started having a seizure. Usually, Flynn would have alerted her before it became too strong. Instead, Hailey ended up falling to the ground.

The motions of Hailey’s seizure upon the rug that she landed on ended up giving burns to her face. And she had to go to the hospital.

Luckily, Hailey recovered from this ordeal and was able to be discharged shortly afterward. But it could have been very different.

Flynn felt terrible that his owner had to undergo this experience. But really, it was not the dog’s fault. He couldn’t help that the coworker distracted him.

Since that incident, Flynn has learned to become less easily distracted. The dog clearly wanted to protect his closest friend from any further injury, no matter what.

At the time of the incident, Flynn was still in training to become a fully accredited service dog. But Flynn has since become accredited, meaning that the dog can look after Hailey wherever she goes.

We all know that dogs are amazing animals. But service dogs like Flynn really show just how special they are. They are more than cute companions. For many people, dogs are their protectors and allow them to live full and happy lives.

Most people would not dream of actually acting on the natural impulse to pet a service dog. But hopefully, this story will stop careless people from attempting it.

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Source: Flynn the Service Dog, The Dodo