Here’s what you do if a service dog comes up to you, sans owner

Service dogs do incredible work for their owners with disabilities or impairments. They are there to help guide, protect and seek help if something goes wrong. 

And most of us know that when you see a service dogs out and about you are not to go up and pet it. However, what should you do if a one comes up to you directly, and with no owner in sight? And what does it mean? 

Well, according to a post on Tumblr, "if a service dog without a person approaches you, it means the person is down and in need of help".

One owner, who goes by the name of Lumpatronics, took to the blogging site to share an incident that occurred about a week ago. 

The blogger explained how while out and about with their service dog they tripped and fell. The dog is trained to get an adult if this person has a seizure, and so raced off to seek help.

"I went after him after I had dusted off my jeans and my ego, and I found him trying to get the attention of a very annoyed woman," they wrote.

"She was swatting him away and telling him to go away. So I feel like I need to make this heads up: If a service dog without a person approaches you, it means the person is down and in need of help.

"Don’t get scared, don’t get annoyed, follow the dog! If it had been an emergency situation, I could have vomited and choked, I could have hit my head, I could have had so many things happen to me. We’re going to update his training so if the first person doesn’t cooperate, he moves on, but seriously guys.

"If what’s-his-face could understand that lassie wanted him to go to the well, you can figure out that a dog in a vest proclaiming it a service dog wants you to follow him."