(WHTM) — If you are out and about you may see someone in public with a dog in a purple vest. The dog is a service dog and them along with their handlers actually can run into difficulties, although it is a very rewarding job.

There are multiple things that separate service dogs from the rest of the pack.

“A service dog is a dog that is trained in at least on specialized task to assist one person in mitigating their disability,” director of Susquehanna Service Dogs Deb Tack said. “A service dog is truly a different animal, they are there to support and assist the individual who are they are trained, by doing those specialized tasks.”

Handlers have experienced issues when going to different places, with some being questioned when they have entered a restaurant if they should be allowed in under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

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“Other times, very unfortunately, have had some of our partners out in public working with their service dogs and their dog has been confronted, or even attacked by a dog that is not a service dog,” Tack said.

When seeing the dogs out in public, many people like to approach them and ask handlers questions, but they can only answer two.

“One is, ‘is this a service dog trained to assist you with a disability,’ and to that they can answer yes or no. And then ‘what task or tasks is that dog trained to help.’ But they are not able to ask what their disability is, they are not able to ask to demonstrate the tasks the dog is trained, but they need to answer those two questions,” Tack said.

SSD is also looking for volunteers to be puppy raisers and puppy sitters. More information about them can be found online on their website.

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