After an incident on a city bus, Transit Windsor is reviewing how public transit in other cities handle small service dogs.
Ocean Connolly, a psychology major at the University of Windsor, says she got on the bus last Wednesday night with her dog and put it on the seat next to her when the driver asked her to put it on the floor.
"He's a bichon-poodle mix, so he's around 20 lbs," she says. "When he's on the floor, he gets jostled around because he's so small, and the bus is moving."
Connolly said placing the dog on her lap wasn't acceptable either.
"To a lot of people that looks like a viable option, but that, unfortunately, doesn't work either," she explains. "He's trying to work. He's uncomfortable. I'm uncomfortable."
Connolly says she relies on the dog for support because of her anxiety disorder. She has difficulty in crowded, confined spaces, like a city bus, so leaving the dog at home is not an option.
"He helps me to stay grounded," she says. "He also is trained to touch me and to check in with me."
She says the driver eventually stopped and asked passengers to get off and take the next bus, while he consulted with his supervisor. They both told her the dog would have to stay on her lap or the floor, but could not occupy a seat.
Transit Windsor Executive Director Pat Delmore says that is the policy, as of now.
"What we are going to do is investigate what other transit properties are doing. I can tell you that the last time we looked into this, which was a couple of years ago, the consensus across the transit industry was that dogs do not occupy a seat," says Delmore. "One of the concerns with the dog seating on a seat on its own is that a dog doesn't have the ability to hold on to a grab bar if the bus takes a tight turn."
As more passengers adopt the use of smaller service animals, Delmore admits it is possible the policy may need updating.