'A girl repeatedly hit my assistance dog while her mum was engrossed in her phone'

A chronically-ill woman claims a school girl repeatedly hit her assistance dog while the child’s mother was engrossed in her mobile phone.

Ella Walker, 19, said her multi-purpose assistance dog Ralph, a two year old golden retriever, was so distracted by the incident he failed to warn her that she was about to faint. Ella suffers from chronic illnesses including ME and a fainting condition called Dysautonomia.

Ralph has been specially trained to help her with tasks like finding her a seat, retrieving items for her and warning her if she is at risk of fainting. But Ella said he was unable to perform these tasks as an upper primary school aged girl approached them and tried to feed Ralph chocolate before hitting him while her parent was distracted on her phone.

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"I was a little bit like 'hmm this is a bit strange'," said Ella, from Petersfield, Hampshire. “The mother occasionally looked up and laughed.”

The incident, on 17 September, caused Ralph to miss a critical medical alert, Ella said, leading her to experience a medical episode where she became very light headed in the town centre unexpectedly.

"Normally he can tell through the smell of my breath that an episode is coming," she said. “My heart rate suddenly shoots up, and he can alert me, allowing me to get to a safe place and lie down."

Fortunately, Ella could feel it coming and managed to go to a quieter place to lie down until the wave of light-headedness eventually went away. But she fears she may have come to harm if she had been in a busier environment.

Ella, a student and part-time assistance dog trainer, said: "The incident led me into a medical episode and really impacted my dog. I urge people to be more considerate of assistance dogs in future."

Ralph is nearing the completion of his two and a half year training programme to become a fully qualified assistance dog. However, Ella said the incident disrupted his training and impacted his emotional and physical wellbeing.

She was fearful the incident was going to derail Ralph's training and prevent him completing the programme. Ralph’s training includes mobility tasks and crowd control, making him an essential part of Ella's daily life.

"Since we have been going back outside, we’re making sure he’s feeling OK about people," Ella said. "He was terrified of the child after the incident, we ended up back at the car, and he was shaking, but we still hope he will be able to pass his course."

Assistance dogs that develop fear or anxiety as a result of harassment often have to stop working with people - which can leave some unable to leave their homes or perform daily tasks independently.

"I don’t think people realise the damage it can do to assistance dogs and their handlers," she said. "It’s a situation where the dog may anticipate being hit or hurt, and then they can’t work if they develop a fear of children.

"These kinds of incidents are pretty rare, but when a child is beating a dog for 10 minutes plus, it can have devastating effects.”