A misunderstanding led to a viral social media post attacking a local restaurant over alleged treatment of a veteran and what she calls her service dog.
Alexandria Nass, a four-year veteran of the U.S. Army, lives in Florida and was visiting relatives and hunting here last week. Nass said she, her father and daughter had decided to stop by Gwen’s Café for breakfast when the incident happened.
Nass says she was asked to leave because she had her dog. Trump, in the establishment. The Catahoula/Labrador cross retrieves items for Nass, who said she is 100 percent disabled from her military service. Nass said Trump helps her when she falls down, which sometimes occurs multiple times per day. She says that she’s had the dog for three and a half years.
“I hand-picked him out of a litter of our puppies. I trained him myself,” says Nass.
Since the incident, Nass posted photos and videos about the encounter, and been interviewed by local media.
The owner of Gwen’s Café, Gwen Turner, was unaware the dog was a service animal because Nass didn’t immediately bring Trump into the restaurant. Nass and her family had been in the restaurant for a half-hour before Nass brought the dog inside.
Turner says she calmly approached Nass and asked her to take the dog back outside to the truck. Nass became upset with the request, and a major argument ensued.
After some harsh words between Turner and Nass, Nass was asked to leave the café. She refused, but began recording videos on her phone when the situation escalated.
“I wanted some insurance to protect myself,” says the dog owner.
Turner called the Sheriff’s Office to try bring some order to the chaos.
“It was never about the dog,” Turner said. “Not even from the beginning. It was the yelling and her mistreatment of me and my employees that lead me to call the police. Neither of us were able to communicate or even understand what was going on until we were both pushed to that point and she began recording.”
A deputy asked Nass to leave the premises. No report was filed with the sheriff’s office.
The misunderstanding has brought the business owner some strife. “I had to delete the restaurant’s Facebook page. The comments were just so horrible. People are saying that they will never set foot in here again. They really need to hear both sides of the story.”
Turner says that those who know her best in the small community have really surprised her with an outpouring of support. “People know I’m not that way. A lot of them have really sat down and thought about the situation, and realized there had to be a reason why all this happened.”
It’s not the first time Nass has had a run-in with a business owner over a service dog.
In September of 2020, Nass says the owner of the Port Orange restaurant in her home state of Florida asked her and another veteran she was with to leave because “no dogs were allowed.”
Media reports indicated that the manager said the owner said, “The dogs can stay but the owners of the dogs have to go.”
In a video posted about that incident, Nass told the manager, “There will be a lawsuit against you for discriminating against us with service dogs.” Videos from that disagreement were also posted to Nass’s Facebook page.
Nass said she was a K9 handler and trainer in the Army in the U.S. and South Korea, and later worked for a contractor. She said she now owns a non-profit veteran’s service dog training firm in Florida, where she has as many as 50 dogs learning at one time.
Trump is welcome in most businesses the pair visit, Nass said. He has attended political rallies (including one for his namesake) and other large events.
“He even helped find the eight point I shot with the black powder while we were hunting the other day,” Nass said.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) states that a service animal means any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Therapy dogs, emotional support dogs, and companion dogs are not service animals as defined by the ADA. In North Carolina, this also applies to animals in training.
The animal must act appropriately by being well behaved and quiet, according to the ADA. Staff members of any business can ask owners to remove animals who growl, snap, bark, beg for food, roam, or relieve themselves while inside an establishment.
The Paws of War organization says you should never pet a service animal. This may cause the dog to become distracted from its job. Typically, most owners will not allow the dog to be petted, and the animal will sometimes shy away from anyone’s touch but its charge. These animals are trained to take care of their handler.
A service animal must have on a collar and be on a leash to enter a business. A vest or I.D. is not required according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The ADA also states that service animals may enter any establishment, even if it has a “No Pets Allowed” policy. Owners are not required to carry any credentials for the animal, but management of any facility can ask if the dog is a service animal, and what the animal has been trained to do for the individual.
Business owners and managers are required to take the word of the dog owner at face value, and a business can be fined, held liable, and sometimes sued for refusing entrance.
In 2005, North Carolina lawmakers sign a bill making it against the law to falsely claim an animal is a service dog. The offense is a Class 3 misdemeanor and comes with some hefty fines.
According to service dog owner Ian Radford, this type of fraud occurs more often than not, and makes it difficult for those who really do require a service animal. Radford’s service dog, MOLLE, accompanies him almost everywhere.
“It makes it harder on us,” Radford said. “People look at us suspiciously when we go places. It’s frustrating.”
For more information about ADA laws in North Carolina, visit the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services at www.ncdhhs.gov.
