A woman has warned people not to interfere with assistance dogs after a child repeatedly hit hers which led to her having a medical episode.

Ella Walker, 19, from Petersfield, is aided in her day-to-day life by her multi-purpose assistance dog, golden retriever, Ralph, aged 2.

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 about to faint. 

Ella said it's important he's not distracted while he's working - so he doesn't fail to pick up a cue and warn her to find somewhere to sit down. But she claims an upper primary school aged girl tried to feed Ralph chocolate before then hitting him while her parent was distracted on her phone.

The incident resulted in Ralph becoming scared - which left Ella reeling and Ralph unable to do his usual and vital assistance.

"He was terrified of the child after the incident,” Ella said.

“We ended up back at the car and he was shaking, we still hope he will be able to pass his course.

“It will cost me a lot less money, but for a lot of dogs, that would have been their career gone. I urge people to be more considerate of assistance dogs in future." 

Ralph was nearing the completion of his two and a half year training programme to become a fully qualified assistance dog. However, Ella said the incident - which happened on September 17 has disrupted his training and impacted his emotional and physical wellbeing.

The Butser Neighbourhood Policing Team shared Ralph's story on social media and urged people to ignore assistance dogs in public so they can do their job in helping their handler.

By George Mathias