Friday the 13th

Just coincidence...maybe yes, maybe no.

Andrew had a hockey tournament this weekend. I took Friday off work and we let Emma take the day off school. Off we all went Friday morning to the Canlan Ice Sports in Toronto at York University where the tournament was. The first "surprise" is that the tournament organizers, Mississauga Ice Dogs Rep. Hockey, wanted $20/person for a weekend pass to watch our own children play. We have never had to pay to see the games at a tournament before. But we are a house league team without rep. experience. Nowhere on their web site is information on having to pay to get in. I checked after I got home. Not a good surprise - particularly after the team had to pay over $600 to enter the tournament in the first place.

So we pay. And in we go. Then a Canlan staff member tells us that Casper the guide dog in training cannot come into the arena (after we paid mind you). I told him I wanted to talk to his manager. He comes back and tells us we can come in.

We go down the hall (there are 6 ice pads at this place) to find our arena and another staff member tells us the dog cannot be there. We tell him his manager has already approved and he goes away.

We watch the game and Andrew's team loses.

Now it is time for early lunch as the boys have another game at 1 pm. As we are waiting for the boys to change we walk through the arena restaurant and two waitresses tell us the dog cannot be in there. I am more than a little annoyed at this point and tell them that as a guide dog he can be there.

We leave the restaurant to find the boys and another Canlan employee stops us and tells us the dog has to leave. He cannot be persuaded that the dog can stay. He says it is against Board of Health regulations. I explain that it is not, that the board of health allows training guide dogs in restaurants. He then says it is against Canlan policy and we have to leave. No amount of explaining what the dog is doing helps. To quote this employee "this is not a training facility".

So we leave.

But Andrew has another game and we have already paid to see it, and I took the day off school to see it , and I pulled Emma from school to see it. One of the mothers explained this to the Mississauga ice dogs ticket seller and she gave us our game money back.

Now Andrew and Albert have no way to get home if we leave and I am not going to sit in the parking lot for 2 hours. They get a ride home with one of the other players and Emma, Casper and I go home.

I called the Toronto board of health when I got home. A helpful person there said that the dog was allowed in restaurants and asked if I wanted to file a formal complaint. I passed for the time being.

I sent an email to Canlan asking for a faxed copy of their policy against training dog guides. I doubt if I will ever see it or hear anything back from them. Too late anyway.

So that was my Friday the 13th! How was yours?