XPRESS MAGAZINE
Service Dogs 101: Intro to the good boys and girls of the Bay Area.
Cloud Galanes-Rosenbaum lays on her living room floor next to her service dog Billie in San Francisco, Calif. March 1, 2020. (Emily Curiel / Xpress Magazine) Story by Ryce Stoughtenborough Photos by Emily Curiel
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he first time Billie, a sensory processing service dog, saved the life of Cloud Galanes-Rosenbaum, 33, was during the 2015 San Francisco Pride Parade. Galanes-Rosenbaum, a Castro District native, who has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), experiences severe panic attacks when she experiences too much sensory input — blaring music ac-
companied with hundreds of bellowing voices can trigger attacks. She said that during these moments, she goes into a “fight or flight” response, a survival mechanism that enables people to act quickly during perceived life-threatening situations, causing her to become unaware of obstacles and people around her. Because of this, Billie is trained to bring her owner back to reality.
One of the [Pride] floats was driving by and I didn’t see it. I was just panicking, trying to get out of there,” Galanes-Rosenbaum said. “And [Billie] walked right in front of me and stopped and just locked up. So, it was [either] trip over the dog or come back to reality.” Galanes-Rosenbaum said she walked directly into her carob-colored Australian Kelpie, clearing the haze of her panic enough 8
for her to walk into a corner and remove herself from the crowd. Billie successfully analyzed the situation, sensed her owner was in danger and acted. The tactic of going against her owners will — walking in front of a moving obstacle — is called intelligent disobedience; a life-saving skill taught to service dogs like Billie. “I did break down and ugly cry like a crazy teenager,” Galnes-Rosenbaum said. “But it’s better than
