DES MOINES, Iowa — Most dog owners love including their best friend when possible. Army veteran Zac Fox never leaves home without his dog, Kernel because the purpose his K-9 serves makes family time outside their home possible.

“I went through years of severe anxiety,” Fox said. “I had issues sleeping, I had flashbacks, I had nightmares. I would always tell people just imagine the worst.”

Three years ago he found a way to cope after his wife, Lindsay hooked up with the Puppy Jake Foundation to help foster and train puppies to become service dogs and placed with veterans suffering from physical and emotional scars of war. Kernel was one of their recruits.

“Never in a million years did we ever think we would be able to keep Kernel,” Lindsay Fox said. “We assumed we would be getting another dog and maybe we would have a hand in training that and maybe not, but we were completely ready to give Kernel up.”

Instead, after Zac submitted his application, the decision was made to keep the bonded duo together.

“He changed my life for the better and I don’t know where I’d be without him and without (Lindsay),” Fox said.

But not everyone understands what Kernel’s vest means or what he does, which made a recent family trip awkward.

“We were just trying to get lunch as a family and were asked to leave because the employee didn’t understand that we had a service dog. We tried to educate,” Lindsay Fox said.

Zac tried to hand him a card with Kernel’s picture and name complete with laws defining the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“Tried to hand him literature on the ADA laws, what two questions he could ask and he was not interested in seeing that,” Zac Fox said.

Unlike emotional support or therapy animals, service dogs are allowed public access rights by law to accompany a person with a disability with few exceptions like areas where food is prepared or when the safety of the person or dog could be compromised.

“Unfortunately there are people who either don’t understand, or purposefully claim their K-9 is a service dog so they can be allowed to take them wherever they want and that’s very sad and hurts people with disabilities,” Fox said.

ADA law states an establishment may ask a person if their service animal is required because of a disability and what work or task the dog been trained to perform. They are not allowed to request any documentation showing the dog is registered, licensed, or certified as a service animal, nor does the dog have to demonstrate tasks.

“What we always say is treat Kernel like you would a wheelchair because (he) is a medical device. I have had people ask me why I have Kernel, so I rephrase the question, ‘you want to know what my disability is?’ They usually understand real fast why the question was inappropriate,” Fox added.

Those questions are the exception. Ninety percent of the time the family never has an issue in public, Fox said.

“I love it when people say ‘nice dog, beautiful dog,’ and they keep walking,” Zac Fox said.

Despite being asked to sit outside the restaurant, the Fox family chose to sit and dine inside the restaurant without further issue. Lindsay Fox said they did eventually make contact with the owner and feel the situation has been resolved.

“We’ve been married for 13 years now and about 10 of those were spent avoiding people, places or I would do things without him, so it’s fantastic Zac can do some of the things I love. It’s just a sense of freedom for all of us,” Lindsay added.