Your Rights are Going to the Dogs (and Other Service Animals)

A fellow poster* on the forums at the Living Barefoot site brought up an issue that continues to poke holes in the notion that going barefooted in public places is unsafe and unhealthy. It also casts serious doubt on the logic used to create such policies.

If going barefooted at the local grocery store or Wal-Mart is unsafe and unhealthy for those doing it and the customers around them, we must address the subject of service animals. They almost always go bare pawed/hooved/footed and yet no one complains about the health and safety ramifications of this practice.

Before I go any further, I must adamantly state that I believe it is appropriate and right to allow service animals to accompany the disabled wherever they need to go. This blog entry is solely for the purpose of exposing ignorant managerial policy of many businesses that require human customers to wear footwear.

Ann Edie and her guide miniature horse, Panda, check out at a Staples.
(Photo courtesy: Angelinoview.com)

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) allows for service animals to accompany disabled people nearly wherever they go. On its Web site, the ADA puts it this way:

"Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), privately owned businesses that serve the public, such as restaurants, hotels, retail stores, taxicabs, theaters, concert halls, and sports facilities, are prohibited from discriminating against individuals with disabilities. The ADA requires these businesses to allow people with disabilities to bring their service animals onto business premises in whatever areas customers are generally allowed."

So the ADA allows for the animals without considering any sort of health or safety ramifications? Well, not exactly. Farther down the page there is a caveat:

"(A business) may exclude any animal, including a service animal, from (its) facility when that animal's behavior poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others. For example, any service animal that displays vicious behavior towards other guests or customers may be excluded."

I added the bold for emphasis.

While the ADA's site addresses the issue of "maintenance" or a "cleaning fee" in the event that a service animal makes a mess (in one way or another), no mention is made regarding the business' responsibility to keep the establishment safe or healthy for the service animal. If we are to assume -- because we barefooters are told this -- that a business' floor is unsafe for our feet due to the possibility of stepping on broken glass, sharp objects, germs or any various kinds of spilled items, then we must assume that the same holds true for the exposed paws of service animals.

Interestingly enough, the ADA's FAQ page linked above never addresses a question about whether a business can require service animal to wear booties or footwear. (Doggie shoe photo courtesy: Neopaws.com) So I called by phone the ADA's "Disability Rights Section." After holding for only a brief couple of minutes, a specialist quickly answered, "No," when I asked if businesses may request or require that service animals put on such footwear. A disclaimer: The ADA's phone system recording made it very clear that information given over such a call is not binding legal advice or opinion, however I have to think that these employees know what they're talking about.

So where does that leave us? It leaves me with the realization that I have fewer rights than many dogs. It tells me that the federal government of the United States of America believes that the floors of businesses should be generally safe enough for a service animal's bare paw/hoof/foot insomuch that said businesses may not request footwear to "protect" them.

It makes me think that businesses need to give up several outdated excuses and let me and others go barefooted if we so choose. Service animals already do it, so it seems silly that we humans can't.

Owners and managers certainly have an obligation to protect their own interests. Yes, glass breaks sometimes. But, we should remember that when a jar of spaghetti sauce shatters at the grocery store, somebody quickly cleans it up as well as they can. What's left is typically negligible and is no more a risk to my bare feet than a product display tipping over.

You could argue that service animals shouldn't go barepawed/hooved/footed into a business -- and that's your prerogative and a whole other discussion -- but the law is what it is and most people never second-guess the cleanliness or safety of a business' floor when a service animal comes in. Why, then, should they second-guess my ability to stay safe while barefooted in a restaurant, grocery store, retailer or other establishment? Most only have a fleeting thought about what a service animal may be tracking onto the floor of the business, yet many are quick to assume that my bare feet are slathering the floor with disgusting sweat, bacteria and disease.

Honestly, folks, so long as we keep our "paws" generally clean and off of the merchandise, it's perfectly reasonable for us barefooters to be allowed to go unshod in a business.

* - Thanks to "Rascal" for the idea for this blog entry!

An Ode* to Baby Wipes

Oh, baby wipes,

When first I started barefooting, my feet, they would get so dirty.
And then I discovered the solution was near in a diaper bag.
You -- baby wipes -- you, the very same moist cloths
Used to de-poop my daughter's rear end
Could also cleanse my sole...and the other.

Oh, baby wipes,

How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways:
One, the little piggie that went to the market.
Two, the little piggie who stayed home.
Three, the little piggie who had roast beef.
Four, sadly, the little piggie who had none.
Fifth, and most importantly, you might agree dear wipes
Is the piggie who cried so sadly.
You bring comfort and cleanliness to
The little piggie who went "Wee, wee, wee,"
All the way home.

Oh, baby wipes,

The piggies are but one portion of my sole...and the other
Which you doth clean.
For your overarching cleaning abilities
Do also come to the fore...and the other.
Your heeling cleansing brings completeness
To a troubled, dirty pod...and the other.

Oh, baby wipes,

In your wake lies peace and cleanliness.
In your stead you leave softness.
After being touched by you
I can go on, head held high and
Feet on the ground for
I have been made freshly anew!

And I, baby wipes, am forever grateful.

So many people who shun the idea of barefooting do so on the grounds of not wanting their feet to get dirty. The fact of the matter is, however, that the feet can be easily cleaned if stuff gets on them. While the best way is to clean with soap and water, that isn't always a viable option.

Baby wipes are the #1 easiest way to clean your feet throughout the day while barefoot. There are times where you really want to wipe your feet off because of how dirty they've gotten. It really is an appropriate thing to do when you wish to curl your feet up on a piece of furniture, put them up on a coffee table or any other number of times where you'd like your feet up off of the floor. In those cases, baby wipes are the next best thing to a shower and are essentially as effective at cleaning off the foot. Hey, if wipes work for cleaning all of that off a kiddos bum, wouldn't they work well cleaning dirt off of our feet?

Through my wife's and my bouts of diaper rash with our little ones, we no longer buy wipes with any kind of alcohol or propylene glycol. These products tend to dry the skin out and make such conditions worse. I imagine that the same would occur with the feet. I prefer to buy Huggies Natural Care unscented wipes** (pictured above). They don't contain the above products, are easy to find, reasonably priced, strong and very effective at cleaning off all kinds of dirt and grime from the foot. What's more, I feel like they leave the foot moisturized.

If you're holding off on going barefoot because of concerns about dirt, grab a package of baby wipes next time you go to the store. Go barefoot for a while and bring them along. You'll be surprised at how effective they are at keeping your feet clean, moist and happy!

* - Okay, so it's not an actual ode, as typically patterned in the ABABCDECDE rhyme scheme. It's more of an homage without any real lyrical structure. So sue me. ;-)
** - I do not receive any compensation from Huggies or any of its subsidiaries or related companies. Product endorsement is made solely on my use of the product.

Camping in Bare Feet & Minimalist Footwear

Last weekend I had the opportunity and privilege to go camping with my son at Wallace State Park here in Missouri. We joined my sister and her family for a couple of days of food, relaxation, hiking, fishing and most importantly...s'mores!

While there, I continued a lifestyle of going barefoot or wearing minimalist shoes. Although I wanted to go barefoot most of the time, the gravel and acorns covering the ground of our camp sites made it uncomfortably prohibitive to go barefoot with any speed or efficiency. That said, I did manage to go barefoot some of the time, walking around our sites a little bit and doing some barefoot hiking on one of the trails. A significant majority of the time I wore my Vibram Fivefingers Sprint (VFFs) footwear, but on the last morning I caved to the 39F/4C temperature and wore socks with my Vivo Barefoot Dharma (Vivos) shoes. All in all, I'd say I wore my VFFs about 80% of my awake time while going barefoot about 15% and wearing the Vivos the final 5%:

Mmm, pie...charts.

I also took my Terra Plana Trip Clips with me. After getting them "dialed in" just right they worked well at keeping my jeans cuffs off of the ground. That was very helpful since barefooting and wearing minimalist shoes like the VFFs and Vivos usually keeps my cuffs low enough to rub the ground as I walk. I will certainly be doing a review later on to offer additional thoughts and tips on how best to use the clips.

Some more thoughts on barefoot/minimalist footwear camping:

• Your active feet quickly get used to cold temperatures. Even in the early morning my feet did generally well barefoot or wearing just the VFF Sprints. I only wore the Vivos for the first couple hours of the coldest morning because I wasn't very active yet. If I'd started off with a run or hike or lots of walking around then the VFFs Sprints would have been enough.
• Vibram Fivefingers, compared to bare feet, provide just enough sole protection to guard against uncomfortable gravel and acorns on the ground. I could feel the surfaces pretty well with them on, but it felt more like a foot massage instead of discomfort.
• Terra Plana's Vivo Barefoot shoes, for all of their wonderful qualities, really don't provide anywhere as close of a "barefoot" feel as Vibram Fivefingers. This really became apparent on the camping trip. On smooth surfaces the differences are much less noticeable. On gravely, rocky surfaces the flexibility of the Vibram Fivefingers really shines. Not only that, but Vivos are much more loose on the foot and I would be hesitant to go hiking in them.
• Hiking barefoot on non-gravely trails is spectacular! Nothing makes you feel more connected with nature and the earth like walking through the woods with your bare soles on the ground. Definitely try it if you get the chance. Yes, your feet will get a bit dirty, but it's worth it.

As a side note, my nephew Austin also took some opportunities to go barefoot during the trip. While he didn't hike barefoot, he did kick off his shoes a couple of times. Once, at the end of a trail as we walked back on paved roads to our sites, he went barefoot and stayed unshod for quite a while. I'm proud of him.

Overall, camping barefoot and in minimalist footwear was wonderful. It helped me feel so much more connected with the ground below and the trees above. At no point did I feel a sense of danger for my feet, even when walking over rocks in the dry riverbed or up some steep trail inclines in my VFFs. The trip got me even more interested in learning more about and exploring the concept of MovNat, which is kind of like parkour in nature. The trip was refreshing for body and soul and I can't wait to go back and do even more things barefoot. It certainly makes me want to get outdoors more and enjoy whatever nature is around me.

I'm Not Going to "Fall" Down

I'm going camping this weekend.

But when I return, so will more information and discussion right here at Barefoot and Grounded. I've got a lot to talk about from product reviews to my thoughts on all things barefoot.

A new poll will open up next week, too. Check out the results from the last one. Even though we've got a lot of barefoot fans, we have a lot of work to do to help you "shoddies" step INTO your comfort zone.

Many people take a hiatus from barefooting for the colder months. I assure you that I'm going to head full steam into fall and winter determined to stay as barefoot or minimalist as possible.

I'm looking forward to talking with you about it all...after I come back from camping. :-)

Smiles,
Michael