Kitty, I think what you said about not answering the email was the best idea. Especially since you haven't heard from this cousin in a long time.

With a service dog, I get all kinds of questions. One man actually looked at me and asked, "can you see?" I said "yes"! I had the manager of a restaurant come over to the table and say, "I see you have a guide dog. We just got in these Braille menus and I was wondering if you would like to have one". I explained that Monty was not a guide dog but a service dog, and that I was not blind but I fall down a lot. That one was comical.

One thing I love about having Monty with me is that people usually focus on him and not on me.