Support Animals Defined

There is a lot of misinformation regarding what the different titles for support animals are. For this discussion, we are going to define and try to understand the differences between service dogs, therapy dogs, and emotional support animals.

Service dogs are defined by the American for Disabilities Act (ADA) as "dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities". Service animals are working animals and not pets.

Here is a link to a document from the ADA with additional information:

https://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm

Therapy and emotional support animals do not have defined registrations or controls governed by the ADA. This is where people get into trouble.

According to https://usdogregistry.org/ :

Therapy dogs "provide affection and comfort to individuals in hospitals, nursing homes, and other facilities".

Emotional support animals "help individuals with emotional problems by providing comfort and support". Conditions that typically utilize an emotional support animal are not always visible. People that have anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder/mood disorder, panic attacks, fear/phobias and other psychological and emotional conditions are good candidates for these type of animal.

When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed. Employees or staff may ask two questions: Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and what work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

You cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.

Doing so may be in violation of federal law.

Below is an graphic which may help answer additional questions.