Many people think that service dogs, emotional support dogs, and therapy dogs are all one and the same. The reality is that these dogs all have different jobs, and very different level of training.
What is a Service dog?
A service dog is a dog who is fully task trained to assist a handler with a disability. The individual tasks that a dog performs varies widely, and there are so many incredible things that dogs can do to help out their handler. Mobility assistance dogs assist people with physical disabilities to pick up dropped items, help getting in and out of chairs, open doors, turn lights on and off, and bring items to their handler on cue. Seeing eye dogs or guide dogs help their handler who is vision impaired to stay safe in public by watching for traffic and other dangers, make sure their handler doesn’t misstep off a curb, and they can even watch out for low hanging objects that could hit their handler in the head.
It takes about two years to fully train a service dog, as they have a very high standard of obedience and task training. A service dog must be immaculately behaved in public, never touching other people or merchandise, ignoring distractions, and paying full attention to their handler. Service dogs are legally protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). They cannot be denied from entering a public business, and things like allergies or fear of dogs are not a valid reason to deny entry to a legitimate service dog team.
According to the ADA, a business owner can ask two questions of a handler to determine if they have a legitimate service dog. These questions are:
Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?
They are not allowed to ask for or require an animal ID or paperwork for certification, and any company promising to sell you a service dog ID is a scam out to take your money. Businesses can, however, deny entry to a dog who is not housebroken, who is behaving aggressively, or who are damaging merchandise. There are a few places not actually covered by the ADA, and this includes airplanes, which require separate documentation through the Department of Transportation.
What is an Emotional Support Dog?
An emotional support dog (and actually many animals can be considered emotional support animals) or ESA, is a dog who is not task trained but does provide comfort to a handler suffering from a mental illness. Emotional support dogs are not covered by the ADA, but are covered under the Fair Housing Act in most cases. In order for your pet to be considered an emotional support dog, you need to have a signed letter from a mental health professional explaining that the dog is part of your treatment and is helping to alleviate your symptoms.
Once you have this letter, you can take it to your landlord and your dog will be allowed to. live with you without being able to be denied, without you being charged a pet fee or extra cleaning fee, and without you having to pay extra deposits. The exception to this is that a landlord who is renting a single family home, or one who owner occupies in a building with 4 or fewer units is not required to permit ESA’s. Landlords are also able to kick out any animals who cause significant damage to the property, or those who are threatening or aggressive to other people. The owner of the ESA is responsible for any damage done by their pet to the property as well.
ESA’s do great things for their owners, but they are not given the same public access rights as service dogs. Any store that is not considered to be pet friendly is off limits to an ESA. There is a common misconception that psychiatric service dogs and ESA’s are the same thing, but they perform very different roles. Psychiatric service dogs perform tasks such as guiding their owner to a safe quiet place during a panic attack, providing deep pressure therapy on cue, interrupting self harming or stimming behaviors, or interrupting disassociation. ESA’s provide great comfort and companionship to their owner and also serve an important role, but their lack of task and public access training makes them different from service dogs.
What is a Therapy Dog?
Therapy dogs serve an entirely different purpose that is no less important. Therapy dogs are extremely well trained and socially stable dogs who go into different environments to provide comfort and companionship to people other than their owner. Therapy dogs may go to the hospital to visit sick patients, they may lie patiently with a child reading to them at a library event, or they may provide crisis support to children in the court system. These dogs are generally highly social and attuned to people, and love to be pet and be close to people. It is very important despite their sociability that therapy dogs not jump up on people or lean on them, as they are often working around people with mobility struggles.
Therapy dog organizations, such as Therapy Dogs International, do their own set of testing and certification for the dogs in their programs. They may also have additional vaccine requirements or other health requirements for the dogs to make sure they are not putting the public at risk in any way. While some people work a therapy dog individually in a specific facility, many people work under the umbrella of an organization that provides the facility connections as well as insurance.
The Wonder of Dogs
Dogs are such incredible friends to us, and are capable of so many amazing things. Each of these jobs listed in this article is important and valuable, and it’s impotent to understand the difference in the skills that these dogs possess. If you are interested in learning more about these jobs, or about signing up for one of our service dog training programs, contact us.
