wHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SERVICE DOG, EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL & THERAPY DOG?
WHAT IS A SERVICE DOG?
Service dogs are protected by both Federal and State Laws. According to the Department of Justice, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) a service animal is defined as any DOG that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual or other mental disability. The work or tasks performed by the dog must mitigate and be directly related to the handler’s disability. In March, 2011, revisions to the ADA excluded all animals but dogs (and miniature horses in special provisions) as service animals.
The ADA’s definition of a service dog states “Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties.
Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
A service dog is a working animal, not a pet. They require a great deal of specialized training to learn tasks that will mitigate their handler’s disability such as obstacle avoidance for those with sight impairments, alerting to sounds for those with hearing impairments, retrieving dropped items for those with mobility impairments, alerting to an oncoming anxiety attack for those with PTSD or a myriad of other tasks which are outlined at http://www.iaadp.org/tasks.html
Service dogs have legally defined public access rights, which means they are allowed to accompany their disabled handler in all areas where members of the public are allowed to go. Additional information on this law can be found at this link http://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm.
WHAT IS AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL?
An emotional support animal is typically a pet that provides therapeutic support to their handler who has a psychiatric disability through companionship. If a doctor determines that a patient with a mental illness would benefit from an emotional support animal, the doctor can write letters of support to public housing and airlines so the animal can be allowed in “no pets” housing or in the cabin of a plane.
The ADA considers emotional support animals to be distinctly different from PTSD and psychiatric service dogs. The ADA does not grant emotional support animals the same access to public places that it gives to individuals who use service, psychiatric or PTSD dogs to mitigate their disability.
There is little or no training required for an emotional support animal. They are not trained specific tasks to mitigate their handler’s disability. Their main role is to comfort their handler.
WHAT IS A THERAPY DOG?
A therapy dog is a pet dog that volunteers with their owner to provide affection and comfort to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, hospices, disaster areas, etc. Therapy dogs do not have public access like service dogs do. However, there are some service dogs, such as ours, who are also therapy dogs.
Therapy dogs provide a wide array of support, such as having children read to them, accompanying a child to a court session, visiting elders in nursing homes and much more.
Therapy dogs do not have public access like service dogs do, nor do they have rights to fly in the cabin of planes or live in no-pet housing.
A therapy dog is a pet dog that volunteers with their owner to provide affection and comfort to people in hospitals, retirement homes, nursing homes, schools, hospices, disaster areas, etc. Therapy dogs do not have public access like service dogs do. However, there are some service dogs, such as ours, who are also therapy dogs.
Therapy dogs provide a wide array of support, such as having children read to them, accompanying a child to a court session, visiting elders in nursing homes and much more.
Therapy dogs do not have public access like service dogs do, nor do they have rights to fly in the cabin of planes or live in no-pet housing.
