The Dog Trainers Diary

Service Dogs and What to do When You See One.

What Is a Service Dog?

There are a lot of misconceptions in our surrounding communities when it comes to service dogs. Service Dogs are extremely important animals that help individuals with disabilities. The official ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) definition of service dogs is: “dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities.” There are many tasks a dog can do to mitigate their handler’s disability. This could be anything from alerting to a medical episode (heart rate, seizure, blood sugar, etc.), assisting with mobility tasks like opening doors, picking things up off the floor or helping with balance, or helping with psychiatric episodes like interrupting panic attacks or helping with PTSD.

Service Dogs are not required to wear any equipment identifying them as Service Dogs and there is no paperwork or registration for Service Dogs. This is done for many reasons so if you see a dog in public, do not assume they are not a service dog because they aren’t wearing a vest. Likewise, just because an individual does not “Appear” disabled, it does not mean that they aren’t or they do not need a Service Dog. So be mindful and polite to handlers. 

What to do When You See A Service Animal

If you encounter a Service Dog and their handler in public, it is extremely important that you do not distract them! Even gestures that seem harmless like staring, talking to the dog, cooing or offering a hand to sniff may be extremely distracting and can be dangerous for the handler. When a Service Dog gets distracted it could cause them to miss an important alert to medical events that could endanger the life of their handler. 

The best thing you can do when you see a Service Dog and Handler in public is to ignore them and give them space when possible. Do not ask to pet their dog or try to call to them. Be polite, mindful and respectful and do not make assumptions based on the appearance of the handler or dog. 

There are two questions that businesses can ask a handler of a Service Dog: 

1. Is this a Service Dog required
because of a disability? 

2. What task or work are they trained   to perform? 

Asking someone what their disability is or what’s wrong with them is rude, even if the person does not mean any offense by it. No one is allowed to ask for documentation or demonstration of a task. Be respectful of handlers and respect their privacy. 

Difference Between Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals and Therapy Animals

One of the biggest misconceptions that I see is that Emotional Support Animals or ESAs are the same things as Service Dogs and that they have the same public access rights as Service Dogs. This is not true and has been causing a lot of issues. Emotional Support Animals are animals that simply provide an individual with comfort by being with them. They are not task trained to mitigate a disability. ESAs also do not have the same public access rights that Service Dogs do. Service Dogs are allowed to go into public places that are not considered “pet friendly”. This includes stores, restaurants, schools, etc. Emotional Support Animals are allowed in housing facilities that do not allow pets. They are not allowed in stores and are not allowed to go everywhere with their owner. Trying to pass off an ESA or a pet as a Service Dog is not only wrong, it is illegal. 

Therapy Animals are also different from Service Dogs. They do not have housing rights and are only allowed into facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes and VA facilities with the permission of the establishment to provide comfort to the residents. They are not allowed in other facilities or businesses that are not pet friendly. 

For more information on Service Dogs you can visit the ADA website at: ADA.gov

Or visit my website at sitsnwigglesdogtraining.com if you have any questions.