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What
is a Service Dog?
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First, it is important to understand the difference between a Service
Dog, a Therapy Dog and an Emotional Support Dog.
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A
Service Dog is specifically trained to do work or perform
tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability.
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Service
dogs perform some of the functions and tasks that the individual
with a disability cannot perform for him/her self.
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By
law, a disabled person is permitted to be accompanied by their
Service Dog in all places of public accommodation.
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A
Service Dog is not a pet.
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A
Therapy Dog participates in animal-assisted therapy
(visiting hospitals, schools, nursing homes, etc.) and is usually
the personal pet of its handler.
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Therapy
dogs do not have the same rights as service dogs, as they are
not specifically trained to do work or perform tasks for the
benefit of a person with a disability.
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Therapy
dogs are pets.
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Therapy
dogs are not allowed in public places with "no
pets" policies.
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An
Emotional
Support
Dog is a dog
that is incorporated into a treatment process to assist in
alleviating health related symptoms of an individual.
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Emotional
support dogs do not have the same rights as service animals, as
they are not specifically trained to do work or perform tasks
for the benefit of a person with a disability.
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Emotional
support dogs are pets.
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Emotional
support dogs are not allowed in public places with
"no pets" policies.
Service dogs are versatile,
reliable assistants for people with disabilities. Service dogs help people
overcome the limitations of their disabilities and the barriers in their
environments.
They can be trained to reliably perform a wide variety
of tasks, some of which are:
Hearing Alert
Assistance to alert a
person to the presence of specific sounds, such as:
smoke/fire/clock alarms, crying baby, telephone, etc.
Help
Alert Assistance to alert for help on cue.
Leading a person who
has a visual impairment.
Miscellaneous Assistance
( open/close doors & drawers, help person undress/dress, carry items in
backpack, etc.)
Mobility Assistance to
help a person balance, pulling wheelchair, helping a person rise from
sitting or fallen position.
Retrieval Assistance to help a
person get items that are
dropped or otherwise out of reach, carrying items by mouth.
Sense and alert owner
to oncoming seizures enabling the owner to
position themselves safely.
Walker/Buffer
Assistance to help
with walking by balancing or acting as a counter balance and acting
as a physical buffer to jostling by others.
Service animals
are legally defined (Americans With Disabilities Act, 1990) and are
trained to meet the disability-related needs of their handlers who have
disabilities. Federal laws protect the rights of individuals with
disabilities to be accompanied by their service animals in public places.
The civil rights of people with
disabilities to be accompanied by their service dogs in
public places are provided for by the following legislation:
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Federal law, the Air Carrier Access Act
(1986) [final regulations issued 1990]
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Federal law, the Fair Housing Amendments
Act (1988)
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Federal law, the Rehabilitation Act
(1973)
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Federal law, the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990)
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Other local, state, and federal laws might
also apply in specific situations
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Note: When state and federal law conflict, the law
which is less restrictive (i.e., gives greater protection) to the person
with the disability prevails.
An important part of a service
dog's training is socialization to all kinds of distracting environments,
including training around unusual things like astronauts, airplanes, clowns and other animals.
Holidays at the mall
are
an excellent opportunity for service dogs in training ... they might even get
to meet "Santa Claus"!
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