What's the difference between Service Dogs, Therapy Dogs, and Emotional Support Animals (ESAs)?
- Rachell Hayes
- Nov 15, 2023
- 1 min read
Updated: Nov 15, 2023
There is a lot of misinformation regarding service dogs, therapy dogs and Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) online. This can make it hard to discern the differences between these different working animals and it is very common to run into someone either in the general public or even in the assistance animal community who may be following misguided information. The following labels do have very different jobs, levels of training, types of training, and rights under USA's federal laws.
Service Dogs (SDs)
Description of the job:
An dog who is individually trained to perform tasks or do work that directly mitigate a person's disability.
Examples of work:
Tasks could consist of things like guiding someone who is visually impaired, alerting someone with diabetes to a drop in blood sugar, etc.
Comfort/Emotional Support as tasks or work. Dogs trained in any form of violent protection are ineligible to work as a Service Dog.
Who qualifies for one?
Someone who meets the legal definition of being disabled may qualify for a Service Dog. The diagnosis does not matter, only the level that this diagnosis effects the person. This means whether you are blind or suffer from debilitating anxiety, you may qualify for a service dog. However, only a doctor treating your diagnosis can say for sure whether you qualify for one.
What type of animal is allowed to be a Service Dog?
Federally, only dogs and (occasionally) miniature horses are given access rights to work as a Service Dog. Other types of animals may only be allowed in select places according to state and local laws.
Minimum training level required?
All Service Dogs must be trained to assist with your disability by performing tasks or doing work that specifically mitigates the symptoms of your diagnosis.
If you plan to bring your dog into a public setting as a Service Dog, they must additionally be potty trained and have public access training. If your dog is not potty trained, aggressive, or out of control you may legally be told to leave and regardless of if your dog is a service dog.
If you only plan to have your dog work in your home, this is still a valid Service Dog.
Service Dog training typically takes two or more years.
Rights for public access:
Service Dogs have public access rights in most locations as long as it is not considered a "clean" area (e.g. a surgery amphitheater in a hospital), disrupts the functionality of business (e.g. a cat cafe), or either the service dog is in danger or poses a danger to the environment (e.g. in open-air exhibits in a zoo).
Rights for employment:
Service dogs have access to your employment environment sometimes. Technically, service dogs are not required to have access to employment, rather they must be considered for a reasonable accommodation. This is because the title of the ADA that covers employment does not specifically state service dogs must be allowed.
Rights for housing:
If the landlord or HOA meets the requirements of the FHA, yes, the service dog handler is required to have equal access to housing under the FHA. They may be required to provide proof of disability and how the service dog assists with said disability, if the disability and correlation to the service dog is not obvious.
Rights for air travel:
Yes, a Service Dog has access to travel by air (in an aircraft or airplane) as long as they alert the airline at least 48 hours in advance of their flight.
Emotional Support Animals (ESAs)
Description of the job:
An animal whose sole job is to provide comfort to someone who is disabled. The animal must provide some specific relief in connection to their disability.
Examples of work:
An example of an ESA could be:
A dog who encourages someone with disabling anxiety to go for a daily walk to improve mood and help relieve stress.
A cat who cuddles when someone's depression flares up.
A person owns a bird to vent to without receiving judgement back and nuzzle to relieve stress.
Who qualifies for one?
Someone who meets the legal definition of being disabled. The diagnosis does not matter, only the level that this diagnosis effects the person. Technically, ESAs can even be for a physical diagnosis as there is no requirement that the diagnosis be related to mental health.
What type of animal is allowed?
Common household pets, unless required due to disability to be a different animal, are typically the animal that is legally allowed to be an Emotional Support Animal.
Minimum training level required?
They do not have any required training beyond that of a basic pet.
Rights for public access:
No additional rights are granted for public access beyond where pets are already allowed.
Rights for employment:
Surprisingly, they possibly may have access under the same title that service dogs may be considered a reasonable accommodation for employment. Like service dogs, they will have to request access ahead of time and are guaranteed it. They may face more of an uphill battle when it comes to it, especially for species other than dogs.
Rights for housing:
If the landlord or HOA meets the requirements of the FHA, yes, the emotional support animal's owner is required to have equal access to housing under the FHA. They may be required to provide proof of disability and how the ESA assists with said disability, if the disability and correlation to the ESA is not obvious.
Rights for air travel:
No, Emotional Support Animals do not have access to traveling by air with their ESA in cabin. They will have to pay for their ESA to travel with them, the same as a pet. Depending on the size of the animal and airline, they may be allowed to keep the animal in a carrier at the bottom of their feet. While they used to be allowed to travel with their human counterpart free of charge, ESAs access to air travel was removed in 2020.
Therapy Dogs (TDs)
Description of the job:
An animal, typically a dog, who is trained to comfort people other than their handler in a polite and controlled manner.
Examples of work:
Therapy dogs are commonly invited to:
schools
libraries
hospitals
airports
rehabilitation centers
places where traumatic events have occurred
Who qualifies for one?
Anyone who wants to volunteer with a therapy dog and has a dog who they are willing to train or have trained to become a therapy dog.
What type of animal is allowed?
The type of therapy animal depends on the organization and location where you are looking to volunteer.
Minimum training level required?
The level of training depends on the organization. Most require at least earning your American Kennel Club's Canine Good Citizen title.
Rights for public access:
No, therapy dogs do not have any additional public access rights beyond where a pet is allowed to be in public. That being said, they may be invited places to work where normal pets are not allowed, they just aren't guaranteed access without preapproval.
Rights for employment:
No, but depending on the job they may be invited to an owner's job to work as a therapy dog. For example, a school counselor may be allowed to bring her therapy dog to school to provide the students with animal assisted therapy.
Rights for housing:
No, therapy dogs are not given additional rights to housing in the USA.
Rights for air travel:
No, therapy dogs are not given additional rights to air travel in the USA.
Sources:
The information listed above is correct as of November 15th, 2023. Always double check this information through the primary sources listed.
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