Service, Therapy, and Emotional Support: What's the Difference?

[murph]

To a layman, Service Dogs, Therapy Dogs, and Emotional Support animals may be nearly synonymous. However, there is a big difference between the three types of dogs. In this post, I will go over these three types of dogs and their distinct differences.

Emotional Support Animals
Emotional Support Animals (ESA) are animals who's sole purpose is to provide emotional support to their handler.

ESAs are covered under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). Any animal that provides a health benefit and is prescribed by a licensed medical professional is covered by the Fair Housing Act. Because of this, no one with an ESA can be denied housing because of their animal unless it is too big to reasonably live inside the residence.

Because ESAs are protected under the Fair Housing Act, landlords are permitted to ask for documentation. For emotional support animals, the most important document is the ESA letter, which is written by a licensed health care professional. This can include:

• Psychologists or psychiatrists
• Counselors
• Therapists
• Social workers
• Nurses and nurse practitioners
• Physicians and physician assistants

To obtain an ESA letter, the handler must meet with one of these licensed professionals who can determine whether they qualify for an ESA.

Once the handler's care team determines an ESA is necessary, an ESA letter can be drafted up, stating why the ESA is needed, and how it helps with the disability.

The letter must be on signed letterhead and provide key information such as the therapist’s license information and contact details.

Under the FHA, there several are things landlords cannot do if you have an ESA.

This includes:

• Requesting extra rent, deposits, or pet fees for having an ESA
• Asking extensive questions about your disability
• Asking you to register your emotional support animal (especially as there is no such thing as an “official registration” for ESAs)
• Requesting “certification” for your emotional support animal, as the only legal way to qualify an ESA is with the ESA letter
• Demanding that the animal have specific training relating to a disability

Therapy Dogs
Therapy Dogs are dogs that are certified in public access to provide emotional support to people other than the handler, often in groups.

Places you may encounter service dogs include:

• College Campuses
• Hospitals
• Nursing Homes
• Workplaces

Therapy dogs are often certified by an organization that carries insurance in the event that something should happen during the visit. The AKC has therapy dog certification testing, which along with proving your dog is trained for public access, also changes as the handler and their dog complete more hours. While the AKC is not a therapy dog organization, handlers and dogs are often paired with organizations that request therapy dogs through these organizations.

Service Dogs
Have you ever seen a dog with a harness that says "DO NOT PET. I AM WORKING"? That dog was most likely a Service Dog.

A service dog must provide a minimum of 2 work tasks to he considered a Service Dog. Service dogs can be owner trained, or trained at a training facility. Because of this, there is no certification or certificate for service dogs. Service dogs can be purchased from training facilities and often have a price tag of $10,000 on the low end, to $100,000 on the high end.

As of March 15, 2011, only dogs are recognized as service animals under titles II and III of the ADA.

What are some disabilities and tasks SD can help with?

• Diabetes high or low blood sugar alerts
• Seeing eye dogs
• Psychiatric SD anxiety alert
• Medication reminders
• PTSD grounding, room clearing
• Seizure alerts
• Many, many more

Service Dogs are covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

What does the ADA say about service dogs in public?

A service animal must be under the control of its handler. Under the ADA, service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless the individual’s disability prevents using these devices or these devices interfere with the service animal’s safe, effective performance of tasks. (e.g. service dogs do not belong in shopping carts.)

Staff at establishments covered by the ADA are only allowed to ask two questions:

1. Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
2. What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

Servicing staff cannot ask about the person’s disability or require medical documentation.
As there is no requirement that service dogs go through a training program, staff also may not ask for a special identification card or training documentation for the dog. They also may not ask that the dog perform the work or task.

Here are some situations in which a SD can not be denied service.

• Allergies and fear of dogs are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to people using service animals. When a person who is allergic to dog dander and a person who uses a service animal must spend time in the same room or facility, for example, in a school classroom or at a homeless shelter, they both should be accommodated by assigning them, if possible, to different locations within the room or different rooms in the facility.

A person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his service animal from the premises unless

1. The dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it or
2. The dog is not housebroken. When there is a legitimate reason to ask that a service animal be removed, staff must offer the person with the disability the opportunity to obtain goods or services without the animal’s presence.

As stated earlier, SD do not have any sort of national certification. Because of the prevalence of people lying about having service dogs, service dog handlers tend to hold their dogs to exceptionally high standards when out in public.

I could talk about these dogs all day, so I will end this post here. Please make a comment if you have any questions. I would love to start a dialogue!

Do you have experience with any of these types of dogs? Let me know in the comments!

Sources:
US Service Animals

https://usserviceanimals.org/blog/emotional-support-animals-the-fair-housing-act/

AKC

AKC Therapy Dog – American Kennel Club

www.akc.org

ADA

ADA Requirements: Service Animals

This publication provides guidance on the term “service animal” and the service animal provisions in the Department’s regulations.

www.ada.gov

 

[murph]

Fun fact: Murphy was certified as an AKC Therapy dog around the age of 2.5. Training for SD work is much more extensive, and most dogs aren't ready to task until the ages of 3-5

 

[Kaia Murphy]

This is such a clear and well-written breakdown, thank you for taking the time to lay it all out like this. It’s amazing how many people don’t realize just how different each role is, especially between therapy and service dogs. I really like how you explained the legal side too.