Are You Required to Register or to Do Anything With Your Dog to Qualify It as a Service/emotional Support Dog?
Question by anton: are you required to register or to do anything with your dog to qualify it as a service/emotional support dog?
I would like to know if I am required to have my dog registered or anything along those lines (or if there are any requirement other then the dog helping me with my disability) so that I could go in to public places with out the fear of being harassed about it?
Best answer:
Answer by *****
Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals are two totally and completely different things!
Service Dogs are those that are task-trained to assist their legally disabled handler with major life tasks they are unable to accomplish on their own due to their disability. For example, guide dogs for the blind. Hearing dogs for the deaf. Dogs that assist the paralyzed in picking up items, taking off or putting on clothing, opening doors, etc. Dogs which fetch medication and seek assistance for an owner having a seizure. Emotional Support is VERY specifically excluded as a task under the law. Service Dogs have full public access rights. Training for a service dog is generally 9-18 months of very intensive training. People’s lives often depend on service dogs being able to perform their jobs consistently in all situations. There is no federal certification or registration. Some individual states may require registration of a service dog. People are allowed to ask you what tasks the dog does to assist you. They are technically not allowed to ask you what disability you have, but be prepared for people not to know the law and to ask anyway. Also be prepared, if you are not visibly disabled, for people not educated on the law to challenge your dog’s right o be in public places where pets aren’t allowed, and even for them to attempt to force you to leave. This is one of the reasons that, in the very rare case that a service dog may be able to do tasks to assist someone with an emotional condition, physicians often decline to recommend them. Being repeatedly harassed and challenged often outweighs the benefits provided by the dog for people with conditions like anxiety or depression.
Emotional Support Animals are therapeutic pets owned by legally disabled individuals that mitigate their disability through emotional support and affection. THEY DO NOT HAVE PUBLIC ACCESS RIGHTS. The only areas where ESAs have special treatment are most rental housing (which usually has to allow them as a reasonable accommodation for the person’s disability), and airlines, which have to allow them in-cabin. Both are also contingent upon the animal not being a danger to others (i.e. it’s well behaved). There is no registration or certification for ESAs, but you will need to present the landlord or airline with a letter from your treating doctor certifying that you meet the definition of disabled under the ADA, and specifying what mitigating effects your dog has on your disability. It is not required to disclose the specific nature of your disability, just to certify that you have one. With rental housing, you have to request permission to keep the dog in no-pets housing as a reasonable accommodation for your disability under the Fair Housing Act. Get any such permission in writing.
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