Emotional support, therapy, and service dogs. What are the Differences?

Jax works as a therapy dog at the Woodland Correctional Facility in Whitmore Lake. Photo credit: Tammy Dible

by Cathy Collins

Service. Emotional support. Therapy. Companion dogs—These terms get tossed around loosely and misconceptions abound as to where each type of dog is publicly permitted.

Companion dogs are family pets. They are welcomed on sidewalks and in pet stores and dog parks. Companions are growing more welcomed in hotels and non-food retail stores.

Emotional support dogs are prescribed by a physician to an individual pet owner for a mental health issue such as anxiety or depression. These dogs require no specialized training and are not guaranteed public access. Their access to public spaces comes at the discretion of the business or public institution.

Therapy dogs are used to comfort people in times of crisis or stressful situations, and their certification requires extensive training. Therapy and emotional support dogs are not considered service dogs or defined as such under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Service dogs, also physician prescribed, are individually trained to perform tasks for people with disabilities. Under the ADA, a service animal performs tasks directly related to the individual’s disability. Service dogs complete hundreds of hours of training and must be able to adapt to their handler’s needs as they change over time.

Companion dogs are growing more welcomed in hotels and non-food retail stores. By law, service dogs are allowed public access and are not legally defined as pets.

Guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, assisting someone in a wheelchair, alerting and/or protecting a person having a seizure or other medical condition are examples of work or tasks service dogs are trained to perform.

By law, a service dog is allowed public access and is not legally defined as a pet. It is a working animal. A person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his or her service animal from the premises unless the dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it, or the dog is not housebroken.

The ADA prohibits asking persons about their disabilities or asking that the service animal demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task, as well as other prohibitions. If it is not obvious that the animal is a service animal, only two questions may be asked of the person: 1) Is the animal required because of a disability? 2) What work or task has the animal been trained to perform?

With the prevalence of fake service dogs, it is important to know that an emotional support or therapy dog is not a service dog. Their handler does not possess the same rights as a service dog handler under the ADA. Also important, when encountering a service dog, please do not pet or ask to pet the dog as it distracts it from working.

For more information on service animal law see https://www.michigan.gov/mdcr/0,4613,7-138-74964—,00.html.