You Have a Service or Assistive Dog

You Have a Service or Assistive Dog

Delta Society’s National Service Dog Center

Copyright Delta Society. Reprinted with permission.

What Is a Service Dog?

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990), a dog is considered a "service dog" if it has been "individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability."

Also according to the ADA, a "disability" is a "mental or physical condition which substantially limits a major life activity" such as:

caring for one's self 

performing manual tasks 

walking 

seeing 

hearing 

speaking 

breathing 

learning 

working 

Some disabilities may not be visible, such as:

deafness 

epilepsy 

psychiatric conditions 

To be considered a service dog, the dog must be trained to perform tasks directly related to the person's disability. 

The Difference between Service Animals, Therapy Animals, Companion Animals and "Social/therapy" Animals 

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. Service animals are not considered "pets." 

Therapy animals are not legally defined by federal law, but some states have laws defining therapy animals. They provide people with contact to animals, but are not limited to working with people who have disabilities. They are usually the personal pets of their handlers, and work with their handlers to provide services to others. Federal laws have no provisions for people to be accompanied by therapy animals in places of public accommodation that have "no pets" policies. Therapy animals usually are not service animals. 

Companion animal is not legally defined, but is accepted as another term for pet. 

"Social/therapy" animals likewise have no legal definition. They often are animals that did not complete service animal or service dog training due to health, disposition, trainability, or other factors, and are made available as pets for people who have disabilities. These animals might or might not meet the definition of service animals.