Service Animals
Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals, and Therapy Animals
By Diane Cummins on November 3, 2022
Service dogs (SDs), emotional support animals (ESAs), and therapy animals play powerful roles in human health and welfare. What defines a service animal? What defines an emotional support animal? What about therapy animals? These questions will be answered in the following paragraphs.
Service Animals
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), The U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) defines "service animals" as "dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities" (ADA.gov, 2020). While this definition refers strictly to dogs, miniature horses have also been trained to perform tasks or work for people with disabilities. As such, miniature horses are also covered by the ADA (Yamamoto & Hart, 2019). The remainder of this section will refer to dogs as service animals. Service dogs (SDs) can be trained to assist people with disabilities in many ways. For example, guide dogs are trained to assist people who have visual impairments; hearing dogs are trained to assist people who have hearing impairments; and mobility dogs are trained to bring their partners dropped items, open automatic doors, or turn lights on or off.
Another type of SD is the seizure alert dog, which is trained to notify its partner before an epileptic seizure occurs. It is believed that these dogs can detect a seizure before it occurs due to the scent that their partners give off prior to the impending seizure. These dogs are also trained to alert caregivers or family members of the seizure and to fetch emergency response systems.
There are also diabetic alert dogs, which are trained to detect when their partners blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia). Diabetic alert dogs are trained using samples of sweat obtained from their owners, including some samples taken when blood sugar is low and other samples taken when blood sugar is normal. In a 2016 study, Los et al. demonstrated that diabetic alert dogs often do alert their owners to unknown hypoglycemia when the owners are asymptomatic; however, due to a high false-positive rate, the dogs were much less accurate than a continuous glucose monitor.
Therapy Animals
Animal therapy refers to various services that use animals to help people cope with certain physical or mental health conditions. The foundation of animal therapy is the human-animal bond, which describes a person's desire to engage with and relate to animals (Johnson, 2020). The positive interactions with an animal may lead to benefits in the body and mind, including reduced stressed and a more stable mood.
Dogs are frequently used in therapeutic settings. It is important to note that therapy dogs are not the same as service dogs. A therapy dog is a dog that visits hospitals, care homes, schools, and other places where groups of people exist. Unlike service dogs, therapy dogs are trained to allow unfamiliar people to interact with them in order to provide comfort to people. Therapy dogs do not have the same legal designation as service dogs, and the owners of therapy dogs do not have the same rights to be accompanied by these dogs in places that prohibit pets (Alliance of Therapy Dogs, 2017).
Another animal commonly used in therapy is the horse. Equine therapy incorporates horses into the therapeutic process and allows participants to groom horses, feed them, and lead them. Through equine therapy, people develop important skills such as emotional regulation, responsibility, and self confidence (Clarke, 2021). Seldom used as a sole treatment, equine therapy is often a complement to more traditional therapies.
Emotional Support Animals
Like therapy dogs, ESAs are not classified as service animals. The purpose of an ESA is to provide comfort, companionship, and emotional support to its owner, not to perform specific tasks or do work for its owner. ESAs typically work long-term with one owner, and ESAs do not require specific training. In many areas, ESAs are allowed by transportation companies and housing laws. Typically, a letter from a psychiatrist, doctor, social worker, or other mental health professional is required as proof that the animal qualifies as an ESA.
ESAs are not limited by definition to dogs, and any domesticated animal may be considered as an ESA (e.g., dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, hedgehogs, mice, rats, ferrets, etc.). ESAs can be of any age. However, an ESA must be manageable in public and cannot create a disturbance. Click here to read about Wally, the emotional support alligator.
References
Alliance of Therapy Dogs (2017). What is the difference between a therapy dog vs a service dog? https://www.therapydogs.com/service-dog-vs-therapy-dog/
Clarke, J. (2021, October 14). Using equine therapy as mental health treatment. Very Well Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/equine-therapy-mental-health-treatment-4177932
Johnson, J. (2020, July 10). What to know about animal therapy. Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/animal-therapy
Los, E. A., Ramsey, K. L., Guttmann-Bauman, I., and Ahmann, A. J. (2016). Reliability of trained dogs to alert to hypoglycemia in patients with type 1 diabetes. Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology, 11(3): 506-512. doi: 10.1177/1932296816666537
U. S. Department of Justice (2020). Service animals. https://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm
Yamamoto and Hart (2019). Providing guidance on psychiatric service dogs and emotional support animals. In Kogan, L. and Blazina, C. (Eds.), Clinician's guide to treating companion animal issues: addressing human-animal interaction (pp. 77-101). Academic Press.