From the companion peacock to the emotional support squirrel, there’s a lot of confusion about the types of support animals out there. Today, we’re going to help clear things up!
Emotional support animals are a relatively new phenomenon (at least to me) as I don’t recall them being mainstream in my younger years. But, incidents on planes and in airports have a lot of people looking more closely about the different types of animals that we use for support and what all that means.
The TL/DR version: Emotional support animals are not service animals which are not therapy animals and confusing them might lead to a lot of disappointment, fines and/or trouble.
As we get into this, please know that I’m not a lawyer and the lines of these distinctions also depend on your state and local laws. If you have any questions about this please consult with a local health attorney for support and specifics. Today, we’re covering general trends.
Service Animals
Service animals have the most rigorous training program of any support animal. They train for years with highly experienced trainers and handlers to perform specific tasks for their owners. Apparently, the ADA only allows for dogs and miniature horses to be service animals.
The most common types of services animals are often large breed dogs, such as labradors or golden retrievers. I think this is in part due to their size and general disposition. Service dogs help blind people navigate the world safely as well as help people with mobility issues maneuver without injury.
In recent years I’ve also noticed service dogs working for mental health conditions as well. I’ve seen dogs who can detect an upcoming seizure in their owners (and can help them handle that safely) as well as help those with PTSD cope with flashbacks and/or panic.
When you see service animals out in public they are working. Don’t disturb them or ask to pet them as you might be disrupting the service they are providing to their owners.
That being said, if you want to pet a dog you see out in public always ask the owner first. That is both for your, and the animal’s, safety. Plus, it’s just plain rude otherwise.
Therapy Animals
The standards to become a therapy animal team are a lot less rigorous. Therapy animals can go through a formalized training program or a dog and owner/handler may do this themselves. Teams must pass an exam to certify their obedience and social skills. Therapy animal teams can register with a variety of local or national organizations. Nomi and I are a registered Pet Partners team.
This means that when we’re not working at Viva Wellness, Nomi and I periodically volunteer our time to meet with folks and provide them stress relief. Typically, Nomi does tricks, acts cute (easy for her) and gets fed a lot of treats. I chat people up and there are smiles all around.
Therapy animals are not trained for any specific reason (unlike service animals). They get to just be themselves and engage with others. This helps reduce stress, lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, etc. Many therapy animals are dogs but plenty are other animals too such as cats, pigs, rats, horses and even alpacas!
In professional settings (like psychotherapy) therapy animals can be used to foster a health working alliance between provider and client or help clients work through certain issues (like social anxiety, for example).
Emotional Support Animals
Here’s where things tend to get a bit hairy for most. The thing about emotional support animals is that there are generally few to little guidelines regarding their existence. There’s also no governing body (or bodies) that manage them all. This means, no universal set of standards.
Emotional support animals exist to provide general emotional support to people. They are “prescribed” by licensed health providers to help with mental health issues. They may help their owners cope with PTSD or panic attacks (but offer no specific skill set). Training is up to the handlers/owners alone. Some often opt to take training courses like the AKC’s Canine Good Citizen test. Many don’t as there is no standard expectation of behavior. This is, along with lax regulation, is how you get kangaroos and peacocks as emotional support animals.
I personally love all animals and think we have to be very careful and mindful about how we’re designating certain animals and how we talk about them. These categories mean very different things. That being said, service animals are the only kinds of animals that must be legally allowed anywhere their owners are according to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
All other types are allowed at the courtesy of the venue. As much as I would like to take Nomi to every single place I go to (ok maybe not every place, every time) it just doesn’t make sense as she’s not a service animal and therefore isn’t granted privileges by law.
The distinction between the three is complicated but hopefully today’s post helped clear some things up.
What questions do you have about service, therapy or emotional support animals? Let us know in the comments below!
Author: Jor-El
Jor-El is Co-founder of Viva Wellness and a foodie and film buff. He most often writes about mental health, relationships, food and mindfulness. When he’s not busy working, he typically can be found lounging or walking around NYC with his pup Nomi.
