A service animal is a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability. The work or task that the dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties.

Here are some key points to keep in mind regarding service dogs:

• A service animal is a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability.
• The work or task that the dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability.
• Service animals are working animals, not pets.
• Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.
• Service animals must be housebroken and under their handlers control or they may be legally removed, regardless of identification.
• Service animals are expected to be under their handlers control at all times in entities covered by the ADA.
• Service animals are allowed to accompany their handlers in public places, including restaurants, hotels, and stores.
• Staff may ask only two specific questions to determine if a dog is a service animal: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform? Staff are not allowed to request any documentation for the dog, require that the dog demonstrate its task, or inquire about the nature of the person’s disability.

It is important to note that emotional support animals and therapy dogs are not considered service animals under the ADA. Emotional support animals provide comfort to their owners but are not trained to perform specific tasks related to a disability. Therapy dogs are trained to provide comfort to people in hospitals, nursing homes, and other settings, but they are not considered service animals under the ADA.