Distinguishing Service Animals from Emotional Support Animals
Professionally trained service animals and emotional support animals (ESAs) alike can make a difference in people’s lives. However, service animals and ESAs differ in several important ways, including purpose, training, and legal protections.
Home care agencies must be mindful of the distinction when delivering care to clients with an ESA or service animal.
What Are Service Animals?
A service animal is any dog that is specifically trained to do work for a person living with a disability. They undergo very specific training and can be of any breed or size.
Over 61 million people in the U.S. have a disability (Source: The Centers for Disease Control). Approximately 500,000, or less than one percent, own a service dog (Source: National Institutes of Health).
What Does Service Animal Training Look Like?
A service dog undergoes demanding training for life as an assistance animal. Training is extensive, and it can take 1-2 years to professionally train a service dog (Source Psychiatric Service Dog Partners). Typically, training involves the following:
· Socialization and desensitization training to reduce reactions to situations unrelated to the task
· The dog is exposed to unfamiliar locations, sounds, and scents, which allows it to remain focused while working
· The dog learns how to perform a particular task to help someone with a disability navigate everyday life.
Qualifying disabilities for a service animal can be:
· Physical
· Sensory
· Psychiatric
· Cognitive
· Any health condition that requires assistance.
A service dog’s tasks will vary based on the handler’s disability and needs. Diabetic alert dogs, for example, can sense when their handler’s insulin levels are low or high, and alert them to take action. Hearing assistance dogs can alert handlers to important sounds like alarms, sirens, or doorbells. Visual assistance dogs, sometimes called “guide dogs,” help handlers follow known paths and alert them to streets or intersections, changes in elevation, and low-hanging objects.
Service Dogs as a Protected Legal Status
Legally, service animals are considered medical tools. This means they are protected under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). Because of this, they have special public access rights (Source: ADA). In addition, they are made exempt from policies that restrict pets (e.g., pet fees). All landlords and property managers must legally allow service animals on their properties even if they enact “no pet policies” (Source: International City/County Management Association).
Caregivers belonging to licensed home care agencies may be assigned to clients who own a service animal. To ensure the service animal can properly do its job, home health aides need to speak with their clients before interacting with the dog. For example, if a caregiver stands too closely, a service animal might become distracted or confused. Caregivers must also be mindful not to give the service animal any additional commands—this must be left to the dog’s handler.
What Are Emotional Support Animals?
Unlike service dogs, however, ESAs cannot perform specific tasks related to their owner’s health condition. It can be helpful to think of an ESA as a companion for the owner. ESAs’ primary function is to provide:
· Comfort
· Companionship
· Emotional support.
While ESAs give comfort to their guardians, they cannot perform duties to aid a person with a disability.
ESAs are a form of emotional assistance that improves the well-being of their owners. They allow their owners to develop greater independence and confidence in social settings, boosting motivation and fulfillment. Because ESAs do not perform specific tasks, they are not protected under the ADA like service animals. They are not allowed in certain public spaces, for instance. ESAs are not limited to dogs like service animals and can be any domesticated animal (cats, dogs, rabbits, mice, birds, etc.).
A Final Note
The point to keep in mind is that service dogs assist in performing specific tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability. At the same time, ESAs provide emotional comfort through companionship. While “service dog” and “emotional support animal” are commonly used interchangeably, they are separate. This distinction is vital for both patients and home care agencies to understand.
