Service, Therapy & Emotional Support Dogs  – A Big Difference  🐾🐕‍🦺

In light of National Service Dog Month, we thought we’d stop to highlight a few very important distinctions.   Three terms often used interchangeably are service dogs, emotional support dogs (ESDs), and therapy dogs. While all three provide comfort, care, or assistance in different ways, their training, purpose, and legal rights vary widely.

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What Is a Service Dog?

A service dog is a specially trained animal that performs specific tasks directly related to a person’s disability. Their role is not simply to provide comfort, but to actively help their handler live more independently and safely.  Examples of service dog tasks include:

• Guiding person who is blind/visually impaired or disabled.

• Alerting a person who is deaf to important sounds such as alarms, doorbells, or crying babies.

• Detecting seizures, low blood sugar, or other medical events and alerting their handler before they occur.

• Providing physical support, balance assistance, or retrieving items for someone with mobility challenges.

• Interrupting harmful behaviors or providing grounding support during panic attacks or PTSD episodes.

Service dogs undergo extensive, specialized training sometimes up to 3 years and are covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), giving them full public access rights though each airline has its own rules regarding service dogs.

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What Is an Emotional Support Dog?

An emotional support dog (ESD) provides therapeutic benefits to individuals with mental or emotional conditions. Their presence alone helps reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD, or other psychological challenges. Unlike service dogs, they are not trained to perform specific tasks.  Their main characteristics are to:

• Provide comfort through companionship to persons with mental health or psychiatric diagnosis.

• Require a recommendation from a licensed mental health professional.

• No specialized training required, though good behavior is important.

Emotional support dogs are covered under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) for housing accommodations, but not the ADA. They do not have public access rights and are no longer guaranteed airline accommodations.

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What Is a Therapy Dog?

A therapy dog may or may not be trained, but provide comfort and affection to people other than its handler, often in structured settings such as hospitals, schools, nursing homes, disaster relief areas, or therapy sessions. Their role is community-oriented rather than disability-specific.  Example of therapy dog roles are:

• Visiting hospital patients to reduce stress and promote healing.

• Providing comfort to children during reading programs or counseling sessions.

• Supporting people affected by trauma or natural disasters.

Therapy dogs may or may not be fully trained.  Depending on the organization, often times they just have to pass simple behavorial tasks such as an extended sit stay, have even temperaments and be social with other dogs and strangers.  Other groups may require they pass a Canine Good Citizen Test.   Therapy dogs are not  trained to perform disability-related tasks, and have no special legals rights under the ADA or FHA.  Their access to facilities depends entirely on the policies of the organizations they serve.  If you feel your dog may be a good therapy dog you may want to consider local volunteering opportunities with either People Animals Love or Pets on Wheels.

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Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Service Dog	Emotional Support Dog	Therapy Dog
Training	Extensive, task-specific training for disability assistance	No specialized training required	Basic training and temperament evaluation for public visits
Purpose	Assists one individual with a disability by performing tasks	Provides comfort and companionship to one owner	Provides comfort to many people in hospitals, schools, or community programs
Legal Protections	ADA (public access, housing, air travel)	FHA (housing only)	None – access is by invitation only
Public Access Rights	Allowed in nearly all public spaces	No public access rights	Only allowed in facilities that permit them
Primary Beneficiaries	Individual handler	Individual handler	Strangers, patients, students, or groups
Examples	Guide dogs, seizure alert dogs, PTSD service dogs	Dog that reduces owner’s anxiety or depression	Hospital visitation dogs, school reading dogs

These destinction matter for businesses, landlords, healthcare facilities, and the public. Confusing one type of assistance animal for another can lead to legal issues, denied access, or unfair treatment.

Each role is valuable, and should be understood and respected for their unique contributions.