All Forum Posts by: Gerard Cooney

I'll preface this with saying I also am not a lawyer, but I do have a service dog for medical reasons. Legally speaking; 

A service animal means any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Tasks performed can include, among other things, pulling a wheelchair, retrieving dropped items, alerting a person to a sound, reminding a person to take medication, or pressing an elevator button.

Anxiety does not constitute a service animal. What your tenant is speaking of falls within the following;

Emotional support animals, comfort animals, and therapy dogs are not service animals under Title II and Title III of the ADA. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not considered service animals either. The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the individual’s disability. It does not matter if a person has a note from a doctor that states that the person has a disability and needs to have the animal for emotional support. A doctor’s letter does not turn an animal into a service animal.

While Emotional Support Animals or Comfort Animals are often used as part of a medical treatment plan as therapy animals, they are not considered service animals under the ADA. These support animals provide companionship, relieve loneliness, and sometimes help with depression, anxiety, and certain phobias, but do not have special training to perform tasks that assist people with disabilities. Even though some states have laws defining therapy animals, these animals are not limited to working with people with disabilities and therefore are not covered by federal laws protecting the use of service animals. Therapy animals provide people with therapeutic contact, usually in a clinical setting, to improve their physical, social, emotional, and/or cognitive functioning.

I would also add one more point that is often misunderstood; with the millions of men & women who experienced combat in the US Military, hundreds of thousands return home with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). PTSD dogs used by veterans ARE considered service animals and are generally formally trained. Many receive the service animal prior to leaving active service, provided free by a variety of recognized service animal companies. 

Hope that helps a bit.