Service Dogs Growing Roels

Service Dogs’ Growing Roles

Maggie Faria

University of Maryland

Dr. Edward Creagan, an Oncologist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. said it best: “A pet is a medication without side effects that has so many benefits. I can’t always explain it myself, but for years now I’ve seen how instances of having a pet is like and effective drug. It really does help people (“Health” n.d.).

It is important to understand the difference in Service Animals, Mental Health or Psychiatric Service Dog, Therapy Dog, and Emotional Support Dog. The Department of Justice through the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) defines service animals as:

“Dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.”

A Mental Health Service Dog is a type of service dog that provides assistance to those with mental impairments. Mental Health Service Dogs are also sometimes called Psychiatric Service Dog. It is more accepted by patients and doctors to call them Mental Health Therapy Dogs because it attaches a positive meaning of progress whereas Psychiatric Service Dog can have the negative stigma of being a psyco or crazy.

Therapy Dogs are trained to show affection. They are the dogs that you see in hospitals visiting patients or in schools reading with children. Both of these service animals are included in the ADA rulings about Service Animals. Emotional support animals provide comfort to a person with a psychiatric disability, but are not trained to perform specific tasks to assist them. Although Emotional Support Animals can intervene when destructive behavior is happening (or about to happen) or remind their owner to take pills, they are not trained to do work. Because they are not trained...