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(To request alternative formats, call 703-324-5421, TTY 703-449-1186, or send an e-mail.)
- Service Dogs
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Other Service Animals
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Therapy and Social
Animals
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Laws Affecting Service
Animals
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Additional Resources
Service animals, primarily dogs, have become an integral part of many people’s lives, greatly increasing their independence and overall quality of life. Teams of service animals and their owners are now common in malls, restaurants, grocery stores, and many other public areas. This publication gives a quick overview of service animals, their training, owners’ rights and responsibilities, and the laws that govern service animals in private and public settings.
The term “service animal” is legally defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), in the regulations for Title III, as an animal “individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability.” While people also refer to service animals as assist animals, this document uses the term service animals to distinguish them from animals not covered under the ADA.
Service animals are working animals. Many service animals wear a harness, vest, cape, or back-pack when working, although this is not always true. Working animals should not be made the center of attention by being petted, distracted, or the object of extensive eye contact. A working animal must be focused only on the job, and to be distracted from that may put his master’s safety at risk. Service animals should never be fed; their masters are responsible for feeding them a balanced diet.
Service Dogs
Service dogs fall into three general categories: guide dogs (also known as seeing eye dogs), hearing dogs (also know as signal dogs), and support dogs (including dogs who help with mobility and those who signal seizures to their owners). It is almost impossible to put a realistic value on a service animal. To her master, she is priceless. Generally, however, the intrinsic value of a service animal is associated with the training required for it to acquire the unique skills necessary to perform her job. This value ranges between $12,000 and $25,000 for service dogs. The cost to obtain one, however, is only a fraction of that value, and often ranges from just $25 to $250, since most organizations that raise and train them are non-profit organizations that depend on both volunteers and charitable donations. It should be noted that among the variables associated with obtaining a service dog, the most unpredictable is usually time. Because of availability, training, and demand, there is invariably a waiting period for these animals that can range up to three years.
Guide Dogs
Guide dogs help people who are blind or visually impaired get
around. They are usually trained in three primary skills: (1) avoiding
obstacles, such as navigating around stationary obstacles like a lamp
post; (2) signaling a change in elevation, such as steps up or down; and
(3) locating objects, such as an empty seat on a bus. Additionally, a
guide dog must know to disobey any command that would put his human
partner in danger. This ability, called selective or intelligent
disobedience is perhaps the most amazing thing about guide dogs—that they
can balance obedience with their own assessments of a situation. While a
dog does not have the reasoning power to comprehend, for instance, the
inherent danger in traffic, he can be trained to recognize specific
stimuli as a safety hazard.
As a guide dog gets more experience with her partner, she is usually able to take on more responsibility. For example, many veteran guide dogs know all of their masters’ usual destinations. All the partner has to tell her is “go to the office” or “find the coffee shop” and the guide dog will follow the complete route.
Hearing Dogs
Persons who are deaf or hearing impaired rely on hearing dogs to alert
them to sounds in the environment. They alert their master to a variety
of household sounds such as a doorbell ringing, an alarm clock or oven
buzzer going off, a phone ringing, or a crying baby. Hearing dogs are
trained to make physical contact with their master—usually in the form of
a nose nudge or pawing on the body—until they respond to the sound. The
dog will go back and forth to the sound until the partner follows him to
the source of the sound.
Support Dogs
Support dogs are a generic way to refer to service dogs, especially
those who are neither hearing nor guide dogs. Many support dogs are
specially trained to help people with physical disabilities or mobility
impairments accomplish daily tasks that would otherwise be severely
fatiguing or even impossible to perform. The tasks performed by a service
dog empower the partner to conserve energy, reduce or avoid pain,
minimize dependency on others, prevent injuries, and get help in an
emergency. Other support dogs may be trained to recognize an impending
seizure and help their owners assume a safe position until the seizure
ends.
Many support dogs are trained to perform up to 50 daily tasks from a repertoire of over 100 different tasks. Most support dogs must achieve four levels of proficiency and must be able to complete a minimum of four customized tasks, such as opening doors, retrieving the telephone, turning a light on and off, or going for help, for example. Part of their formal training includes learning to execute the following basic commands in response to voice or hand signals: heel, sit, right, left, down, stay, back-up, leave it, wait, take it, come, stand.
Support dog training can be grouped into eight main categories: (1) retrieving, such as picking up a dropped item; (2) carrying, such as carrying the mail or newspaper into the house; (3) depositing, such as throwing trash away; (4) tugging, such as opening a door with a strap; (5) nose nudging, such as pushing shut an open drawer; (6) pawing, such as flipping a light switch; (7) bracing, such as preventing a partner’s fall by physically bracing against the fall; and (8) using a harness, such as to pull a partner out of a seat.
Breeds
Retrievers (Labrador and Golden) and German Shepherds are the most
popular service dogs because of their temperament, intelligence,
versatility and size. Dogs trained as service animals must be willing
workers, large enough to comfortably guide in harness, but small enough
to fit under restaurant tables, or in the seat in front of the partner
where carry-on luggage is usually placed. Over 50% of service dogs are
Golden Retrievers, which have temperaments and abilities suitable to
training and working.
Training Service Dogs
Training an assist dog is a multi-step process, generally involving
three distinct phases:
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Step 1
Early in the dog’s life, at about 8 weeks of age, the dog is placed in the home of a volunteer puppy-raiser, where he is taught basic obedience, socialization, and given lots of love. An important part of the puppy-raising program involves exposure of the young dogs to settings and situations that are similar to what they will experience during their working lives. Children make excellent volunteer puppy-raisers. They receive careful training on how to start the dog on his career. -
Step 2
At about 18 months of age, the dogs are brought back to a formal training facility for an average of six months of intensive training where they learn specialized commands and tasks. During this training, the trainer will take the dog to places such as malls, grocery stores, movie theaters, and restaurants to accustom her to being in public. -
Step 3
After the service dog has been trained, the dog is matched with her new master, and they participate together in team training for approximately two weeks. During that time, they learn to work together, become independent as a team, and start a bonding process that normally lasts for the rest of the dog’s working life. The average working life of a service dog is 8-10 years (some dogs have worked to the age of 12 or 13, or longer). After retirement, they frequently revert to “pet” status.
The organizations that train service dogs continuously and carefully screen them throughout the training period for good temperament, good health, and safety of both the individual and the dog.
Other Service Animals
While dogs make up the overwhelming majority of service animals, any animal “individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability” can be a service animal. Some capuchin monkeys have been trained to help people with quadriplegia with daily activities. More information about them is listed in the section devoted to additional resources. Individuals have also trained other animals to perform specific tasks for them. As long as the animal performs tasks for the benefit of the person with a disability, he would be considered a service animal under the law.
Therapy and Social Animals
Animals are also used for therapeutic purposes, often with children with autism or similar conditions. Therapy/social dogs offer unconditional love, emotional support and social interaction for individuals of any age. While they unquestionably enhance their owners’ quality of life, they are not “individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability.” Therefore, they are more of a pet than a service animal, and consequently they are not entitled to the same rights in places of public accommodation to which service animals are entitled.
Laws Affecting Service Animals
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), local and state governments, and privately owned businesses that serve the public are prohibited from discriminating against persons with disabilities. The ADA requires these agencies and businesses to allow persons with disabilities to take their service animals wherever the general public is allowed. Since service animals are not pets, the ADA requires that an exception be made to any no-pets policy to allow service animals. Similarly, transportation providers such as rail, buses, and cabs may not refuse to provide service to service animal teams nor can they charge higher fees for transporting them. If a service animal’s harness sets off security equipment in airports or other public spaces, security personnel cannot take off the harness since this would indicate to the dog that he is off duty.
When a service animal team enters a public place, a representative of the program or business can ask two questions to determine if the animal is a service animal: (1) Does the person have a disability? and (2) Is the animal a service animal? If the answer to both questions is yes, then the animal must be allowed to accompany his master. The proprietor cannot ask any further questions about the nature of the disability.
Individuals with disabilities are solely responsible for the conduct of their service animals. When in public, the service animal must be well behaved and under control. Representatives of public programs and places of public accommodation have the legal right to exclude any service animal which displays aggressive behavior or is out of control.
The Fair Housing Act of 1988 prohibits discrimination because of disability in the sale, rental, or advertising of all housing (with the exception of most single family homes sold or rented by a private individual or owner, but including cooperatives and condominiums). Under the Fair Housing Act, a landlord cannot refuse “to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford such person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.” Allowing a service animal even when the building has a no-pets policy has consistently been considered a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act. But individuals with disabilities are still solely responsible for caring and controlling their service animals, and landlords have the right to evict tenants who do not care for or control their service animals.
Additional Resources
There are service dog sources all over the nation. Two are located in Virginia.
Blue Ridge Assistance Dogs, Inc.
703-369-5878, 703-361-7409, TTY 711
www.blueridgeassistancedogs.org
Saint Francis of Assisi Service Dog Foundation
540-342-DOGS (540-342-3647), TTY 711
www.saintfrancisdogs.org>
The following are national organizations that provide service animals. Some of these organizations have local chapters.
Canine Companions for Independence
1-800-572-2275, TTY 711
www.caninecompanions.org<
Delta Society – National Service Dog Center
425-226-7357, TTY 711
www.deltasociety.org
Fidos For Freedom, Inc.
410-880-4178, TTY 301-570-7570
www.fidosforfreedom.org
Helping Hands Monkey Helpers for the Disabled
617-787-4419, TTY 711
www.helpinghandsmonkeys.org
Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind
1-800-548-4337, TTY 711
www.guidedog.org
Guiding Eyes for the Blind
1-800-942-0149, TTY 711
www.guiding-eyes.org
PAWS with a Cause
Voice/TTY 1-800-253-7297
www.pawswithacause.org
The Seeing Eye
973-539-4425, TTY 711
www.seeingeye.org
Support Dogs, Inc.
314-997-2325, TTY 711
www.supportdogs.org
Some other useful Web sites for information on this subject are:
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www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada: ADA homepage;
www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/publicat.htm#Anchor-Commonly-48213: Commonly asked questions;
www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/svcanimb.htm: Business brief about service animals. - www.deltasociety.org: Comprehensive information on service and therapy/social dogs.
- www.howstuffworks.com/guide-dog: Detailed information on the life and training of guide dogs.
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www.iaadp.org: Web site of the International Association of
Assistance Dog Partners. - www.tsa.gov: In the menu bar on top, click on “Travelers and Consumers,” then click on “Persons with Disabilities and Medical Conditions” in the left navigation bar, and then click on “Service Animals” in the text of the Web page.