Service Animals

An assistance dog is a dog trained to aid or assist a person. Many are trained by a specific organization, while others are trained by their handler (sometimes with the help of a professional trainer).

Service animals are animals that are individually trained to perform tasks for people with disabilities such as guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling wheelchairs, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, or performing other special tasks. Although a service animal is most often a dog, it can also be another kind of animal such as a cat, bird, monkey or pig.

Capuchin monkeys have been trained to perform manual tasks such as grasping items, operating knobs and switches, and turning the pages of a book.

Miniature horses are sometimes trained to guide the blind, pull wheelchairs, or as support for persons with Parkinson's disease.

Cats are also sometimes trained to signal their deaf owner for certain sounds, or may naturally be able to predict seizures in a person.

Service animals perform some of the functions and tasks that the individual with a disability cannot perform independently. Most people are familiar with Service Dogs such as Guide Dogs for those who are blind and Hearing Dogs for those who are deaf. Yet, we often do not realize that, Service animals are not limited to animals that assist people with hearing or sight impairments, but also include those that otherwise assist individuals with disabilities.

Under the ADA, privately owned businesses that serve the public, including restaurants, hotels, stores, taxis, and airlines are prohibited from discriminating against individuals with disabilities. As such, businesses must allow people with disabilities to bring their service animals with them, wherever customers are normally allowed.

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990), As defined in section 36.104 of the title III regulation, a service animal includes any animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability

It is always a good idea, when making hotel reservations, to inform them of your specific disability and that you are being accompanied by a service dog. Even if a hotel or restaurant has a "no pets" policy, this never applies to service animals.

In many areas of the world, assistance dogs are not required to have any sort of "certification" or proof of their training; however, most programs voluntarily certify their dogs, and many wear a harness or cape to identify them.

Typically, a potential service animal undergoes extensive behavioral testing before being accepted into a training program. Above all, a service animal is not a pet, although the animal is probably loved by its owners. If you see someone with a service animal, always ask for permission before petting or handling it, and be aware that if the animal is working, you may not be allowed to touch it.

Further Information Regarding Service Animals

Holiday Toxin Tips from Pet Poison Helpline
The holidays are stressful enough without having to worry about a potentially poisoned pet. Below is a list of holiday-related decorations, plants and food items that the veterinarians at Pet Poison Helpline recommend keeping away from pets.

Laws and Rules Regarding Service Animals in Places of Business
Questions and answers regarding service animals in places of business including ADA law requirements.

Toxins Around the Home that can Poison your Pet
Summertime brings new opportunities for potential pet exposures to harmful and dangerous substances. During the summer months, Pet Poison Helpline (PPH) is inundated with calls involving yard and garden products (including bone meal, fertilizers, and insecticides), mulch and compost pile ingestions, and exposures to outdoor plants and mushrooms.

Pet Poison Helpline Offers Halloween Safety Tips for Pets
Holidays can bring unique foods and materials into the house that pose special threats to animals. Halloween, with its costumes and candy, can be a dangerous and stressful time for a pet.

Pet Poison Advice and Emergency Helpline
Pet Poison Helpline is a service available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for pet owners, veterinarians and vet staff who require assistance treating a potentially poisoned pet.

Service Dogs - Baker Dog Behavioral Centre
Service dogs have been recognized in the community for many years as guide dogs and hearing assist dogs. In the last twenty years or so, assistance dogs have been recognized for helping physically challenged people. More recently, Therapy dogs are becoming better known in the health care industry.

Queensland Takes Guide Dogs Most Seriously
Starting this very day in Queensland, all guide, hearing, and assistance dogs have access to public places, public passenger vehicles and planes; according to Queensland legislation. The Minister for Disability Services has placed tougher fines in relation to the new legislation which will begin on September first as well.

Southeastern Guide Dogs - Service Animals
Southeastern Guide Dogs mission is to create and nurture a partnership between a visually impaired individual and a guide dog, facilitating life’s journey with mobility, independence and dignity.

Guide Dogs for the Blind - Service Animals - Guide Dogs
Guide Dogs for the Blind provides enhanced mobility to qualified individuals through partnership with dogs whose unique skills are developed and nurtured by dedicated volunteers and a professional staff. Roughly 10,000 people use guide dogs in the US and Canada.

Legitimate Service Dog Training
Many people are interested in volunteering a dog they own for service dog training and this is very commendable. Service dogs are those that assist the disabled in many different ways.

Hunting Dogs as Therapy and Service Dogs
Many of the sporting breeds are used for service dog training. A service dog is generally an assistance dog who is trained to help people with a disability. Hunting dogs also excel at therapy dog training. Therapy dogs visit nursing home residents, people in hospitals, and children in schools.

Helping Hands Monkey Helpers for Quadriplegics
In the 1970s, a Tufts University psychologist had the idea that it might be possible to teach monkeys to help care for quadriplegics. Since then, an organization called Helping Hands has placed more than 100 monkeys with disabled individuals, and many say these primates have changed their lives.

Guide Dog Facts
This article is designed to give an insight to how guides dogs work and what we should be aware of when meeting one in its working environment.

How are Seeing Eye Dogs Trained
Seeing eye dogs who are also referred as assistance dogs are trained to guide the blind and the visually impaired around obstacles that they would come across in daily life activities.

Guide Dogs for Alzheimers Patients and Caregivers
The use of dogs to assist people in need has been a time tested methodology for years. The benefits are numerous and clear. A movement is now underway to extend the use of guide dogs to assist patients with Alzheimer's and their caregivers as well.

History of the Guide Dog Program
When exactly the idea of using animals as a visual assistance for the blind came about is not clearly known. Dogs have often been used for this purpose in different cultures for a long time. However, it is widely known that a guide dog program formally came into existence only post World War I.

Travel Tips for Flying with Service Animals
While you are talking with the service representative be sure and ask the exact documentation and requirements for your service animal with that airline, always remember that each airline may have individual requirements and certificates in order for your service animal to accompany you while flying.

Guide Dog Lesson to Drivers
I saw a lady with a guide dog pass my window. Before she had managed to disappear from view she stopped.