• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
logo
  • Meet Val Heart
    • Animal Whisperer – How I became an Animal Whisperer and Pet Psychic
    • Meet the Val Heart Team
    • Contact Us
    • Leave Your Gratuity Gift Here
    • Media
  • Read Before Hiring Val
    • Rave Reviews
    • 10 Things You Must Know BEFORE Hiring a Professional Animal Communicator
    • Everything You Need to Know About Animal Communication
    • FAQ Commonly Asked Questions
  • Services Available
    • Problem Solving, Animal Communication, DFY Healing, Intuitive Medical Scanning, Life Coaching
    • Soul Repair, Body & Spirit Healing 30 Day Intensive Training
    • Animal Reiki Healing
    • Find My Lost Pet
    • Separation Anxiety Services and Pet Vet Doula
    • Pet Loss and Grief Counseling
    • Mentoring for Animal Communicators
  • Heart School of Animal Communication®
    • Do You Have What It Takes to Communicate With Animals? Find out!
  • Animal Hearts Blog

Written by Lindsey Jay • Reading Time 4 Minutes

Understanding the Difference Between Emotional Support and Service Dogs

service and emotional support dogs
Guest post courtesy of Lindsey Jay. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and do not necessarily represent the views of Val Heart & Heart Communications Enterprises Inc. This article was previously published October 9, 2018, and was updated on July 23, 2022.

Service Dog or Emotional Support Dog?

Throughout history,  dogs have been put to work next to their two-legged companions.  They have helped hunt for food, herd livestock, and guard homes.  Today the term, “working dog,” is often associated with service or emotional support dogs.

Man’s best friend is more commonly being utilized to help people with various physical or mental illnesses or disabilities.  These dogs help with tasks that are routine for most, but can be daunting for their handlers.

Despite the rising popularity of service and emotional support dogs, many are confused on what separates the two.

service dog

Emotional Support Dogs

Use

Emotional support dogs are typically used by those with a mental illness or disability.  These dogs provide comfort and relief for those with mood, anxiety, fear and panic disorders simply through their companionship.  They are not trained to perform a specific task related to the handler’s illness or disability.

How to Qualify for an Emotional Support Dog

Too many are under the impression that you can buy an emotional support dog recommendation online and that it will allow you to register your family pet as a support animal.  These options do exist, however, handlers must have a recommendation from a licensed medical professional to obtain an emotional support dog letter. This is the only documentation that is required for an emotional support animal.

How Can a Dog Become an Emotional Support Animal

Because specific tasks are not done for the handler by the dog, no specific training is required.  You can even register your family dog or adopt one from a shelter.  However, the dog is expected to have manners in public spaces.  Anytime a dog appears to be out of the handler’s control or aggressive in any way, they may be asked to leave.

Legal Protections

Emotional support dogs are allowed in public spaces as long as they are behaving well and are not a threat to health and safety guidelines.

Also, with a legitimate Emotional Support Dog Letter, dogs are able to fly with most airlines.  There are some restrictions to this based on the airline, so it is advised to do some research before booking the flight.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Emotional Support Dogs cannot be turned away when looking for housing despite a “no pets” rule.  Landlords may verify the emotional support dog letter but they may not charge extra fees or deposits for an emotional support dog.

service dog 2

Service Dogs

Use

Service Dogs are trained to perform specific tasks tailored to their handler’s needs.  These can include but are not limited to, guiding the blind, alerting for low blood pressure or seizures, retrieving/carrying items, or reminding someone to take their medication.

How to Qualify for a Service Dog

In order for an individual to obtain a service dog, they must have a condition that qualifies as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  This disability must hinder the individual in life tasks and impair quality of life.

There are many different service dog programs and organizations that pair individuals with the perfect dogs based on their specific needs.  Once the individual finds the program they feel suits them, they will fill out an application. Then, they wait to be contacted by their chosen organization.

How Can a Dog Become a Service Animal?

Dogs are selected based on temperament and health.  Any breed can technically qualify, as long as it meets the standards for training and behavior as set by the owner or the organization.  An ideal service dog will be calm and focused on its handler in all situations.  Many organizations choose dogs as puppies and place them in rigorous training programs.  Others utilize dogs from shelters if they fit the behavior requirements.  For those interested, Buzzfeed created a series called “Puppy Prep” on YouTube that chronicles the training and development of service dogs from an organization called Doggie Do Good in Arroyo Grande, CA.

Legal Protections

Unlike Emotional Support Dogs, Service Dogs are protected by the ADA.  These dogs do not require documentation or vests to enter most public spaces.

Documentation may be required for the dog to accompany their handler to work. It will also be necessary for the dog to fly or live in “no pets” housing.  However, the ADA website specifically states that registrations bought online will not be considered legitimate proof that the dog is a Service Animal.

It is imperative to understand the fundamental differences between Emotional Support and Service Dogs.  Basic knowledge of laws and procedures, not only keeps businesses operating within legal guidelines but also ensures that those who truly rely on their dog for daily activities are treated with the same amount of dignity and respect as everyone else.

Be sure to leave your comment below!

Photo by Marcus Christensen on Pexel

Did you enjoy this article? Here are some other popular posts:

8 Fascinating Dog Facts You Need To Know

Friendliest Dog Breeds

Considerations in Caring for Canines

Related Posts

Inner Healing for Animal Communication

Inner Healing for Animal Communication, Avoiding Triggers to Be Proficient Being successful in communicating with animals (defined as confident, competent and accurate) starts with a single basic premise: you have to understand yourself in order to understand – and be understood by – the animals. New students who’ve not worked on healing their inner wounds […]
Learn More

Dog Anxiety Around Fireworks and Storms: Stressful For Pets and Humans

Dog anxiety can be so painful if it is your dog who is suffering. Dog stress around fireworks is very common. It is also a very common time for animals to get lost, injured, or killed as they run in panic, thinking that the sky is falling down. And you, as their caretaker, can feel […]
Learn More

How Animal Talk Students Save JoJo the Dog from Dying

Let me tell you the story about JoJo. She’s a much loved Border Collie who suffered a terrible injury in a bizarre accident… Border Collies are a herding breed that can be very single-minded. Once they have a task in their heads, even something that seems trivial to us, they can’t be deterred. Many families […]
Learn More

Filed Under: Dog Talk

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rav says

    November 29, 2018 at 9:14 am

    Really thankful for you nice post over this topic, got to know something really interesting.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Animal Communication (206)
  • Animal Talk Pro Interviews (22)
  • Application Form Page (4)
  • Cat Talk (144)
  • CBD Oil for Pets and People (8)
  • Dog Talk (219)
  • Help for You (45)
  • Holistic Healing (31)
  • Horse Talk (76)
  • Personal Note From Val (35)
  • Thank You Page (12)
  • The Real Dr. Doolittle Podcast Show (71)
Join Val Now
Show Horse Expert
Show Horse Expert
Val Heart
highly sensitive people 3

CONTACT ME & MY TEAM

arrow-down-right
Send A Message
Hire Val To Speak
Book A Consultation

Is your pet trying to talk to you?

all animals-comp

Learn how to talk to animals yourself! Start here with my free ebook: Hidden Secrets to Communicating With Pets.

I Want the Free Ebook

Val Heart Animal Talk - Why work with an Animal Communicator?

Val Heart, Animal Talk

© 2025 - Heart Communication Enterprises LLC and Val Heart. All Rights Reserved.
1-805-PET-TALK -- www.ValHeart.com -- [email protected]

  • Disclaimer

  • Terms and Conditions

  • Privacy Policy

  • Cookie Policy

  • Private Consulting

  • Contact Us

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
CookieDurationDescription
__cf_bm30 minutesThis cookie is set by CloudFlare. The cookie is used to support Cloudflare Bot Management.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
CookieDurationDescription
GCLB12 hoursThis cookie is known as Google Cloud Load Balancer set by the provider Google. This cookie is used for external HTTPS load balancing of the cloud infrastructure with Google.
YSCsessionThis cookies is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gat_gtag_UA_79299727_21 minuteThis cookie is set by Google and is used to distinguish users.
_gid1 dayThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form.
_hjFirstSeen30 minutesThis is set by Hotjar to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether this was the first time Hotjar saw this user. It is used by Recording filters to identify new user sessions.
vuid2 yearsThis domain of this cookie is owned by Vimeo. This cookie is used by vimeo to collect tracking information. It sets a unique ID to embed videos to the website.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
_fbp3 monthsThis cookie is set by Facebook to deliver advertisement when they are on Facebook or a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting this website.
fr3 monthsThe cookie is set by Facebook to show relevant advertisments to the users and measure and improve the advertisements. The cookie also tracks the behavior of the user across the web on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
IDE1 year 24 daysUsed by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile.
test_cookie15 minutesThis cookie is set by doubleclick.net. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE5 months 27 daysThis cookie is set by Youtube. Used to track the information of the embedded YouTube videos on a website.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
CookieDurationDescription
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress30 minutesNo description
_hjid1 yearThis cookie is set by Hotjar. This cookie is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the random user ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID.
_hjIncludedInPageviewSample2 minutesNo description
CONSENT16 years 7 months 21 days 17 hours 15 minutesNo description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional1 yearThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others1 yearNo description
InfusionsoftTrackingCookie1 yearNo description
NewDomainSessionCached1 minuteNo description
SAVE & ACCEPT

ENTER YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS TO GET YOUR FREE EBOOK NOW

Your first step is to learn how to send messages to any animal, anytime, anywhere!

Yes I Want the Free Ebook