An Educational Guide to Service Animals, Emotional Support Animals, and Therapy Animals
What Is a Service Animal?
Understanding the differences between service animals, emotional support animals, and therapy animals is important—not just for individuals with disabilities, but for businesses, educators, landlords, and the public. Many people use these terms as if they mean the same thing, but U.S. law treats them very differently.
📌 What Is a Service Animal Under the ADA?
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a service animal is defined as a dog (and in some cases, a miniature horse) that has been individually trained to perform specific work or tasks for an individual with a disability. These tasks must be directly related to the person’s disability.
👉 Examples of tasks a service animal might do:
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Guiding a person who is blind
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Alerting a person who is deaf
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Retrieving items for someone with limited mobility
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Alerting to seizures or low blood sugar
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Interrupting a panic attack
This definition is provided directly by the U.S. Department of Justice’s ADA guidance. You can read more on ADA.gov here: https://www.ada.gov/resources/service-animals-2010-requirements/ and https://www.ada.gov/topics/service-animals/
📌 There Are No Legitimate ADA Certification Requirements
Many websites sell “service animal certification,” ID cards, or special vests—but the ADA does not require any of these. Covered entities (like businesses or government programs) cannot require documentation or proof of certification, a specific vest, harness, or ID card to prove that an animal is a service animal.
The only questions a business may ask (if the disability or task isn’t obvious) are:
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Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
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What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?
They cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, or ask for proof of training or certification.
👉 Read these ADA rules yourself on ADA.gov: https://www.ada.gov/
🐾 What a Service Animal Is Not
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A pet
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A comfort or emotional support animal (unless trained for specific tasks)
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An animal required to wear a vest or ID
None of these traits make an animal a service animal under the ADA.
❓ Emotional Support Animals (ESAs)
Emotional support animals provide companionship, comfort, and relief from emotional or psychological symptoms simply by being with the person. They do not require specialized task training and are not considered service animals under the ADA.
Key points about ESAs:
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They can be any species (dogs, cats, rabbits, etc.).
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They do not have ADA public access rights (businesses can legally refuse them).
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They may be protected as reasonable accommodations under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) for housing situations—not under the ADA.
This means that a landlord may need to make a reasonable accommodation for an ESA in housing—but a restaurant, store, or movie theater can still refuse entry based on public-access rules under the ADA, because ESAs are not covered by ADA public-access protections.
🧠 Therapy Animals
Therapy animals go to places like hospitals, schools, nursing homes, or clinics to provide comfort and affection to many different people. They typically work with a handler as part of a therapeutic program.
Important facts about therapy animals:
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They are not trained to perform disability-related tasks for a specific individual.
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They are not service animals under the ADA.
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They do not have guaranteed access rights under ADA public-access rules.
Therapy animals often require special training for behavior and temperament, but that training is not the same as task training required of service animals under federal law.
🔍 Quick Comparison
| Feature | Service Animal | Emotional Support Animal | Therapy Animal |
|---|---|---|---|
| ADA Public Access Protections | ✔️ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Trained for Specific Tasks | ✔️ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Serves One Individual | ✔️ Yes | ✔️ Yes | ❌ No (many people) |
| Requires ADA Certification | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Typical Setting | Public spaces, housing, workplaces | Housing, some workplaces | Hospitals, schools, therapy settings |
🧠 Final Thoughts
Understanding the differences between these categories is critical to respecting disability rights and complying with U.S. law. Service animals are defined legally by what they do—not by a certificate or vest. Emotional support and therapy animals provide valuable benefits too, but they have different legal statuses and access rights than service animals under the ADA.