There are several different categories of therapy and service dogs and the terms can be confusing. This simple guide should be helpful in determining what constitutes a service, support, therapy, or comfort dog. Please visit the links below for more detailed information.

•Psychiatric Service Dog

•Emotional Support Dog

•Therapy Dog

•Comfort Dog

•Family Pet

Psychiatric Service Dog (PSD)

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) laws, “Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities,” including a psychiatric or mental health disability that is not readily seen or obvious.“The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability.” Examples of such work or tasks for a mental disability may include reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, preventing or interrupting an OCD behavior, and/or performing other duties. “Service animals are working animals, not pets. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.”  

Some State and local laws also define service animal more broadly than the ADA does. Information about such laws can be obtained from the relevant State attorney general’s office.”  ADA Requirements: Service Animals

Emotional Support Dog (ESD)

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), “An emotional support animal is any animal that provides emotional support alleviating one or more symptoms or effects of a person’s disability.” The ADA National Network states “emotional support animals provide companionship, relieve loneliness, and sometimes help with depression, anxiety, and certain phobias, but do not have special training to perform tasks that assist people with disabilities. Emotional support animals are not limited to dogs.

If the dog’s mere presence provides comfort, it is not a service animal under the ADA. But if the dog is trained to perform a task related to a person’s disability, it is a service animal under the ADA. For example, if the dog has been trained to sense that an anxiety attack is about to happen and take a specific action to help avoid the attack or lessen its impact, the dog is a service animal.”

Therapy Dog (TD)

According to the ADA National Network, therapy dogs “work in situations where stress levels are high.  Therapy animals provide people with healing contact, typically in an institutional or clinical setting, to improve their physical, social, emotional, or cognitive functioning. While these types of dogs receive extensive training and may interact with all sorts of people, including an individual with a disability, they are not trained to perform a specific task for an individual with a disability.” Common therapy dog activities include visiting hospitals, airports, schools, and nursing homes to name a few.

Comfort Dog (CD)

Comfort dogs also “work in situations where stress levels are high. Comfort animals work during active crises. They offer a calming distraction to those impacted in an active disaster or emergency. Comfort dogs “assist people struggling with the aftermath of natural disasters, like hurricanes, fires, floods, epidemics, and tornadoes. Teams of certified crisis response dogs and their handlers also aid individuals affected by man-made disasters.”

“While these types of animals receive extensive training and may interact with all sorts of people, including an individual with a disability, they are not trained to perform a specific task for an individual with a disability.”  

In summary, “individuals with a disability may use and interact with working animals for a variety of reasons.  But, only dogs who have received specialized training to perform a specific task or tasks for an individual with a disability are considered service animals.  This is the key difference between a service animal and all other types of working animals, including therapy, comfort animals, and emotional support animals.” 

For additional information: Service Animal or Emotional Support Animal: What's the Difference? | ADA National Network and What Is a Crisis Response Dog? Comfort Dogs vs. Therapy Dogs