What is a Therapy Animal?

Therapy animals are pets that are trained to bring joy and smiles to many people. Their training is not geared to support one specific person (like a service or emotional support animal), rather their role is to help many others. Therapy animals are not allowed special provisions like traveling on planes or going into restaurants and stores.  Therapy animals can only enter facilities approved by their certifying organization.

What is a Service Animal?

The Americans with Disabilities Act defines service animals as “dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities”.  Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, alerting a person who is having a seizure or calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Service animals are working animals, not pets. Under the ADA, service animals are allowed to enter facilities that serve the public.

What is an Emotional Support Animal?

An emotional support animal (ESA) must be prescribed by a licensed medical professional. ESAs are often called comfort animals as they provide therapy support to someone with a mental illness. An emotional support animal is not trained to perform specific behaviors to assist with a disability and are NOT included under the American Disabilites Act.