 Barked: Sun Jan 27, '13 4:01pm PST |
 | |  | | Gypsy I think you need to read the revisions of the ADA that went into effect in 2010. Because while they clarified that only dogs could be service dogs they also clarified things for owners of psychiatric service dogs. It clearly states that a dog must be specifically trained to do either tasks or work to assist the handler with their disability. Comfort alone doesn't qualify.
From the ADA's new revisions -
"Service animals are defined 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, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA."
You can call the DoJ hotline for any clarifications but when I called the sequence for any service dog that assists with anxiety attacks must be = dog either naturally alerts or is trained to alert based on physical signs then goes forward in a trained behavior to assist you in calming down or removing yourself from the stressful situation." The important thing to remember is that the dog Must be trained to assist, anything that wounds like 'he makes me feel better' is not going to stand up in court.
I wish you the very best of luck and again I'm more than willing to answer any questions you have and help you. |  |  | |  |
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