> ok certification aside, which is really just a piece of paper. Do They > do need special training to be a therapy dog like they do to be service > dogs?
You may be mistaking a therapy dog or emotional support dog for a service dog. A therapy dog is a dog who has received behavior screening to visit, for example, nursing homes or hospitals and visit the residents there to supply them with animal contact. Essentially a therapy dog needs to be patient and good-natured but doesn't require any particular training. Therapy dogs are not entitled to go to restaurants, etc. with you under the ADA. A service dog is a dog that performs a specific active (as opposed to passive) function for a person who is disabled in some manner, either physically or otherwise. If you have epilepsy and your dog alerts you to oncoming seizures, even though the dog hasn't been trained by anyone else to do so, it qualifies as a service dog. If you have a panic disorder and the dog alerts you to oncoming panic attacks, brings you medications, gets help, etc., it qualifies as a service dog. The mere fact that your dog's presence has a calming and reassuring influence on you does not make it a service dog, even if that reassurance allows you to do things and go places you otherwise couldn't. In that case, your dog is an emotional support animal (ESA). ESAs are not entitled to all the same privileges as a service dog under the ADA, but they are entitled to *some* protections, mainly that a landlord must allow an ESA even in "no pets" housing. However, a restaurant or store is not obliged to admit an ESA if they don't allow other pets. So a service dog can certainly be a psychiatric service dog; the qualifier is that they must perform a task or function beyond simply *being there* and lending a supportive presence. Here's a good site that gives examples of tasks psychiatric service dogs perform: http://www.iaadp.org/psd_tasks.html If you want more information on how the various types of dogs qualify as service dogs, a good place to start is www.deltasociety.org. Anne " Lets talk about our wonderful little friends! Join today! " Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Chihuahuas/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Chihuahuas/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
