People often confuse service dogs, therapy dogs, and emotional support dogs (animals).  The differences are actually quite important because they determine the legal protection and right to public access for the handler.

what’s the difference between therapy dogs, emotional support dogs, and service dogs?

A therapy dog is a pet that is also registered with a therapy dog organization to provide comfort.  They have been tested for social temperament and trained to behave properly.  They’re typically found in hospitals, nursing homes, or schools.  Some have been included on crisis response teams to help people traumatized by an event.  They are not service dogs and do not have public access rights. 

An emotional support dog (or animal) is similar to a therapy dog, but only provides comfort to its owner.  There is no social temperament test or specific behavior training.  They provide comfort typically b being in the owner’s life and household.  They typically have coverage under housing laws, but do not have public access rights. 

A service dog works with a handler who has a disability.  The dog is specifically trained to assist that individual in overcoming the disability impairments.  The service dog helps the handler function better.  People are most commonly familiar with guide dogs, who specifically serve handlers with visual impairments.  The dog may retrieve dropped objects or guide the person through a building or park.  The dog and handler have a close partnership based on cooperative interactions for joint actions.  The decision-making passes between the handler and the dog as they perform the action.  For example, the handler selects a direction or destination and the service dog selects the path to avoid obstacles such as rocks or holes. 

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) rules for service dogs

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) states that to qualify as a service dog, three conditions must be met:

1. The must be specifically trained to perform certain tasks beyond nature dog behaviors.

2. The tasks must mitigate the handler’s disability condition.

3. The dog must be needed by that specific handler. In other words, a group of people cannot be aided by the same service dog.

The ADA further defines a person with a disability as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.  The handler must be diagnosed with a disability by a medical professional. 

History of Dogs

Human beings first forged a relationship wild wolves over 45,000 years ago.  Without them, humans might not have climbed to the top of the animal kingdom.   Today, they are a common part of human life, both as companions and as partners. 

Early in human history, it is believed that wild wolves rejected by their packs began following wandering tribes of humans.  They would feed off the scraps and bones left of the animals killed by the humans.  The relationship was beneficial to the tribes as well because the wolves would signal when a threat was near, including large predators. 

Human hunter/gathers soon formed a strong relationship with the wild wolves.  They relied upon the senses and natural defenses of the wolves to aid in their own advancement.  The Agricultural Revolution led to the creation of specialist dogs that were more helpful to early humans.  Selective breeding lead to the increase of favorable traits in dogs, like herding livestock and protecting farm animals rather than killing them.

The Mesopotamians considered dogs to be deities alongside their human gods.  Dogs, dog-human hybrids, and dog-related creatures are found in mythological stories in Babylonia, Egyptian, Greek Aztec, Norse, and Hindu cultures. 

The Romans included dogs in their armies when invading Britain.  Breeders began mating dogs to enhance desirable traits for warrior dogs.  Soon after, a French monk name Hubert selectively breed to create scent hounds.  The ancestor of modern day bloodhounds, they were trained to pursue specific scents over great distances.

Christopher Columbus brought greyhounds and mastiffs to the Americas in 1493.  They were used to test unfamiliar food and to intimidate the natives.  Columbus and his men used the dogs to track escapes slaves and maul rebels. 

In the 1750s the first guide dogs for visually impaired humans were trained.  Soon after, a guide to training a dog was written and published.  The instructions included a special harness for the dog and a pole for the handler.  This technique is still used today.

Sled dogs were first used by the Indigenous Northern Canadian Inuit people almost 2000 years BC.  The dogs assisted with hauling cargo across the land.  It was Russian explorers in the Alaskan region who first trained a lead sled dog to obey basic commands, bringing dog sledding into the modern era.

In 1878 the kennel clubs recognized nine charter breeds.  They were the in-demand hunting breeds most popular at the time – Gordon setter, English setter, Irish setter, Irish water spaniel, Sussex spaniel, cocker spaniel, clumber spaniel, Chesapeake Bay retriever, and the pointer.  The number of dog breeds has continued to expand to 197 in current times.

London’s hunt for Jack the Ripper led to police to use hounds to help with tracking the criminal.  However, it was police officials in Belgium who first trained dogs to formally work alongside of law enforcement officers. 

The First Seeing Eye Dogs

Following World War I, Dr. Gerhard Stalling was the president of the German ambulance association.  The organization had trained collies to track down wounded soldiers and carry messages, among other tasks.  With the war over, the dogs were retrained and assigned to blind veterans.  The association didn’t last long, but it did produce over 4,000 guide dogs by 1930.

Dorothy Harrison Eustis, a wealthy American living abroad, observed the German guide dogs and was quite impressed by the level of independence they provided for their handlers.  She had already developed a reputation in the community by breeding and training police dogs for the Swiss army.  In 1929 she cofounded the first American guide dog school, The Seeing Eye.  Soon similar training facilities were built across the country and in Europe.

In 1943 the US Military experienced controversy when a German shepherd mix name Chips was awarded several medals from the Army.  He attacked a hidden gun nest during World War II and overpowered four German soldiers operating a machine gun.  The German soldiers fled the gun nest and were captured by the American troops.  Chip received a wound to his head and some gun powder burns.  When he was awarded a Purple Heart, Distinguished Service Cross, and Silver Star some soldiers took offense.  The medals were revoked, but eventually given back.  The War Department then ruled that no other dogs would receive military medals.

The role of dogs in society continued to expand.  Dogs regularly served as guides for visual and hearing impaired handlers, and in the 1960s their jobs began to include helping humans with other problems.  Researchers documented positive results when well-trained dogs were paired with humans who had issues with mental illness, trauma, old age, and mental retardation.  Dr. Boris Levinson noted that patients were more likely to socialize with dogs than other humans.

Summary

Today the term ‘service dog’ encompasses a wide range of services.  The traditional idea of a seeing eye dog or a hearing assistance dog no longer fits every service dog.  Some are trained to work with people with diabetes, help families with a child on the autism spectrum, or help people with mental health issues. 

disability rights and service dog expert melissa kaekel

Morgan Hill Institute’s Melissa Kaekel is an expert on disability rights in the workplace and service dogs. Interested in having Melissa consult for your organization or speak to your group, be a guest on your podcast, or be an expert source for a press piece? Learn more about consulting and speaking services here.