Service Animals
Overview
This Provides guidance on the term “service animal” and the service animal provisions in the Department of ADA regulations.
- Beginning on March 15, 2011, only dogs are recognized as service animals under titles II and III of the ADA.
- A service animal is a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability.
- Generally, title II and title III entities must permit service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas where members of the public are allowed to go.
How “Service Animal” Is Defined
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.
This definition does not affect or limit the broader definition of “assistance animal” under the Fair Housing Act or the broader definition of “service animal” under the Air Carrier Access Act.
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.
Service animals are:
Dogs
Any breed and any size of dog
Trained to perform a task directly related to a person’s disability
Service animals are not:
Required to be certified or go through a professional training program
Required to wear a vest or other ID that indicates they’re a service dog
Emotional support or comfort dogs, because providing emotional support or comfort is not a task related to a person’s disability
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.
Where Service Animals Are Allowed
Under the ADA, State and local governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that serve the public generally must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of the facility where the public is allowed to go.
Generally, service animals are allowed to be with their person, even in places that don’t allow pets. For example, service dogs can go into:
Restaurants
Shops
Hospitals
Schools
Hotels
For example, in a hospital it usually would be inappropriate to exclude a service animal from areas such as patient rooms, clinics, cafeterias, or examination rooms. However, it may be appropriate to exclude a service animal from operating rooms or burn units where the animal’s presence may compromise a sterile environment.
For example, a restaurant offers indoor and outdoor seating. A woman arrives at the restaurant with her service dog and asks to sit inside. The restaurant cannot require the woman to dine outside because of her service dog.
The ADA also applies to certain types of housing, including:
Housing at public and private universities
Public housing programs run by state, county, and city governments
Emergency shelters
Service Animals Must Be Under Control
A service animal must be under the control of its handler. Under the ADA, service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless the individual’s disability prevents using these devices or these devices interfere with the service animal’s safe, effective performance of tasks. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective controls.
When a Service Animal Can Be Kept Out
A business or state/local government does not need to allow a service animal if the dog’s presence would fundamentally alter the nature of the goods, services, programs, or activities provided to the public.
What does fundamentally alter mean?
In most settings, a service animal will not fundamentally alter the situation. But in some settings, a service dog could change the nature of the service or program. For example, it may be appropriate to keep a service animal out of an operating room or burn unit where the animal’s presence could compromise a sterile environment. But in general, service animals cannot be restricted from other areas of the hospital where patients or members of the public can go.
Inquiries, Exclusions, Charges, and Other Specific Rules
Related to Service Animals
When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed.
Staff may ask two questions:
Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability,
What work or task has the dog been trained to perform.
Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.
- Allergies and fear of dogs are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to people using service animals. When a person who is allergic to dog dander and a person who uses a service animal must spend time in the same room or facility, for example, in a school classroom or at a homeless shelter, they both should be accommodated by assigning them, if possible, to different locations within the room or different rooms in the facility.
- A person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his service animal from the premises unless: (1) the dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it or (2) the dog is not housebroken. When there is a legitimate reason to ask that a service animal be removed, staff must offer the person with the disability the opportunity to obtain goods or services without the animal’s presence.
- Establishments that sell or prepare food must generally allow service animals in public areas even if state or local health codes prohibit animals on the premises.
- People with disabilities who use service animals cannot be isolated from other patrons, treated less favorably than other patrons, or charged fees that are not charged to other patrons without animals. In addition, if a business requires a deposit or fee to be paid by patrons with pets, it must waive the charge for service animals.
- If a business such as a hotel normally charges guests for damage that they cause, a customer with a disability may also be charged for damage caused by himself or his service animal.
- Staff are not required to provide care for or supervision of a service animal.
Because service animals are not required to wear vests, a dog that is wearing a vest is not necessarily a service animal. The dog still needs to be trained to perform a task for a person with a disability to be a service animal.
Asking Someone to Remove Their Service Animal
A business or state/local government can ask someone to remove their service animal if:
- The dog is not housebroken.
- The dog is out of control, and the person cannot get the dog under control.
State and Local Laws
State/local governments can:
- Require service dogs to be licensed and vaccinated, if all dogs are required to be licensed and vaccinated
- Offer voluntary service dog registration programs
State/local governments can’t:
- Require certification or registration of service dogs
- Ban a service dog based on its breed
Miniature Horses
In addition to the provisions about service dogs, the Department’s ADA regulations have a separate provision about miniature horses that have been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. (Miniature horses generally range in height from 24 inches to 34 inches measured to the shoulders and generally weigh between 70 and 100 pounds.) Entities covered by the ADA must modify their policies to permit miniature horses where reasonable. The regulations set out four assessment factors to assist entities in determining whether miniature horses can be accommodated in their facility.
The assessment factors are
- Whether the miniature horse is housebroken;
- Whether the miniature horse is under the owner’s control;
- Whether the facility can accommodate the miniature horse’s type, size, and weight; and
- Whether the miniature horse’s presence will not compromise legitimate safety requirements necessary for safe operation of the facility.
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