Service Dog

Benefits of Anxiety Service Dogs

Service dogs are trained by various people for different reasons. Depending on the person’s needs, service dogs will be trained to do specific tasks that will benefit the person’s day-to-day tasks.

Roles carried out by service dogs for anxiety include:

• Detecting anxiety attacks before they happen
• Getting medication or water during the attack
• Getting another person who can further assist the person in distress
• Preventing strangers from approaching during an attack
• Calming the person in distress by applying deep pressure therapy, licking the face, or lending a paw to hold on to
• Retrieving a phone or any means of communication to ask for help
• Reminding their owners to take prescriptions every day
• Checking rooms for hazards and performing safety checks like turning on lights for people with PTSD

Aside from being around, dogs can also give you the following benefits:

• Staying active. Having a dog with you is a great excuse to exercise, especially for individuals with anxiety and depression. According to medical experts, exercise is a great way to improve mental and physical health.
• Spending time outdoors. People with anxiety and depression often neglect their health by staying indoors most of the time. However, when they get to be with their dogs and other pets, they can improve their desire to go outdoors and get their recommended sunlight and Vitamin D, which helps boost a person’s mood.
• A great companion. Dogs provide love and friendship like no other. Having a pet can reduce feelings of loneliness or isolation, too.
• An amazing stress reliever. Spending time with pets can reduce stress and anxiety and boost happiness due to the unconditional love and energy they give.

A 2012 review also suggests that interacting with animals may help with the following:

• Improve a person’s mood, thus reducing depression and anxiety
• Encourage a person’s desire to meet and make friends with other people
• Lower cortisol levels, which is a major factor in building stress
• Lower heart rate and high blood pressure

What You Should Know Before Getting an Official Approval Letter for Your Service Animal

• Federal law prohibits the discrimination of breed, size, training level, or age of any emotional support or service dog.
  Service dogs can be trained by their owners in a way that best fits their needs. Not all service dogs are required to fully trained to know everything. It all boils down to how the owner will manage his pet.
• People with service animals must be allowed access to all public establishments.
  These include stores, malls, restaurants, hotels and resorts, airlines, cruises, taxi cabs, and buses.
• Do not be forced to separate from your pet.
  With the help and support of various medical professionals all over America, you cannot be separated from your pet for no valid reason. This way, the debilitating symptoms of your condition may be reduced. You can peacefully live and travel with your beloved pet anywhere you want.
• Guaranteed relief.
  Deep Pressure Therapy (DPT) can help calm those who suffer from anxiety, autism, self-harming behaviors, and generalized stress without medication. Service dogs can perform this therapy by cuddling with you or laying their heads on your lap.
• The two of you are a family.
  Being with our pets is one way to give us peace of mind. If you feel calm and happy with your dog beside you, then that is a solid ground to keep him or her with you at all times. With this letter, you won’t be asked to leave your pet behind.
• Protect yourself and your dog from unfair fees.
  Nowadays, various airlines require a hefty fee bring a pet on board. For example, American and Delta Airline charge the owner a grand $200 to check a pet on board. However, if you identify your pet as a service animal, especially when they wear their service collar or vest, you won’t have to pay an extra fee.

List of Disabilities

Here is a list of some common disabilities that individuals with service dogs have:

• Mobility Issues (Including Paralysis)
• Sensory Issues (Blindness, Hearing Loss, Loss of Smell, etc.)
• Diabetes
• Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
• Cancer
• Autism
• Epilepsy
• Seizures
• Post-Traumatic Stress
• Anxiety Attacks

What Are Service Dogs?

Service dogs are trained by their owners or by professionals to do specific tasks that will help persons with disabilities. There is no specification on what disabilities or conditions service dogs will cater to as long as they can provide assistance, comfort, and protection to their assigned individual, mostly their owners. Most of the time, they comfort people with vision and auditory impairments, as well as people with mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, and PTSD.

Service Dogs Are Protected Under Federal Law

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an individual with a disability is entitled to a service dog to help them live their lives normally. The ADA protects disabled individuals by allowing them to bring their service dog with them to most places that the public is permitted, including restaurants, hotels, housing complexes, and even air travel. Any dog can be a service dog, and service dogs do not have to be professionally trained. The important thing is that the dog is trained to be a working animal and not a pet.
Source: https://adata.org/guide/service-animals-and-emotional-support-animals

How to Identify Service Dogs

As mentioned before, service dogs are identified by a vest, collar, or tag. Their identification usually includes an ID card, too. Most of the time, airlines and other businesses prefer seeing a service dog wearing his or her service identification. This saves you, as an owner, a lot of time explaining that your pet is a service animal.

Do You Have a Disability?

If your disability hinders you from performing major life tasks, such as walking, talking, seeing, hearing, thinking, and more, then you qualify to have a service dog under the laws of the American Disability Act.

Your Disability and Public Knowledge

According to federal law, you have the right not to divulge any information regarding your illness, condition, or disability. What business establishments can only ask you is the nature of service that your dog gives you, for example, reminding you to take your prescriptions by tugging on your shirt.

Living With Your Service Dog and Emotional Support Animal

Per the ADA law on service dogs and emotional support animals, you are not allowed to be rejected by landlords and other housing managers to live with your service dog and emotional support animal despite their no-pet policy. This goes for hotels, too. They cannot reject you for their services and are not allowed to add extra charges for having an animal with you.

Flying With Your Service Dog and Emotional Support Animal

Under the laws created by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), service dogs and their owners will be allowed on any airline that they choose. The owner will also not be charged an extra fee for having their emotional support animal or service dog on board.

If you need to obtain a signed letter or any airline-specific travel forms for your ESA from a Licensed Mental Health Professional, click here to take an ESA Determination Test.

Service Dog Agreement

Click here to read and fill out the Service Dog Agreement.

PET FEES CHARGED BY
AIRLINES (ROUNDTRIP)