In a world where so much goes wrong, one of the few things that can never do you any wrong is dogs. They are a gift to us, and there are almost no reasons why dogs aren’t the greatest animals to walk this earth.
Anyone who has ever owned a dog or knows someone who has owned a dog knows that dogs are the sweetest, kindest, most amazing companions to have. They have unquestionable loyalty, you are their entire world, and for most people, their dogs are essentially their babies.
All dogs have an emotional connection with their owners and vice versa. However, an emotional support dog is a dog that has been properly trained to guide or assist someone who has a mental illness by being a constant source of emotional well-being. An emotional service dog is prescribed to you by a licensed medical professional.
These dogs are specially trained to be emotional support for people suffering from mental ailments. Before you can get an emotional service dog, a psychologist must perform an evaluation to see to what degree your progression is. There are no specific ages or breeds that can or cannot become an emotional service dog; the dog only needs to be physically fit and mentally healthy.
An emotional service dog is tasked with being the emotional support that certain people need in their lives. A service dog is specifically trained to help someone with a disability or impairment. They wear certain designations that show that they are service dogs, allowing them into a space where animals might not be under normal circumstances. In contrast, an emotional service dog is not allowed in a shopping mall, whereas a service dog is.
The job of a service dog is specific to the person they are assigned to. For example, if someone has a hearing impairment, they will be assigned a service dog that has been trained to alert them every time the doorbell rings or a suspicious noise is heard. Similarly, if someone suffers from extreme anxiety, the service dog they have will be trained to act in a way that allows them to drastically reduce the severity of the anxiety act.
An emotional service dog is considered a pet animal, whereas a service dog is similar to a private nurse that you hire to take care of someone. The emotional service dog is an animal who might not be trained to assist someone as a service dog would but will be able to be emotionally available for someone that needs it. An emotional service dog can also be trained to do most of these tasks, but the training that goes into making a dog into a service dog is extensive, and not everyone can do it.
An emotional service dog is no different than a regular dog. It doesn’t have a certain diet it needs or a specific bed to sleep in. They are regular dogs that have been tasked with a little more than usual. Your emotional service dog needs to be fed, bathed, groomed, and protected as much as possible for you. At the end of the day, the animal is more dependent on you than you are on it.
There are many things that they are capable of, but as humans, you also have to do your bit. For instance, you cannot let your emotional service dog eat something that is harmful to them, or you cannot keep them tied up in a place where they might get sick, like out in the rain.
When it comes to housing an emotional service dog, there is a certain law that allows for an exception to be made in areas where you cannot keep pets. According to the Fair Housing Act, emotional service dogs have been defined as assistance animals.
As a result, landlords cannot discriminate against a tenant who has an emotional service dog because this allows them to keep this animal with them. When you have an emotional service dog, certain restrictions and bans are waived for people that can present proper documentation showing that their pet is an emotional service dog.
Furthermore, people with an emotional service dog can also be exempted from any pet deposit that a landlord might charge according to the Fair Housing Act.
According to the Air Carrier Access Act that allows service dogs onto flights, an emotional service dog is not considered a service animal. As a result, an emotional service dog may not be allowed on a flight, but that depends on which airline you are flying with. For the airlines that do allow it, you must present a United States Department of Transportation (DOT) authorized form before you travel.
This form confirms that the animal in question has adequate training, certification, and health to be able to fly on a plane. People tend to confuse an emotional service dog with a service dog many times and often face a lot of inconvenience due to it. Before you travel, make sure you check to see which airline allows an emotional service dog and which does not.
Furthermore, make sure your documentation is up to date because the last thing you want is to be at the airport with a dog that cannot travel with you.
For people who have been assigned an emotional service dog, these dogs are integral parts of their lives. To the untrained eye, they might just be another pet dog but for the people that are living with it and in need of it, their emotional service dog can be their best friend.
People with an emotional service dog might struggle to get through their day without them and if they aren’t around, these people might suffer as a result. An emotional service dog is not a solution to a person’s ailments; instead, they are a remedy to keep the symptoms at bay so that a person can lead a normal life.
If someone’s condition deteriorates, they must consult a medical professional and not rely on their emotional service dog to fix things for them.