white service dog

May 12, 2020 2 min to read

Psychiatric service dogs: are they the same as regular service dogs?

Category : Lifestyle

Many people all around the world require service dogs in their everyday lives. Service dogs can be used for a variety of health disorders and conditions. There are also therapy dogs and emotional support animals, which have other therapeutic training.

But what are the differences between service dogs for psychiatric conditions and service dogs for physical health conditions? And how do they relate to other types of helper animals? Let’s find out!

Different Types Of Service Animals

There are many different types of service animals that are used to help humans with their physical and emotional needs in different ways.

But, what are the differences in the classifications of service animals? Let’s go through the different classifications of service animals.

Emotional Support Animals

You’ve probably heard of emotional support animals in the context of airplanes. But that’s not the only purpose of emotional support animals. Emotional support animals are primarily used to help reduce the owner’s anxiety or other emotional symptoms.

Emotional support animals are not always dogs, but you probably shouldn’t get too creative with what you choose as your emotional support animal or you may get into some trouble on your next flight.

For example, an emotional support peacock (yes, the bird) was turned away from a United Airlines flight because it was too large.

But, animals who have been allowed as emotional support animals in the past include turkeys, kangaroos, and pigs.

All types of animals can provide emotional support — they may not just be particularly well suited to the close confines of an airplane.

Therapy Dogs

Unlike other types of animals, therapy dogs usually aren’t trained for one specific service or to help one specific human.

Therapy dogs are dogs that volunteer in high-stress locations, like universities or care homes, or in high-stress situations like after a natural disaster. Therapy dogs are used to help calm down people and help bring their stress levels down.

Instead of specific training, these are usually dogs that are naturally calm and friendly anyway. Therapy dogs aren’t covered by the ADA, so they can only work in areas where pets are allowed.

Also, therapy dogs don’t necessarily have to be dogs. There are plenty of therapy cats out there as well! There have even been reports of therapy bunnies, and other fuzzy and calming animals.

Working service dogs

Working service dogs are those that are covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act to perform specific tasks. Working service dogs can be used for…
 
Continue reading the article and learn more about service dogs on Life Is An Episode website.
 
 

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