Definitions from The Delta Society

The Difference between:
Service, Therapy, Companion and "Social/therapy" Animals

Service Animals are legally defined (Americans With Disabilities Act, 1990) and are trained to meet the disability-related needs of their handlers who have disabilities. Federal laws protect the rights of individuals with disabilities to be accompanied by their service animals in public places. Service animals are not considered 'pets'.

Therapy Animals are not legally defined by federal law, but some states have laws defining therapy animals. They provide people with contact to animals, but are not limited to working with people who have disabilities. They are usually the personal pets of their handlers, and work with their handlers to provide services to others. Federal laws have no provisions for people to be accompanied by therapy animals in places of public accommodation that have "no pets" policies. Therapy animals usually are not service animals.

A Companion Animal is not legally defined, but is accepted as another term for pet.

'Social/therapy' Animals have no legal definition. They often are animals that did not complete service animal or service dog training due to health, disposition, trainability, or other factors, and are made available as pets for people who have disabilities. These animals might or might not meet the definition of service animals.

I am aware of patients who have had their physicians write essentially a "prescription" stating the animal provided necessary "support" for the human. The animal is then afforded access to restaurants, transportation, etc. just as a service animal used for visible physical disabilities. The "script" is the "permit" allowing the patient/service animal team protection under the ADA.

Although no standardized training or performance measures are required, having an animal that is safe and under control is only responsible. Common guidelines are the AKC's Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Program, and Therapy Dog Registration with orgs like Therapy Dogs Inc., Therapy Dogs International, Delta Society, etc.

I should clarify that the term "therapy dog" usually refers to a the canine half of a dog/handler team that provides comfort to third parties (animal-assisted therapy for reading improvement in children, emotional support in hospitals, long-term care facilities, hospices, etc.)



I guess I'm trying to answer both questions, and the answers are different:

Need a ("psychological") service dog? Get a doctor's note.

Want a Therapy Dog? You gotta train with the dog. It's the team that gets registered. But that's for helping other folks. Highly recommended, however. Rewarding on a number of levels. Good luck! HTH, Hermie