What Kinds of Animals Can Be Service Animals?

Service animals are animals that assist people with disabilities. The animals are trained to perform tasks that their handlers cannot do for themselves. A service animal allows a person with a serious disability to be more independent and to live a fuller life.

It should be noted that, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, animals that provide comfort or companionship for their owners but that are not trained to perform any specific tasks are not considered service animals under federal law. For instance, a person with depression or an anxiety disorder may have a pet and that pet may help the person relax, but that does not mean the pet is a service animal.

Dogs

The most popular service animal is a dog. Everyone is familiar with the image of a blind person walking down the street with a guide dog, but dogs are used as service animals for people with many other disabilities, as well. Dogs let deaf people know when doorbells ring, when alarms go off and when babies cry. Dogs pick up items for people with physical disabilities, open doors for them and turn on lights. Dogs can be trained to perform services for people with mental disabilities, too.

With the exception of miniature horses in certain cases, dogs are the only service animals recognized under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which gives disabled people that rely on service animals the right to take their dogs with them into most public places, even if pets are typically not allowed there. The reason dogs are preferred as service animals is because it has been proven that they can be trained well enough to do their jobs consistently and safely.

Miniature Horses

Some people advocate the use of miniature horses as an alternative to guide dogs for the blind. Miniature horses live longer than dogs, about 25 to 35 years, according to the Guide Horse Foundation. Since it takes quite a bit of training to prepare a service animal for duty, a longer lifespan is a significant benefit. Miniature horses may also be good service animals for visually impaired people that need help with balance, since the horses are able to bear more weight than dogs.

The National Federation of the Blind discourages the use of guide horses for the blind, however. Horses are more easily startled by loud noises or other unexpected things than dogs, despite extensive training. Miniature horses are too large to travel with their handlers by car or taxi, and they cannot curl up discretely under a chair or table as a service dog does in a restaurant.

Monkeys

Monkeys are sometimes placed in the home as service animals for those with severe physical disabilities, such as people with quadriplegia (paralysis from the neck down). Capuchin monkeys are commonly used, though other types of monkeys are sometimes used, as well. The ADA does not require businesses to allow disabled people with service monkeys to bring their monkeys into public places because monkeys are not domesticated the way dogs are and it is possible for a service monkey to injure someone. It may be more difficult to train monkeys to cope with the noise and commotion in public places, as well.

In the home, however, monkeys can provide many services other animals, including dogs, could not provide. They can open drinks, hold drinks for their handlers to sip, put CD’s on the stereo or DVD’s in the DVD player, scratch itchy noses, adjust blankets and pillows, and perform other tasks requiring manual dexterity. Of course, they provide companionship, as well.

Other Animals

While federal law does not allow people with disabilities to take other types of animals into public places that typically ban pets, people have claimed that they use numerous other species of animals as service animals and expressed outrage when told they could not bring their animals into public places like restaurants. Unusual animals claimed to be service animals have included snakes, parrots, goats, pigs, cats, hedgehogs, ferrets and rats. These animals cannot be adequately trained to behave appropriately in a public setting and in some cases pose risks to the public. Of course, they are also very limited in the tasks they can perform.

"Service Bird" Not Allowed in Grocery Store

A woman in Ohio is upset because Kroger won't allow her to take her pet bird into the grocery store. 

The woman says her bird is a "nationally registered service bird," but there's really no such thing.  She registered him with one of those online registries, that are really just a scam.  They don't mean anything.  You can register any pet you want, or a stuffed animal, or a made up creature like a dinosaur or a unicorn.  All you need is internet access and a credit card.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, only dogs (and in some instances, miniature horses) can be service animals.  Some states do recognize other animals as service animals, but Ohio doesn't.  In fact, Ohio state law only recognizes dogs as service animals.  Miniature horses are still allowed as service animals in the state because federal law says so, but Ohio state law doesn't include anything about service horses.

So the bird is not a service animal.  The bird is a pet.  Maybe the bird is an emotional support animal, I don't know.  But it's not a service animal.

The bird shouldn't be allowed in the grocery store.  It's a violation of local health codes and there is no other law that supersedes those health codes, the way the ADA does in the case of service dogs.

Service Snakes?

Have you heard about the guy with a service snake?

Well, I'm sure there are more than one out there, but there is this guy in Washington state that has a boa constrictor that he claims is a service animal and he's been fighting for several years now to get his snake acknowledged as a service animal under state and federal law.  Yes, he thinks he should have the right to take his snake into public places, just like he would be allowed to take a service dog into public places.

Daniel Greene says his snake alerts him when he is getting ready to have a seizure.  That might be true.  No one quite understands how some animals, including some dogs, are able to know when seizures are getting ready to occur.  Since no one knows how some animals know that, though, there is no way to train a dog (or other animal) to alert.  They either do it or they don't.  That means that alerting is not a trained task, so an animal that alerts is not considered a service animal under the ADA definition.

Snakes cannot be trained to perform tasks because their brains are simply not formed that way.  They lack the part of the brain that is capable of learning "tricks" or tasks.  They operate pretty much on instinct, all the time.  That means that not only is a snake unable to be trained to perform tasks as service animals must be trained to do, but a snake is unable to be trained to behave appropriately in a public setting. 

It's also not good for the snake.  Snakes generally need a climate-controlled environment with the right temperature and humidity.  Restaurants, stores, and other public places are kept at a temperature and humidity level that is comfortable for humans, not for snakes.  Carrying a snake around in public is detrimental to the snake's health.

Just to be clear: under the ADA regulations, businesses are not required to allow people to bring service snakes into businesses!

Service Horses?

Here are a couple articles I recently read about a woman with a service horse.

Times Union: Her Assistant, Her Guide, Her Horse

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Her-assistant-her-guide-her-horse-3665174.php#photo-3123171

Fox 23 News: Guide Horse Draws Quite the Crowd

http://www.fox23news.com/news/local/story/Guide-horse-draws-quite-the-crowd/LFo-3IEYq02PcJcjMyKwZw.cspx

It’s a miniature horse, and miniature horses are the only service animals other than dogs offered some protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act.  There’s some controversy about that.  Some business owners feel that it’s not reasonable to allow horses, miniature or not, into businesses in order to accommodate people with disabilities.  There are numerous concerns.

Horses, even miniature ones, are larger than most service dogs.  They can’t curl up under a table in a restaurant the way a dog can.  They are taller than most service dogs, so if a person needs the assistance of a service horse at a salad bar or buffet, for instance, the horse’s head would be about level with the food, which raises questions about sanitation. 

There is some debate about whether or not horses can be housebroken; the Guide Horse Foundation claims they can go up to six hours without toileting, about half the maximum time an adult dog can go, but photos of service horses often show them wearing diapers.

Here is some more information about potential problems with relying on service horses, provided by the National Federation of the Blind, which does not favor the use of miniatures horses for the blind.

The Guide Horse Foundation: Joke or Jeopardy?

http://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm01/bm0104/bm010404.htm

Guide horses are said to offer an alternative to blind people that are allergic to dogs and to blind Muslims that believe dogs are unclean and therefore are unwilling to work with guide dogs.  The Guide Horse Foundation says the organization wants to offer an alternative for horse lovers.  Personally, I don’t understand why horse lovers can’t use service dogs; I mean, I am a cat lover, but I am not going to try to train myself a service cat.

While there may be a few advantages of service horses, those seem outweighed by the many disadvantages, to me. 

If You Want to Learn More

I’ve written a number of articles about service dogs, but I can’t post them on my blog because they were published exclusively by the publisher that bought them from me.  However, I can post links to them, so if you’re interesting in learning more, you can check them out.  

What Kinds of Animals Can Be Service Animals?  

This article talks about what kind of service animals are covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act and discusses a variety of service animals, including service monkeys and miniature horses.

Would You Benefit from a Psychiatric Service Dog?  

This article discusses who might benefit from a psychiatric service dog.

Where Can You Take Your Psychiatric Service Dog?  

This article explains where you can and cannot take a psychiatric service dog.

Where Can You Take Your Emotional Support Animal?  

This article explains where you can and cannot take an emotional support animal.   An emotional support animal, or ESA, is not the same thing as a service animal.  It’s basically a pet for someone with a mental disability that is recommended as part of their treatment plan by their health care provider.

“Fake” Service Dogs Cause Problems for People with Real Service Dogs 

Apparently there is a significant problem involving people pretending their pets are service dogs when they really aren’t, just so they can take them into public places where pets aren’t allowed.  This is illegal and can be punished with fines and even jail time.  It also creates problems for people that have real service dogs.