[nagdu] COMMUNITY COMMENTARY 'Emotional support dogs' endanger somein public

[Tami Jarvis]

Debby,

The difference between an ESA and an SD for a mental disability such as 
PTSD is whether the dog is task-trained. If the dog just makes the 
person feel better, then it's just a dog, thus an ESA. If the dog is 
trained to do something, then it's a service dog. Tasks for PTSD SDs can 
include turning on lights before the handler enters a room, performing 
some action to interrupt an episode, guiding the handler away from a 
trigger or preventing the handler from encountering the trigger, stuff 
like that.

hth,

Tami

On 02/20/2015 05:25 PM, Debby Phillips via nagdu wrote:
> This is an interesting letter and in part, I certainly support it.  But
> I have some questions.  First of all, in Spokane I have run into people
> with dogs who say that they experience PTSAID. The dogs help them with
> that issue.  Are they considered service dogs? Or are they considered
> "emotional support" dogs? I am pretty unclear about this.  I understand
> that dogs that strictly give "comfort" are not service dogs, but I'm
> very unclear about the proliferation of dogs that Veterans are using
> because of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.  And is that considered a
> disability? Please understand, I'm supportive of anything that is good
> for Veterans, but this issue does not seem clear to me. Peace,    Debby
>
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