[nagdu] When a service dog is a pet - WAS differences between service dogs and pets

[Dailyah]

Apologies if this has already been noted or is stating the obvious...but ummmm...lol...the difference between a highly-trained service dog of any kind (guide, hearing, mobility, etc.) and a pet who's not trained at all or as highly-trained as the service dog is only one thing...
A service dog has been specifically, individually trained, and does work or performs tasks that all or partially mitigate their human's disability.  If we want to get picky - all or partly mitigate the legally recognized or "legally qualifying" disability.  Legally disabled is when one or more of a person's Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) are profoundly impaired. ADLs are things like seeing, walking, breathing, grooming, talking, working, hearing...it's a long list, but ya'll get the idea.
Even if a dog is a service dog for one person, that doesn't mean they are a service dog for someone else.  The disability and the dog's training have to match.  For example, if I suddenly had a beautifully trained hearing dog given to me who alerted me to all sorts of sounds in my environment that dog cannot be my service dog partner because my hearing is just fine.  Unless someone Deaf or HOH is handling that dog, that dog is a pet.
There are the slightly funky exceptions or variations.  
If the disabled person is a child or an adult unable to be responsible and/or physically manage the dog so a parent or nurse participates, that'd be a triad service dog team.  In the case that the dog is doing work for the disabled person but there has to be a more able third party involved, the dog is still a service dog.  (Some programs like Canine Companions differentiate these teams and call them Skilled Companions, but the laws treat skilled companions as service dogs.)  
Also, and this one varies by locale and can be fuzzy, but there are some task-trained dogs that are handled by a non-disabled handler but who actually work with a whole series of disabled people because it's part of the handler's job. The handlers of these dogs have jobs like School Counselor, Special Ed Teacher, Physical or Occupational Therapist, Nurse, Doctor, etc. The dogs are sometimes called Facility Dogs by training programs, but many just consider these service dogs just like the 'triad teams' where the disabled person is always the same person.  If the dog is out in public working because someone like a physical therapist is having a disabled client or patient team with the dog to work on rehab (or whatever), the dog would be a service dog then, too. The same dog is a pet, though, if and when the handler is able-bodied and doesn't have a disabled client along.
Cheers,Dailyah