According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, a service dog is one “that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability…. The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person’s disability.” Some states recognize other animals as service animals but only dogs are recognized on a national level. Unfortunately, the ADA’s definition does not include therapy dogs or emotional support dogs.

Due to the intense amount of time/effort in socialization, service dog training tends to be expensive. Training can take from 6-24 months to complete, depending upon the number of tasks to be trained.