Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples include guiding a person who is blind, alerting a person who is deaf, pulling a wheelchair, retrieving dropped items, alerting a person who is having a seizure, and calming a person with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack. Many more tasks and duties also apply.
Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to perform must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA. Helping Paws trains service dogs for individuals with disabilities and for veterans or first responders with PTSD, which qualify under ADA guidelines, while Facility Dogs do not qualify.
The ADA definition does not affect or limit the broader definition of “assistance animal” under the Fair Housing Act or the broader definition of “service animal” under the Air Carrier Access Act. Some state and local laws also define service animals more broadly than the ADA does. Information about such laws can be obtained from each state attorney general.
Read more about the rights of service animals below.
In Minnesota, the access privileges of Assistance Dogs are also granted through laws passed by the Minnesota Legislature. A service dog-in-training is granted the same access privileges as a fully trained Assistance Dog. Trainers can work with their dogs in realistic settings before they are placed with people who have disabilities.
Additional information on Minnesota state laws includes:
