A guide dog helps a visually impaired person.
A service animal is an animal specially trained to help a person with a disability. Common examples of service animals include guide dogs and horses, therapy animals, and animals that pull wheelchairs or assist people with walking difficulties. Service animals are an important part of the lives of their partners with disabilities, who have more independence and freedom thanks to their companion animals. Additionally, most nations have laws that protect the rights of service animals, along with people with disabilities.
Guide dogs must undergo extensive training before they are allowed to work with people.
To be considered a service animal, an animal must be individually trained to provide a service. Many service animals are also registered with a service animal organization and a state or national service animal registry, but this is not required. The training of a service animal represents months of work, since the animal must be trained to be good-natured and obedient in the most diverse situations, in addition to protecting its owner. Service animals are taught to perform tasks such as watching for traffic when their owners are blind or alerting a deaf owner to potential danger. At the same time, a service animal is taught “intelligent disobedience,” meaning that it will refuse to comply with a command it deems dangerous.
Horses can be used as service animals in some situations.
While some breeds of animals are favored more than others for service, the main concern is the temperament of the animal. Dogs, for example, are chosen for being friendly, easy to handle, loyal and patient. Typically, a potential service animal undergoes extensive behavioral testing before being accepted into a training program. Above all, a service animal is not a pet, although its owners are likely to love it. If you see someone with a service animal, always ask permission before petting or handling it, and keep in mind that if the animal is working, you can’t touch it.
In addition to service animals that help people with obvious disabilities, such as blindness, other service animals function as comfort or therapy animals. Some of the most famous therapy animals are unusual species like chickens. A therapy animal may work in a hospital or clinical setting, helping a large number of patients, or be assigned to work with a specific person. Studies by organizations like the Humane Society of the United States indicate that working with animals actually makes people feel better, and that’s the point of animal therapy.
People with service animals sometimes face discrimination from business owners who are not aware of the law. Especially in the United States, there are extensive legal protections for service animals under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under the ADA, a service animal must be allowed anywhere its owner is located, and must not be treated as a “pet” by business owners. This law supersedes local laws, which may, for example, ban dogs from restaurants. Failure to admit someone with a service animal to a business or workplace is cause for a very serious lawsuit.