Speech On Emotional Support Animals

There are 3 different types of service dogs people can have: Emotional Support Animals, Therapy Animals, and Service Animals. Emotional Support Animals have one task and that is to provide comfort and support, emotionally, to someone who needs it and has a documented health condition. Therapy Animals are registered through an agency and their purpose is to provide therapeutic value to those who need it. Service animals are trained to perform tasks the owner simply cannot do on their own, guiding blind people, detecting seizures, helping people who have lost legs or arms.

These animals are there to provide not only emotional support, but they also provide their humans with companionship. Jim was a lost individual that spent a lot of time isolating himself from people. Jim is a veteran and he was filled with anxiety after being deployed. Jim now has an emotional support dog named, Sarge. Sarge is there for Jim and she helps his anxiety level. When Jim is in a crowd of people, his anxiety level rises. But, with Sarge by his side, he is able to go out and do normal things. Jim was on a lot of medication and now with Sarge, he is off all the medication. Sarge really did a lot to help Jim and now Jim is working with an organization called Paws and Stripes. It is an organization that works to bring these emotional support dogs to our veterans that suffer from a mental or physical disability. It is amazing how just one dog can bring about such a change in a person. (Psychiatric Service Dog Society, 2012)

If you are in the US, you may have heard of emotional support animal or ESA. An emotional support animal works like a companion animal for people and patients, with the intention of offering therapeutic benefits. Although not always compulsory, such animals are either dogs or cats, working with people, providing relief and support for psychological symptoms or emotional stress. Check some of the basic facts you need to know before getting ESA certificate.

Assistance dogs such as emotional support dogs are not trained for tasks or needs of the owner but rather to provide companionship for the owner. The main reason people are offered an emotional support dogs is to help cope with mental or behavioral health issues that do not require assistance outside of the house. Emotional support dogs are often given to victims of domestic violence and children with emotional disorders. The biggest difference between the emotional support dogs and service dogs is that while emotional support dogs are trained to comfort and be there emotionally for their owners at home, they are not needed for daily living support like service dogs are. One of the primary reason that emotional support dogs would need to be identified as such is to take advantage of the loophole provided in the law. (Huss, 2012)

Weinmeyer said that, “In countering the claim of discrimination, the VA argued that not providing service dog benefits for those with mental illness did not violate the Rehabilitation Act quite the opposite, in fact” (2). “The VA stated that it provides benefits not for particular conditions but for particular purposes,” which is, “to help a veteran manage a visual impairment, a hearing impairment, or a chronic impairment that substantially limits mobility,” and that all veterans receive equal consideration for service dog benefits” (Weinmeyer 2).

While the use of service dogs, therapy dogs and emotional support animal is legitimate for people that have disabilities, many people abuse and fake their pets as service animals. In his Psychology today article, “Service Animal Scams: A Growing Problem,” author Hal Herzog Ph.D. explains how a growing number of Americans are faking their pets as service dogs. Herzog reports, “the present system governing the status of service animals is rife with abuse” and blasts The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Air Carrier Access Act for its loopholes. For example, if a person has a service dog, the ADA prohibits questions that involve the person’s disability, including documentation. Another issue is that the Air Carrier Access Act “gives legal

Medical professionals have recently seen the positive effects animals are able to provide to their patients with mental disabilities. The emotional support dog MA recognizes

According to the website Official Service Dog Registry some physical disabilities that service dogs can help with include blindness, asthma, seizures, diabetes, balance issues and numerous more. Some mental disabilities that service dogs can help with would be autism, depression, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), dyslexia, bipolar disorder and more. In the article Brace and mobility support dogs: Everything you need to know from the website Anything Pawsible, it stated “Brace and Mobility Support Dogs are a type of Service Dog trained to provide their disabled handler with assistance moving from place to place.” This relates to the physical disabilities listed above. For mental disabilities, The dogs act as emotional support to their owner. For example, people with depression or bipolar disorder can possibly feel less stressed or upset when their service dog is around them.

For centuries people have known that animal companionship has brought many benefits to people’s lives. According to Kathryn Heimlich, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the first known time a companion animal was used to aid in a therapy program was “York Retreat in England, an establishment founded by the Quakers for persons with mental illness” (Heimlich, 2001, p. 48). As stated by Heimlich, the first published reports of the benefits of animal-assisted therapy come from Psychologist Boris Levinson. Levinson “discovered that he could reach a disturbed child during therapy

Questions arise concerning the treatment of therapy dogs when visiting patients and whether animal-assisted therapy really works at all; however, those who disagree aren’t looking at the big picture. Animal-assisted therapy is both an ethical and effective therapy method due to its success in treating those with chronic diseases, disorders, and managing stress and anxiety. The varieties of cases regarding the success of therapy dog treatments far surmount the amount of cases saying otherwise. Animal-assisted therapy stems from the human-animal connection, one of the most unique and powerful bonds man has ever experienced. It is that connection that allows animal assisted therapy to be a critical part of everyone’s daily

Animals can play a significant role in a human's life. Some animals that we know do that are dogs. Dogs can change a human's life in a positive way. Some dogs are trained then later used in war. Other dogs are used as pets and to cheer their owners up that suffer from PTSD. In the article “Feeling Depressed? There’s a Dog for That” by Jacqueline Bennett as you get to the 12th paragraph it says “There are a growing number of organizations dedicated to training service dogs to help those suffering from PTSD, particularly veterans. In fact, dogs have been proven so effective at helping combat anxiety, stress, and depression, the government

Dogs will protect you and they can also provide comfort and support in forms of affection and companionship for an individual suffering from various mental and emotional conditions.

One after another, patients walk in the door asking for documentation so they can register or receive public accommodations for their support animals. While it is true that animals classified as emotional support animals receive legal protections against additional pet fees for housing or traveling, along with allowances for them to live or be in places that pets can not, there is a difference between the protections afforded emotional support animals and those provided to support animals covered under the American Disabilities Act, and other federal laws.

It isn’t uncommon for people to have service animals and i do think that it is reasonable to spend extra to keep those animals in good health. I remember a time when i was taking a train to Georgia to see my family and a man had died from a heart attack. The said that he had a service animal who was meant to alert everyone when things like this happened but he didn’t bring his animal. The man sat with other people with service animals but none of the animals alerted anyone. This scenario has me wondering if maybe it’s because only his dog was trained to be service for him. If this is true I understand why it would be easier to save a service animals than to train

For those with real and severe psychiatric needs, emotional support animals provide a calming presence to the stresses of travel. A passenger simply needs to provide a signed letter from a licensed mental health professional. Even though the research has not fully proven the benefit of support animals, these passengers have a legitimate need that appears to be filled by the pet. Others are not as truthful. Since emotional support animals fly free, many people are dishonest about the purpose of their pets. Due to the ease at which a person can forge medical notes, more people have joined the emotional support bandwagon. The result is a free ride next to their pet, but it comes at the expense of other