In this episode, we’re talking about service dogs with Dr. Meghan Mills, NCHPAD Operations Director. She earned her doctorate at the University of New Hampshire in medical sociology, with expertise in the social model of disability and the unequal social distribution of health outcomes. Dr. Mills is also a person with a disability who relies on her service dog, Arrow, to live independently. Given her professional and lived experience, she is very passionate about education and advocacy aimed at protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities to use a service dog.
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Episode Transcript
Quick Navigation (click the linked text below to jump to a new section)
- Intro
- The difference between service dogs, emotional support animals and therapy dogs.
- The training process for service dogs.
- Can any breed be a service dog?
- Reasons people may not qualify for a service dog.
- Can I buy a certification online for my dog to be a service dog?
- Best practices when someone questions your disability or your service dog.
- Can a hotel, restaurant, or other business move you because of your service dog?
- Places service dogs can’t go.
- Common misconceptions about having a service dog.
- Harmful impact of labeling your untrained pet as a service dog.
- Final thoughts/Conclusion
*Edited for clarity
Host
This is All Things Disability Inclusion with NCHPAD. Welcome to another episode of NCHPAD’s All Things Disability Inclusion podcast. NCHPAD is the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability, the nation’s premier center dedicated to advancing inclusion by promoting the health and wellness of people with disabilities. In each episode, we’re exploring topics at the intersection of inclusion, health, wellness and disability. If you have an idea for a topic, would like to learn more about a topic, or are interested in our free resources, programs and partnership opportunities, email us at nchpad@uab.edu, that’s N C, H, P, A, D @uab.edu, give us a call at 866-866-8896, or check out our website at nchpad.org.
In this episode, we’re talking about service dogs with Dr. Meghan Mills, NCHPAD Operations Director. She earned her doctorate at the University of New Hampshire in medical sociology, with expertise in the social model of disability and the unequal social distribution of health outcomes. Dr. Mills is also a person with a disability who relies on her service dog, Arrow, to live independently. Given her professional and lived experience, she is very passionate about education and advocacy aimed at protecting the civil rights of people with disabilities to use a service dog. Dr. Mills’ most recent research examines the relationship between people fraudulently presenting their pets as service dogs and the resulting discrimination for people with disabilities. Here she is discussing the main differences between service dogs, therapy dogs and emotional support animals, and why the differentiation is so important.
Dr. Meghan Mills
So those terms are often used incorrectly, and there’s a lot of misconceptions about them. So I’ll start with an emotional support animal or an ESA. That is a pet. It can be any kind of animal, and it’s just basically an animal that provides emotional support [and] comfort to their owner who has a mental health disability. So for emotional support animals, there’s no training or certification or anything like that required. For most of us that have pets, our pets provide us with emotional support, but [for] emotional support animals, the one right they have is in housing. Under the Fair Housing Act, they can live with their disabled owner in pet-free housing, or have a pet fee or pet deposit waived in housing. A therapy animal can be any type of animal, but it’s usually most commonly a dog, and they are pets that basically have a special temperament or personality. They like people. They like getting pets and attention from lots of diverse people. They’re comfortable around medical equipment and going into schools, hospitals or assisted living around large groups. The job of a therapy animal is to provide emotional support [and] comfort to lots of people, so wherever they’re invited to go, that is their job. Most therapy animals are certified to take a test to make sure they are safe around lots of different types of people, and they carry liability insurance. I always want to give a shout-out to Hand and Paw, which is our local therapy organization in the greater Birmingham area that most people are probably familiar with, the yellow shirt people. Then last but not least, are service dogs. They’re the only type of these three types of support animals that are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The use of a service dog for somebody with a disability under the ADA gives protection to public access, so wherever their disabled handler can go, that dog can go with them. The ADA defines, and I’m loosely paraphrasing, a disability as a mental or physical impairment that impacts one or more life activities, and then a service dog is defined by the ADA as a dog that is specifically task-trained to mitigate or support that disability. So most people are familiar with dogs [or] guide dogs for people who are blind or have a vision impairment, but there [are] lots of other types of service dogs, such as medical alert, autism, hearing mobility, and psychiatric, etc. This differentiation is really important. It can be confusing. A lot of times these terms are used incorrectly in the media or something you might see online or read. But it’s really important because only the handler that uses a service dog has a right to have them in public places. Emotional support animals, they’re pets. They only have a right to provide emotional support at home to their handler and therapy. Animals only go to pre-agreed-upon places where they’re invited. That’s really important. Emotional support animals and therapy animals should not be at the grocery store or things like that.
Host
Here’s Dr. Mills discussing the training process for service dogs, and the key things that people should know before they take on a service dog.
Dr. Meghan Mills
Really two main ways you can take in training a service dog. One is a program-trained service dog. So there are lots of programs out there that will train a service dog and place them with a person with a disability once they’re fully trained. The other avenue you can go with is an owner-trained service dog with the help of a professional or without the help of a professional trainer. The ADA protects the rights of people with disabilities to take either of those paths. I think there [are] different pros and cons for different reasons people would choose owner-trained or program-trained. I think the big thing to know is that training a service dog takes a long time. It takes a very special dog to begin with. The right foundations, the right temperament, biddability and drive. So whether you’re looking program or owner-trained, you’re usually looking at about a year or two of training. That training never stops. It’s lifelong to keep that service dog up on their skills. And I think the big thing I would tell people considering whether a service dog might be a good fit for them or a loved one is to do your research to find the right program that fits for your disability, that serves your local area, or if you’re going the owner train route, to do your research. Find the right training mentor [and] find the right dog. Don’t rush that selection. The majority of dogs don’t have what it takes to be a successful service dog. It’s only a very small percentage. Really take your time. Do your research. Unfortunately, there [are] a lot of scam programs out there that will gladly take your money, whether it’s programs or trainers, and offer you a service dog, but a lot of times that is an untrained dog that actually isn’t going to help support your disability. It’s probably going to make your disability worse, and that’s very unfortunate. So again, I would just recommend doing your research and knowing that there [are] no federally required licenses or registrations for service dog programs or dog trainers. Anyone can call themselves a dog trainer or service dog trainer. So just be critical. Do your research and things like that before jumping into it.
Host
Here’s Dr. Mills when asked if any breed can be a service dog.
Dr. Meghan Mills
Yeah, so under the ADA, any breed of dog can legally be a service dog, but a quote we say a lot in the service dog community is “need before breed.” There’s a reason that most large service dog programs use Labs, Golden Retrievers, poodles, and similar breeds because they’re historically bred to work with humans. They have the highest success rate. So again, think about setting yourself up for success. But there [are] always exceptions. Within the breed, there [are] individual dogs and their temperaments. So it’s really important to think about your disability, what task you’ll need [and] your lifestyle. If you have a more active lifestyle, you probably need a more active breed. Also, just really think about what kind of task you need. A good example is if you’re looking for a mobility service dog that maybe you can use for bracing to get up and down off the floor. Well, you’re going to probably need a bigger breed. Based on your body size, think about the best breed that’ll set you up for success and meet your individualized disability and lifestyle.
Host
Here’s Dr. Mills discussing the reasons why people may not qualify for a service dog.
Dr. Meghan Mills
To qualify under the ADA for a service dog, the most critical piece, of course, is that you have a disability defined as a mental or physical impairment that impacts one or more life activities. A lot of times there’s confusion that you must be on SSDI, or have other kinds of medical criteria, but know that that’s the definition broadly and inclusively defined for all types of disabilities. With that said, there [are] certain programs that you may not qualify for because, if you’re looking for a program-trained dog, they may only train for certain disability types. A lot of programs, for example, only train PTSD service dogs for veterans, programs that only focus on guide dogs, or they may only place dogs for people that live locally to their program so they can provide that lifelong in-person support for your team. I guess the bigger picture answer is, as long as you have a disability, you would legally qualify for a service dog. But for different programs, you may not qualify for those programs. I think the other question I’d encourage people to think about is, yes, you may qualify for a service dog, you have a disability, but is it the right type of assistive technology or treatment or assistance plan for you? Really think about your lifestyle, your ability to financially and physically care for the dog, and the support of your friends and family of you using a service dog. So even though you may qualify [there are] a lot of things to think through. The extra work of having a dog with you in public and that extra attention that brings may not be a good fit for you. So lots of things to think about before starting that journey.
Host
One of the many questions that come about when people are searching for a service animal is, can I buy a certification for my pet online to become certified as a service animal?
Dr. Meghan Mills
Yeah, that’s a very common question. If you hop on Google and you type in how to make my dog a service dog, or I want a service dog, or even just the word service dog, the first two or three hits you get on that search are going to be scam registries. The ADA in their service animal FAQs even specifically states that there are these fraudulent websites out there where anywhere from $50 to $300 you can buy this official-looking, but very meaningless ID. You upload a picture of your dog and it has a fake barcode and number on it. It looks legitimate, but it’s not. In the United States, there are no federal or national required or recognized registrations or licenses for service animals. Some programs provide their graduates with an ID card or a certificate. But of course, owner-trained service dogs would not have that, and some programs don’t provide that. So there’s no standardization or requirement under the ADA. So, please, don’t buy those certificates or licenses because:
- You’re wasting your money.
- They also can hurt legitimate teams because if you’re showing that ID or certificate to go into the grocery store and then the next legitimate team like Arrow and I come in, the business owner may ask us for one and we’re a legitimate team and we don’t have one.
So that’s really important to be mindful of.
Host
Dr. Mills also discussed the best practices for when somebody approaches you in public about questioning your disability or your service dog.
Dr. Meghan Mills
Personally, for a living and my passion, I’m very focused on disability education and advocacy, especially surrounding the use of service animals. So when I’m asked those questions, I tend to use them as an opportunity to educate. I try to feel out the intention of the question I’m being asked a lot of times, or the majority of times, it’s people who are genuinely interested in learning more about service dogs. They or someone they love has a disability and they just want to learn more. I’m happy to share my personal story. My disabilities, what my service dog does for me, his training. It’s a special interest topic of mine. I’ll talk anyone’s ear off, but I always intentionally try to say, “Hey, I’m happy to share this with you, but please don’t ask the next service dog handler you see out in public because they’re just trying to get their errands done like anybody else.” Also, I think it’s not intentional, but it is a pretty invasive or potentially offensive question to go up to somebody because they have a service dog and ask “What is wrong with you?” It would be considered pretty rude to go up and ask somebody using a wheelchair or using a cane why [they] need that wheelchair or that cane. It’s similar if we think about a service animal as a type of assistive technology. So I share and educate and advocate as much as I can, but I also try to educate why you really shouldn’t ask people why they have a service dog because it’s asking for very personal medical information that they may not feel comfortable sharing.
Host
We asked Dr. Mills, what happens if a hotel, restaurant, or other business moves you to a specific place because of your service dog?
Dr. Meghan Mills
So a lot of businesses don’t realize this, but this is very illegal under the Americans with Disabilities Act, it specifically says that people using a service dog cannot be segregated from other people or put in less desirable locations. I think it comes down to the saying “Separate is not equal.” I have had this happen to Arrow. We go into a restaurant with family and they find us that table in the back by the bathrooms. And I know it’s because I have a service dog, and usually, I’m trying to think everyone is doing things with good intentions. They’re trying to put us out of the way. They probably don’t know that Arrow fits completely under my chair and will not be a trip hazard or in anybody’s way. And I think they’re just making this service dog out of the way. But at the same time, what I would like to see more business owners and gatekeepers do is, instead of making that decision, ask the handler “Where would you be most comfortable?” Just as if someone were to come in using another type of larger assistive technology that may take up space. So I try to use that as [an] opportunity to educate. I’m not the kind of person who cares whether my table is in the back by the bathroom. But it, of course, can offend or get kind of old for handlers to always be put in those less desirable or segregated places. I hear this a lot, especially with hotels, they will put service dog handlers in their pet-friendly rooms. That’s a big problem, because, I’m somebody that has pets and has stayed in pet-friendly hotels and those hotel rooms are usually the less desirable ones. They’re not as nice, they may have a slight odor to them. So we don’t want to put people with disabilities [who] are not traveling with a pet in these second-class or less desirable rooms.
Host
Here’s Dr. Mills discussing the places that service dogs can’t go.
Dr. Meghan Mills
Yeah, this is a great question. The ADA is kind of vague on this. They have a statement that says service dogs can be denied access to places that fundamentally alter the nature of the business, which is very vague. And has been open to a lot of, basically lawsuits, trying to figure out litigation [and] what that means. What I can say is one place that is clear where handlers cannot take their service dogs are sterile environments. So if you think of a hospital, a burn unit, anywhere where you can’t go in with your street clothes on, service dogs, understandably, can be denied access there for the health and safety of everyone. I do think it’s important here to emphasize that service dogs are allowed everywhere else in hospitals and healthcare facilities. That’s a commonplace of discrimination or illegal denial for service dog handlers because if you can walk in with your street clothes, a service dog is no more of a risk because think about all the gross stuff we have on our shoes and our clothes. The other places that [are] clear are religious. So churches and synagogues, because of the separation of church and state. The ADA does not apply to religious places and in practice, what that looks like is, that most service dog handlers who attend church, ask for permission from the pastor [or] the priest, and typically the answer is yes because they want to support their congregation and the community there. But they legally don’t have to and they can deny service dog handlers, and it requires kind of extra step of permission. I think one other example that immediately jumps to my head is zoos or wildlife refuges. There can’t be a blanket denial of service dogs to a zoo or an aquarium, for example. But a lot of times, understandably, service dog handlers are asked to check in at the front desk before going in to see if there [are] any places that are off limits, like the aviary or maybe around wild predator cats. It has to do with the safety of the animals living there or performing there, as well as the service dog. So those are just some examples, but for the most part, service dogs are allowed and should be allowed in all places open to the public.
Host
Here’s Dr. Mills discussing the common misconceptions about having a service dog.
Dr. Meghan Mills
There are a lot of misconceptions. But to me, there are three big ones that I run into a lot and discuss with my friends with service dogs. The first one is that service dogs are somehow abused, or it’s cruel to ask a dog to work as a service dog. They don’t get time to just be a dog and relax and have fun. And that couldn’t be further from the truth. That’s why it’s kind of my misconception number one. I can speak for Arrow. He absolutely loves his job. He gets excited to go to work. He gets excited to put his vest on. He’s rewarded mentally, physically, via food, a lot for his job. He takes his job very seriously but loves it. Just like us, we have a purpose in our life, and that’s that’s his purpose, and he loves to go to work. He also gets a ton of time. Not everyone sees that if they only see us in a professional setting when he’s working with his vest on, but he gets a ton of time to swim and hike and play with his other doggy friends. That is true of all service dogs, and that constant lifelong mental and physical enrichment is a key part of being a service dog handler. So I think that is my first misconception. The second one is that there’s no difference conflating emotional support animals and service dogs, that an emotional support animal is a service dog, and that is not the truth. If we’re thinking of a psychiatric service dog, for example, they are task-trained to do specific things for a person with a psychiatric disability. Maybe block, cover, search a room, or alert to escalating heart rate and they’re trained to behave in public, versus an emotional support animal that is a pet with no training. So I think a lot of times for people like myself with what I call an invisible disability or hidden disability, people see me working arrow in public, they don’t know anything about me, and I don’t “look disabled.” So they assume that he is an emotional support animal. He’s a “fake service dog.” I’m just taking my pet somewhere because I don’t visibly look disabled or use any other type of visible assistive technology, and so that’s just a huge misconception. There are lots of people with disabilities that are hidden or invisible, and we shouldn’t judge whether a service dog is legitimate or fraudulent based on the appearance of somebody at one moment in time when we see them in public. The last misconception, and I think this is kind of the flip side, is that a service dog can never be removed no matter how badly it’s behaving in a public location. I think this misconception comes from a lot of business owners, companies and gatekeepers. They’re afraid of being sued or, if this customer tells me it’s a service dog, I can’t do anything about it even if that dog is doing something very dangerous to the rest of the people in this business. The ADA does outline that service dogs can be removed for two main reasons. They are not housebroken and they’re a direct threat to health and safety. I think it’s really important to know that if a dog is growling, aggressively barking, destroying property, or doing anything in a public, non-pet-friendly place, they can and should be asked to leave. Of course, the person can legally come back without the dog and continue their shopping, but that’s just allowing untrained or aggressive animals in public locations. It’s just really dangerous [not just] for other service dog handlers, but everyone involved.
Host
Here’s Dr. Mills discussing the harmful impact of people with untrained animals labeling their pets as service animals.
Dr. Meghan Mills
I hear this a lot. I’ve even had a family member share with me that they bought a service dog vest on Amazon. They put it on their pet and they took their pet into the store. Because they were on vacation, their pet would have barked at the hotel and it just made their life easier at that moment. It makes me cringe really hard because I think there’s this idea, well, it’s a victimless crime. Like, who am I hurting? It’s 100 degrees outside. I took my pet into Target, and I called it a service dog.
The real problem is that it leads to discrimination of people with disabilities. A lot of times, understandably, pets don’t have anywhere near the level of training. Service dogs have to behave in public, so they may go to the bathroom, growl, and bark. Especially if a service dog comes in, they bark at another dog. I think people just don’t always think through that because that is a lot of discrimination that service dog handlers experience. It’s because the person before them who entered that business, that hospital, or that doctor’s office called an untrained pet a service dog and then that dog is doing something behavior-wise that is problematic. If you’re thinking about people, all the misconceptions around service animals, and the lack of education, people think, well, that’s kind of what a service dog does, right? That last service dog peed in my exam room. So I don’t want any more service dogs in my exam rooms or that last service dog growled at the nurse. So it’s a really dangerous slope with that. I think the other perspective people don’t think about is animal welfare. Animals that haven’t been trained or socialized in scary, loud environments. Let’s say an airport. Then you take that dog into an airport and fraudulently say it’s a service dog. A lot of times that is terrifying for the dog. They’re shaking, they’re afraid, there are loud noises, there’s all these scary things they’ve never seen before, which is unfair and selfish of the owner because it’s traumatic for that pet dog. A lot of times I don’t think we think of that. Whereas a service dog has trained their entire life to be able to handle those loud noises and movements and things like that.
Host
And here are Dr. Mills’ final thoughts when it comes to service dogs.
Dr. Meghan Mills
There [are] kind of two things happening on opposite sides. So I think there is a problem with people just not thinking through the problem they may be causing by calling their pet a service dog when it’s not. But I think the flip side we don’t talk about very often is there are lots of people out there with disabilities who could benefit from a service dog, but they don’t know, understandably, because it’s so confusing and there are so many misconceptions, they don’t know where to get started. They may ask a doctor about a service dog, and we know that, due to no fault of their own, healthcare providers are largely uneducated about service dogs. There is no national registration or resource of where I start, I am interested in a service dog as a person with a disability, or I have a patient who could maybe benefit from one, but I don’t know where to refer them or how to help them. So I think something that is a really important next step for research and advocacy is continuing education on what a service dog is. But working with healthcare professionals, how can we think more about a service dog being a treatment plan or a type of assistive technology? What patients would best benefit from that? Which circumstances? How do we refer people to legitimate paths to get a trained service dog? So I think that is important, because for somebody starting that journey, there’s a lot of wrong information out there, and it can feel overwhelming and impossible to find a service dog. So I think that’s an important area for future focus.
Host
Thanks for listening to All Things Disability Inclusion with NCHPAD. We’ll provide show notes, including full transcripts, links and more in the podcast description. If you would like to learn more about service dogs, visit our website in the links provided in the episode details, or visit nchpad.org and search service dogs in the resources section. If you have questions about our free resources, programs and partnership opportunities, email us at nchpad@uab.edu, call us at 866-866-8896, or check out our website at nchpad.org.