Emotional Support Animals vs. Psychiatric Service Dogs: What’s the Difference?

Over the centuries, dogs have performed many jobs to assist their human companions.

As a result, there are many types of assistance animals in today’s society.

Here are the four main types of assistance animals and what their job typically encompasses.

A Service Dog receives extensive training to help individuals with tasks or activities that their disability limits or prevents them from doing on their own. Under the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA), service dogs can accompany their owners in a wide range of public areas because of the tasks they do. One of the most common types of service dogs is a seeing-eye dog for the visually impaired.

A Psychiatric Service Dog also receives specialized training in order to perform certain tasks for an individual, the only difference being that a PSD usually helps those with unseen, unnoticeable disabilities (anxiety, panic, post-traumatic stress, depression). Just like other service dogs, PSDs have public access rights and certain travel and housing privileges. Emotional Support Animals are companion animals whose presence can help alleviate symptoms of mental illness. Dogs and cats are the most common types of ESAs and require no formal training to be recognized as an assistance animal. However, ESAs don’t have the same federally protected rights as trained service dogs and may not always be able to accompany their owners in public places or on planes, based on the guidelines that the specific establishment or airline has in place.

Therapy Dogs can often be found in hospitals or nursing homes. The presence of a therapy dog can bring comfort, social interaction, reduced stress, and joy into patients’ or residents’ lives. Therapy dogs usually undergo specialized training in order to work in these special settings. Another type of therapy dog is a ‘Comfort Dog,’ which visits disaster areas or areas of crisis to calm victims and bring them comfort.

How to Get a Psychiatric Service Dog?

The first step in getting a psychiatric service dog is to speak with a licensed mental health professional (LMHP).

If your LMHP agrees with you that a PSA would be a beneficial addition to your treatment plan, they will write a letter of recommendation which confirms your need for a psychiatric service dog.

Once you have this letter of recommendation from your LMHP, you can move forward to the next step in the process: finding your new assistance animal.

The dog can be one that’s already a part of your family or it can be one that you adopt. There are no requirements when it comes to breed type, which allows individuals more leeway when it comes to adopting an animal from a rescue group or a local animal shelter.

Individuals can also request a service dog from a specialized service dog organization, although there are usually steep fees involved with this option. The average cost of a service dog for those who opt to go this route is $15,000-$30,000 upfront.

An animal from a service dog organization will have already received the full range of training required for the animal to perform the tasks you require.

If you decide to use a dog you already own or plan to adopt, you’ll need to provide special training for the animal to qualify as a PSD.