Service Animals and the ADA

Service animals used by individuals with a disability can only be excluded from public places if they cannot be controlled by their handler or if they are not house broken. See Title II, Section 35.136. Usually service animals must be harnessed, leashed or tethered unless the individual’s disability prevents using those devices or unless it would interfere with the task performed by the service animal. Service animals may be excluded from places where its presence would fundamentally alter the nature of the goods and services such as a sterile medical environment (e.g., an operating room). In some states, including Georgia, service dogs in training must be treated like services dogs if the handler has proper credentials for an accredited school for assistance dogs.

Generally, staff or those operating public establishments may only ask two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform. Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task. Title II, Section 35.136(f). See also Section 36.302(c).

Beginning March 15, 2011, federal regulations only recognize dogs as service animals under Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The regulations define service animal as “Service animal means any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability.” Further, “Examples of work or tasks include, but are not limited to, assisting individuals who are blind or have low vision with navigation and other tasks, alerting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to the presence of people or sounds, providing non-violent protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, assisting an individual during a seizure, alerting individuals to the presence of allergens, retrieving items such as medicine or the telephone, providing physical support and assistance with balance and stability to individuals with mobility disabilities, and helping persons with psychiatric and neurological disabilities by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors.” Dogs that do not perform a specific task, such as emotional support dogs, are not considered to be service dogs under the ADA.