A service animal is an animal that is trained to provide a service to assist an individual with a disability. Under the ADA, a 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.1  The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the individual's disability. Tasks may include, but are not limited to, guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting individuals with impaired hearing to sounds, pulling a wheelchair, retrieving dropped items, turning switches on or off, assisting during a seizure, reminding a person to take medication, pressing an elevator button, or providing physical support and assistance with balance and stability. A crime deterrent provided by the animal’s presence or the provision of emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship do not constitute work or tasks for the purposes of meeting the definition of a service animal.2

Many people with disabilities use a service animal in order to fully participate in everyday life. Dogs can be trained to perform many important tasks to assist people with disabilities. The ADA requires state and local government agencies, businesses, and non-profit organizations  that provide goods or services to the public to make “reasonable modifications” in their policies, practices, or procedures when necessary to accommodate people with disabilities.3  This includes courts and other state buildings. The service animal rules fall under this general principle. Accordingly, entities that have a “no pets” policy generally must modify the policy to allow service animals into their facilities.

• 128 C.F.R. § 35.104; see Civ. Rts. Div., U.S. Dep’t of Just., Frequently Asked Questions About Service Animals and the ADA (July 20, 2015).
• 228 C.F.R. § 35.104.
• 3See Civ. Rts. Div., U.S. Dep’t of Just., Frequently Asked Questions About Service Animals and the ADA (July 20, 2015).

Examples of animals that fit the ADA’s definition of “service animal” because they have been specifically trained to perform a task for the person with a disability:

• Guide Dog or Seeing Eye® Dog is a trained dog that serves as a travel tool for persons who have severe visual impairments or are blind.
• Hearing or Signal Dog is a dog that has been trained to alert a person who has a significant hearing loss or is deaf when a sound occurs, such as a knock on the door.
• Psychiatric Service Dog is a dog that has been trained to perform tasks that assist individuals with disabilities to detect the onset of psychiatric episodes and lessen their effects. Tasks performed by psychiatric service animals may include reminding the handler to take medicine, providing safety checks or room searches, or turning on lights for persons with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, interrupting self-mutilation by persons with dissociative identity disorders, and keeping disoriented individuals from danger.
• SSigDOG (sensory signal dogs or social signal dog) is a dog trained to assist a person with autism. The dog alerts the handler to distracting repetitive movements common among those with autism, allowing the person to stop the movement (e.g., hand flapping).
• Seizure Response Dog is a dog trained to assist a person with a seizure disorder. How the dog serves the person depends on the person’s needs. The dog may stand guard over the person during a seizure or the dog may go for help. A few dogs have learned to predict a seizure and warn the person in advance to sit down or move to a safe place.

In addition to the provisions about service dogs, the Department of Justice’s revised ADA regulations allow for miniature horses that have been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities, where reasonable.1  Miniature horses generally range in height from 24 inches to 34 inches measured to the shoulders and generally weigh between 70 and 100 pounds. There are four assessment factors to assist entities in determining whether miniature horses can be accommodated in their facility: (1) whether the miniature horse is housebroken; (2) whether the miniature horse is under the owner’s control; (3) whether the facility can accommodate the miniature horse’s type, size, and weight; and (4) whether the miniature horse’s presence will not compromise legitimate safety requirements necessary for safe operation of the facility.

• 1For a discussion of miniature horses as service animals, see Civ. Rts. Div., U.S. Dep’t of Just., ADA Requirements: Service Animals, (last updated Feb. 24, 2020).

An individual with a service animal is not required to register the animal or have paperwork proving that the animal provides a service. A service animal is not required to wear a vest or other identifying items signaling that it is a service animal. Only two questions may be asked of an animal handler:

(1) Is this a service animal required because of a disability?

(2) What work or tasks is the animal trained to perform?

The ADA prohibits further inquiry into either the individual’s disability or other specifics regarding the animal that would necessarily reveal the nature or extent of the individual’s disability. The reason the law limits questioning to only these is to avoid discrimination on the basis of a disability and to avoid inquiries into protected information, such as medical conditions.