According to the ADA, a service animal is specifically a dog that has undergone individual training to perform tasks or work for the benefit of an individual with a disability. This could be a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or mental disability. Tasks might include guiding visually impaired people, alerting individuals who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, assisting during a seizure, reminding an individual with mental illness to take medication, and calming a person with PTSD during an anxiety attack, among others.
It’s important to remember that service animals are not pets but working animals. Their assigned work or task must be directly related to the owner’s disability. Dogs whose only role is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.