Originally published 2019-05-15. Reviewed by Anything Pawsable on October 4, 2026.
A service dog is individually trained to do work or tasks for a person with a disability. Labels describe the work; they do not create separate levels of public-access rights under the ADA.
- Guide dogs help a blind or low-vision person navigate.
- Hearing dogs alert a deaf or hard-of-hearing person to selected sounds.
- Mobility assistance dogs may retrieve safe objects, operate adapted switches or open accessible doors. A dog's size or harness does not establish that it can safely bear a person's weight or pull a wheelchair.
- Psychiatric service dogs perform trained disability-related tasks, such as a specific grounding response. Psychiatric disabilities receive the same ADA service-dog recognition as physical disabilities.
- Autism assistance dogs perform tasks chosen for the individual. They do not replace adult supervision, and tethering a child to a dog is not a safe general recommendation.
- Medical alert or response dogs may respond to specified cues, retrieve a needed item or summon a designated helper. An alert is an additional aid, not a replacement for monitoring or emergency care.
- Seizure response dogs perform actions during or after a seizure. Reliable advance prediction cannot be assumed, and pressure from a dog is not a seizure treatment.
- Allergen detection dogs may assist with trained scent detection. An absent alert cannot establish that food or an environment is safe.
One dog may perform several kinds of work. You cannot infer a handler's diagnosis from the dog's appearance, breed, vest or tasks. The ADA does not require a particular vest, identifying color, registry or certification.
Emotional support through presence alone and visiting other people as a therapy dog are different roles. They do not establish ADA service-dog public access; housing and other settings may follow different rules.