If my dog is trained by a professional to be a service dog but im not disabled, is it still wrong to use it as one?

Ask: I sometimes have anxiety attacks but there mostly at home and maybe twice in my school s bathroom but I have not been to a doctor about it. I have a pet westie at home that when ever i have these bad moments always comforts me and makes it easier to like breath. 

I don t know if having what I have is really justified into having a service dog. But if it is I m more then willing to pay for lessons for my dog or even pay for a legitimate service dog. It s just every time I get bad I reach for my dog. 

Maybe I m wrong I don t want to step over boundaries and of course I want to be respectful to the disabled.
 

Update: Okay I understand now. Anxiety can be fixed with a doctors help so it's won't really qualify as a disability. I'll just stick to searching for comfort when I come home from my pet dog. Thanks.

 

Answer

 

DC:

The ADA legal definition of disability is at http://www.ada.gov/pubs/adastatute08.htm#12102 Summery at http://www.ada.gov/ada_intro.htm 

"...defined by the ADA as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment. The ADA does not specifically name all of the impairments that are covered."

ADA definition of a service dog is at http://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm
"Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. 

 

Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. 

 

Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA."

Service dogs do not not need to be professionally trained or to come from a special service dog training program. They can be home trained IF the owner knows what to do. It will be much harder and take much longer then you think it will. 

 

Most dog owners do not have the knowledge or the patience to do so. But there is no test, no certification, no licence, no doctor's note, no prescription, no legal standards required for your dog except the loose ADA requirements.

None of the self appointed "experts" here are qualified to say you are or are not disabled or whether you do or do not qualify for a service dog. You need to consult with your doctor and disability counselors, not some anonymous yahoos who don't know you or what they are talking about.

Some people here seem to think that they are the only people who should have service dogs, some simply lie for the sake of lying. This is not the place for a serious answer. 

 

Nekid:

A dog is only a service dog when trained to mitigate the disabilities of his disabled handler.
So, even if trained, because you are NOT disabled, the dog is not a service dog.

Anxiety is NOT a disability that qualifies you for a service dog, and comfort us NOT a service dig task.
.you certainly don't qualify either if you haven't even see a Dr or sought treatment for it. You'd benefit more from anti anxiety meds, and learning coping techniques

 

Knight:

Of course it is, first of all dogs are bred and trained by specific agencies for specific disabilities at a minimum cost of 50k. If you don't have a disability one won't be trained for you.

Anxiety attacks are easily treated by psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists and medication.

Your Westie is nothing more than a pet with the same restrictions as any other pet. It's not a Service Dog.

 

Katie:

Whether or not it's "wrong" is a moral decision YOU have apparently made.

It is illegal and a felony in some States.