Emotional Support Animal (ESA) An emotional support animal (ESA) is an animal that provides companionship to a person who suffers from symptoms of a mental or emotional disability. ESAs are prescribed for a person by his or her licensed therapist (a licensed mental health professional) in a prescription letter stating that the person has been determined to be emotionally or psychiatrically disabled and that the presence of the animal is necessary for the disabled person's mental health. An ESA’s only job is to provide emotional support to their owners. They have no specific training. The only no-pet areas that ESAs are legally allowed to enter are airline cabins and most publicly available housing. They cannot legally enter colleges, businesses, your place of employment, restaurants, etc. which do not allow pets. Service Animal Service Animals are legally protected medical aid which provide assistance to people with disabilities. The disabilities may include but not limited to fibromyalgia, blindness, PTSD, autism, brain injury. For a person to legally qualify to have a service dog, he/she must have a disability that substantially limits his/her ability to perform at least one major life task without assistance. Service animals must perform at least one task to help their owner's disabilities, such as alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, calming a person with PTSD, or pulling a wheelchair. The task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Service animals can legally enter almost any place that does not normally allow pets, Service animals are working animals and are not pets. Therapy Animal A therapy animal is an animal that is trained to provide therapeutic support to people in places such as schools, hospitals, nursing homes, hospices or retirement centers, etc. Therapy animals have no legally protected rights. Therapy dogs are not allowed anywhere dogs are not regularly allowed to be.

On average it takes 3 hours to one day to receive your Housing/Travel Letter(s) Your request will be assigned to the next available healthcare professional to insure a prompt delivery of your letter.

You will receive a digital copy of your letter that you can print out yourself. It will be uploaded into your Waggy Locker for you to download or present at the airline check-in counter.

 

No, Under ADA law any breed of dog can be considered a service dog, however, airlines and landlords can impose some limitations based on safety and security only.

 

There is a 30-day time limit from the date of purchase on all exchanges and returns. The item must be in brand new, unused condition and returned with its original packaging in order to receive a refund or exchange. The customer is responsible for shipping costs on all returns and exchanges. This excludes dog identification products. 

Customized ID cards cannot be returned or exchanged.

Clearance items cannot be returned or exchanged and all sales are final.

Please go to your Waggy Locker for complete information about shipping your return.

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) is a federal law that prevents discrimination against tenants in their homes. Under the FHA, a disability is defined as a physical or mental impairment which significantly limits a person’s major life activities.

The owner is responsible for the care, training, and supervision of his or her animal. If the animal becomes a nuisance or the owner is not in control of the animal, a business or other entity does not have to allow the animal onto its premises. Additionally, a business, airline, landlord or other entity has the right to remove any animal that is disruptive (for example, a service dog that repeatedly jumps on people, an ESA that growls or threatens someone, or a service dog that barks uncontrollably during a movie).

The animal should be under the control of the handler always.  This is often aided by using a harness, leash, or other tether.  The animal must be housebroken and the owner should clean up after it. The animal should be vaccinated in accordance with state and local laws. When dealing with the rarer miniature horse service animal, a facility may assess the size of the animal in determining whether it is allowed.

No special equipment, clothing, or patches are required to identify your animal as an ESA, Service Dog, or Therapy Dog. However, these items help in identifying your animal as a working animal rather than a pet, so it is strongly encouraged that owners use a specialized vest or harness to help identify them as such. This will lessen the chance that you will experience any type of confrontation or issue with your animal.

 

Emotional Support Animals are protected by two federal laws: the Air Carriers Access Act (ACAA) and by the Fair Housing Act (FHA). 

Emotional Support Animals are only protected in one’s own residence or on an airplane, and are not protected in any other public areas such as hotels, restaurants, stores, places of employment, libraries, theaters, public transportation, etc. In all other areas, the ESA has the same rights as a regular pet.

The legal protections Emotional Support Animals (ESA) are offered are as follows:

The ESA may fly with its psychologically or emotionally disabled handler in the cabin of an aircraft without being charged a pet fee.

The owner will be able to live in restricted or no-pet housing without being charged a pet fee or deposit.

Service Dogs are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Service Dogs are allowed anywhere except for sterile environments, food preparation areas, or places where it would be dangerous for the animal to be.

The legal protections Service Dogs are offered are as follows:

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination based on a "disability" in several critical areas. Those areas include:

State and local government services, places of public accommodation, employment, Transportation

This means you are entitled by federal law to be accompanied by your service dog anywhere a non-disabled person could go, even when pets are not otherwise allowed. This includes restaurants, grocery stores, malls, hotels, churches, places of employment, etc. These entities may not charge the owner a fee because of their service animal or position the owner and service animal away from other patrons to intentionally separate them.

Therapy Dogs are not afforded any legal protections.

 

Waggy only support dogs and cats as service, therapeutic and emotional support animals.

 

Although there is no state or Federal Law requiring the registration of your service animal, Waggy operates and maintains a permanent database of registered service animal handlers and service animals free of charge. However, the only legal requirement for an ESA is a letter from a physician or mental health practitioner.

 

A business or other public entity may legally ask the disabled person only two questions regarding the service dog – (they may not ask an ESA owner these questions):

Is this dog a service dog?

What is your dog trained to do for you?

 

Entities that do not follow the ADA, ACAA, and FHA face potential lawsuits. The first course of confrontation would be writing a letter to the manager or owner of the establishment. In the case of rental properties, you can report the landlord to HUD. Worst case scenarios may require use of a lawyer that specializes in ADA, ACAA, or FHA cases.

Emotional support animals are allowed in the owner’s permanent residence under the Fair Housing Act, which prevents landlords from discriminating against people with disabilities. No additional fees may be charged to the tenant.

Service Dogs are allowed in the owner’s permanent residence under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires landlords to provide reasonable accommodations to your needs. The landlord is not allowed to charge any additional fees to the renter.

A landlord may not ask a renter about the nature or extent of the disability. However, the renter may be asked to provide documentation so that the landlord may review the accommodation request.

A licensed health care practitioner that is authorized under Federal Law to issue a medical emotional support animal letter.

Emotional Support Animal prescription letters are valid for one year.