Legal Resources
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
“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.”
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
This resource provides information on Service Animal Misrepresentation. Information can be found about the appropriate laws by state.
Animal Legal & Historical Center
“This table compares all 50 states’ service animal laws for several categories. Included are public accommodation laws, criminal interference laws, licensing laws, disabled pedestrian laws, and service animal misrepresentation laws. Links to the text of the various laws are provided.”