What Is a Service Dog?

Under both Federal ADA Law and Louisiana ADA Law, a service dog is a dog that is individually trained to work or perform tasks for a person with a disability. This does not mean that the visibility is a visual one.

Examples of tasks service dogs may do include the following:

• Pulling a wheelchair.
• Being a mobility helper for somebody in a wheelchair or a transport wheelchair.
• Preventing or stopping an autistic meltdown.
• Detecting allergens for a person with sever allergies and alerting them.
• Preventing or stopping an anxiety attack.
• Preventing or stopping a PTSD attack.
• Being a seeing-eye dog for a blind or visually impaired person.
• Being a hearing dog to alert a def or hard of hearing person to sounds such as a door bell, knocks on the door, a telephone ringing , or an alarm sounding. Note that there may be other sounds the dog may be trained to alert for as well.
• Alerting other people when its owner is in distress due to medical conditions.
• Alerting its owner to an oncoming seizure so the owner knows to put himself or herself in a safe position so the seizure can occur without harm to the owner.
• Alerting a person with diabetes that blood sugar is too high or too low.
• Reminding a person to take medicine.

These are only a few examples of what services dogs may do. Each service dog is different and may be trained to provide different services to each person with a disability.