I suffer from schizophrenia, PTSD, Severe Anxiety Disorder and several other mental conditions. I have a pit bull that I have had since he was 6 weeks old that can since when I am having a panic attack and he helps when I am having what I call my schizo attacks he lays his body across my chest to sooth me. I have just recently talked to my psychiatrist about making him my constant companion but I don't know what else I need to do nor does he for us to accomplish this can anybody please help me.

If you mean some kind of status beyond being a pet, that may be a hard sell depending on your location.

Breed-specific laws state-by-state (and international)

Some insurance companies also have breed-specific clauses/exceptions to coverage. You would have to look to your policy regarding that.

Doc

Therapy dogs are not one of the category of dogs that can stay with you. They must be 'invited' to the place where you take them. They do not have the same status as service dog.

I wasn't even aware, that, dogs could be trained for psychiatric service. I'm now, definitely looking into this, for, me, and, my dog. Thanks, again!!

peace, and, love
Cgirl

I collected a bunch of links for a dear friend awhile back:

ANIMALS:_COMPANION,_SERVICE,_AND_THERAPY
(press the [page-down] key 2 times to get to the appropriate section)

Barb

Hi everyone Im really enjoying gathering information on emotional support animals. I have one and she is my life. I suffer from depression and anxiety and my lil angel has been great for me, I havent had 1 panic attack since I have had her. My lil angle Missy is so smart that when she hears me say a curse word she puts her paw on me and licks my mouth to calm me down ...she also undertstands when I let out a sigh she comes right up to me and gives me the paw! shes amazing!

From what I understand from what I read under the Federal Fair Housing Act people like myself who are disabled and have the medical proof to back that up are allowed to have a emotional support animal in any housing even places that say no pets allowed. Of course also having the proof that the animal is a huge part of our life and needed to cope.

Now I have 1 little problem involving the HOA where I live. They are scheduled to create new rules for the community and rumor has it will be involving setting a pet limit. We have 3 dogs in our home 1 is my own dog and 2 others belong to a relative. They city in which we live in has no limits on how many animals we can own, some other citys in the county have the same rule and some other citys in the county set limits. Seeing as out city has no limit on the amount of animals someone can have in there home , do you think that would supersede the HOA possible rule??? or am I in for a fight with the HOA involving my condtion and the rules of owning a Emotional Support Animal??

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!

...own dog and experiences.....

I am so glad to see this forum growing as it is and people adding links, facts and their own wonderful stories.

I finally found my perfect dog - an adult black Pekingese, who has been with me since last April. If you ask for a bulkhead seat when you go up to the Southwest check-in counter with your letter from your psychiatrist that your animal is a service animal (I, for instance, can often not leave my apartment at all without her calming presence), then it is allowed for your dog to be let out of the carrier and sit at your feet or in your lap. The stewards go ga-ga about her.

I fasten her leash to my seatbelt, just to reassure people that she will not wander off if I drift off to sleep - but she is glued to me until I have to use the washroom when she is frantic to follow me.

Southwest (and all other airlines) should let you board with your dog at the same time as they let unattended children board.

My dog qualifies as a SERVICE ANIMAL as she is necessary for me to live a bit more normally, organize my life, and provides me the courage to go places I need to go. With carrying her papers with me (federal law, definitions & explanations & my doctor's letter), she is allowed into the post office and the grocery store (she rides quietly in the basket). WalMart employees have never had a thing to say and love her. At my pharmacy, she walks on a leash, but knows to pause at each "intersection" to watch for cross-traffic.

She is also allowed into the senior citizen center for meals and into the public library. And into local restaurants (where she usually prefers to be in her opened carrier.

She attends all my medical appointments, tho I left her home the night the ambulance took me in with a possible heart attack as I do have a neighbor here who is very fond of her and her of him.

The local Legion Hall gave me grief, so I simply stopped trying to go there on hamburger Friday fundraisers rather than go in with all my papers. The hall is huge and I would prefer to sit alone, far away from others --- but you have to pick and choose your battles. Unfortunate as the burgers are the BEST ever. Maybe I will tackle them again in a few months.

Since I live in a small town with everything and everywhere within walking distance, I am glad that the States have such generous laws for us. I will soon be taking her more places across the border, and I may have to spend a bit of time explaining her role in my life and will keep her in my older the shoulder carrier for those who are uncomfortable with her presence. A black dog in a black carrier is never detected unless she turns around or changes position and someone sees the bag move.

She will turn 5 this Valentine's Day and I dearly hope she makes it to 15. I got her microchipped (with http://www.24PetWatch.com) for only $10 at a shelter and will begin a health insurance policy on her as soon as my bills go down a bit - they have been high recently. The insurance policy will include a reward and money to help me advertise for her. She wears a red harness at all times with her PetWatch tag (includes the toll-free number & her ID number), rabies tag, city tag, and a large stainless steel tag I had made by one of those great engraving machines at a Super WalMart. Starts with fact that she is an MD Rx'd Service Dog, so people understand she is more than just a pet.

I refuse to make a long-haired dog wear a service vest everytime she goes out like the post office wanted to insist upon or have an "official" tag. Like I pointed out to her, ANYONE can buy such items online -- and my letter from my physician was the best validation of her status.

If you get an adult dog, insist on a 2 week trial period to make sure of a good "fit" if you can't visit a lot beforehand. The first dog I (from a rescue servicde) had been promoted to me as a perfect match to what I was looking for --- but she was a nightmare and ended up eating baseboards and ripping a huge patch from the upholstery from one of my two easy chairs - my living room furniture. She could not tolerate my going to the bathroom by myself or closing the bedroom door when I dressed. She had a mental disorder, attachment anxiety - considered incurable. And she had a skin condition that caused her intense itching that caused her to scratch herself raw.

When we drive, I have set up a home-made elevated basket perch far safer and more secure than anything commerically available and there is a new seat belt attachment that works with any harness and allows more freedom. She has a great deal of freedom of movement, is always within petting distance, and I don't have to worry about her being killed by an air bag or by being thrown around the vehicle in a crash or sudden stop.

Pooh Bear is becoming more and more bonded as the months go by. She was seemingly mistreated or severely disciplined in the past, but I know from the experience of re-parenting abused dogs that you can expect to erase the damage in a year's time of love, acceptance, approval and sensitivity to their triggers.

I encourage everyone to seek for what you need. What makes her a "trained" service animal is that she is incredibly well-behaved, virtually immobile in a shopping cart, never barks or tries to socialize wth others, and stands quietly at my side.

I knew a blind woman once who was on her second highly trained and valuable guidedog for the blind.... but the woman refused to (or was unable to ) adhere to the demands that you keep your dog WORKING when he is out with you on his working hand grip harness. Instead, she used him to socialize with others, encouraging people to pet and hug him, etc. He was already ruined. I doubt that they ever gave her another one.

When people ask if they can pet her, I most usually say no, that she is a working dog -- and it is getting easier and easier to say that without feeling stuffy. If I treat her like "just a pet", it blurs the boundaries of how the public sees service animals.

OneMoreTime

I have a dog I got as emotional support. My therapist is the one who started me down the service dog road because she noticed my mental health was so much improved when he was around. My issues are PTSD, anxiety and depression from chronic and acute illness (fibromyalgia and permanent trauma injury, and cancer). I am training this dog through a local service-dog training facility.

Right now he is in the basics, not trained for any particular task yet, though I have taken him everywhere I could since he was a puppy, to get him used to being in many public situations without concern. I would eventually like to have him (assuming he can be trained this far - so far his prospects are quite promising) stop anxiety attacks and rage attacks by intervening, and lifting my mood by licking or comforting when he notices cues; there is also due to my illness a potential for physical assistance to a limited degree (he is quite small). Honestly, the only thing his trainer sees possibly barring that would be my own lifespan not being long enough, as the cancer has been rather aggressive.

But right now he provides support with things like sitting with me in the hospital in medical treatments that are painful and stressful and lifting my mood by his amazing temperament and innate ability to comfort by doing things such as licking my throat until he notices my change in mood. I take him everywhere, and his presence helps greatly in keeping me steady in places like restaurants, stores, and other places where things may not always go smoothly and where I am inclined to have problems.

I have been referring to him as an emotional support animal, believing this was a variation on a service animal and the proper term, but am now reading here that this does not allow him places where I NEED him. He is not yet a fully trained service animal, but trust me when I tell you he has saved my life and I do not feel "normal" except when in his calming presence. So what do I call him and what is allowed? I do not want to run afoul of the law. He is a perfect gentleman in public, I keep him clean, and he is genuinely helpful. I do my best to give service dogs a good name by training him under a licensed trainer, as I do not want those who come after me to be mistrusted, and not asking more of him than he is trained for. He does get distressed when I am not around; if this is a failing, it is my fault since I am so dependent on his presence to maintain my own calm and presence of mind. It is not just my opinion: my therapist and doctors feel his being right there with me (as opposed to haning out at home while I'm out) is extremely important to my emotional stability.

I should note that we have never found an antidepressant or antianxiety medication that has helped. Either they haven't worked or they have had debilitating and bizarre side effects (one med, for example, caused back spasms and another caused hallucinations without either ameliorating the original problems). So it's pretty much this dog or suicide. So where are the lines, because they look pretty grey to me. One person's relief is another's lifeline. To call both nonessential seems to me a mistake and a potential tragedy. I would appreciate feedback on this.

OneMoreTime:

A doctor's Rx does NOT make an animal a service dog!!!! The SD MUST be trained to mitigate your disability so when you say "My dog qualifies as a SERVICE ANIMAL as she is necessary for me to live a bit more normally, organize my life, and provides me the courage to go places I need to go." it really sounds like you are living with a great pet, not a service dog. How is your dog trained to mitigate your disability? Please clarify.

While trying to fly back home for Christmas, I found out, rather unfortunately, that Southwest Airlines is not therapy dog friendly, regardless of what the law says!
I made it all the way to Oakland California from Burbank with my dog, my letters from my doctor, my military ID, and all his applicable paperwork...but the airlines would not let me continue on to Boise, Idaho! Worse still was that they absolutely refused to let me make other arrangements with Southwest...
So, there I was, at ten at night, with no other flights leaving to Idaho until the next morning. I had to rebook through Delta, find a hotel for the night, and make sure that I was able to get back to the airport the NEXT morning to make my flight!
Southwest, the entire time, claimed that I had never shown them proof of my dogs paperwork and that I had been "Sneaking" him on board and that he was a disruption to passengers (which is bull puckey as he was NEVER out of his carrier while on the flight and had been sedated and was sleeping). OUTRAGEOUS! I had ALL his paperwork, had been CLEARED through Burbank, and had spoken with numerous gate agents along the way, all who assured me I was fine!
JUST AN FYI...Southwest has had a history of unreasonable removals of passengers from their flights...from people with wardrobe the airlines felt was inappropriate all the way to a poor man with Autism who was not only kicked off, but shuttled for 12 hours on various flights around the country while his frantic family tried to track him down!
When we spoke with Southwest representatives concerning this matter they said that it was against their policies to allow any animals on their planes, regardless of the reason. When I quoted the laws as outlined by the Americans With Disabilities Act as well as the medical documentation as supplied by the VFW, the response was "Well, you don't look like you have any disabilities..." Apparently you have to be physically disabled to be allowed by Southwest, and even that is probably a big IF.
I am an Afghanistan/Iraq war veteran with diagnosed bipolar and post traumatic stress syndrome. My dog is an emotional support dog who not only helps me with flying but from reoccuring night terrors and panic attacks. He has, on one very serious occasion, saved my life. This dog is NOT A PET, he is my life line.
Boycot Southwest. Fly Delta.