Sally,

There are many resources for therapy/emotional support/service dogs. The most important thing is to make sure the dog has the disposition for the tpe of work before making a committment to proceed. Even with an evaluation...all dogs do not work out. I recommend Psychiatric Service Dog Society to start with. (go to "PSD Lifestyle" then "Choosing the right dog") I believe on the same website there is a step by step "test" for evaluating a new dog to train. This evaluation works on puppies and adult dogs. Some dogs are available for free if you dig deep enough. Some individuals are aware that those seeking a SD or ESD are often at the lower end of the income scale. More and more people are training their own dogs, with some input by a dog trainer at one point or another. Check out the website and email me through the community or off line if you like to discuss further.

Dawn & Polar

Regarding traveling with your emotional support or psychiatric service animal, there is no standard process for all airlines, nor will all airline employees you encounter respond in the same way - of this you can be certain!

The best thing to do is to first (before you buy a ticket) check the airline's website for their guidelines and rules governing your animal. But then call them and ask what the rules are. Ask for a supervisor unless the person at the other end is reading outloud from an official document. Ask them where online you can access that document (the url) and then print it out. It can help save you time and employee confusion at the check-in counter.

Arrive early, go thru all the search and seize stuff, and immediately take your dog or cat (IN THEIR CARRIER) to the check-in counter at your departure gate. Have all your documentation sleeved within page protectors and in a binder so you can hand over the folder so they can see that you have all your paperwork in order. Just smile confidently and be relaxed. You and your pet WILL be allowed on as long as they are crated and not barking hysterically or meow/screaming like you're trying to drown them. If your pet has not been acclimatized to being confined to the softmesh-sided over the shoulder crate you will need, then start getting them used to it, seeing it as a friendly comfortable retreat... and take them for car rides until and carry them around a mall or down a sidewalk or whatever until they feel and act secure and relaxed.

If you are changing planes between legs of your trip, find out how close the doors to the outside grassy areas are to the gates. If you have doubts about your physical ability to tote your carry on bag(s) and your pet, you can request (before landing) to have transportation waiting for you. If they aren't waiting for you, waste no time in getting someone to summon an attendant. Some airports have electric carts with flashing blue lights, but at some the best you can hope for is a wheelchair. Regardless, In 6 lay-overs, I never had a bad experience.

FYI-- hard-sided crates are generally not allowed - too dangerous in turbulance or accident as they cannot be firmly wedged beneath your seat, tucked securely behind your legs)

My dog is large for a toy - 13 pound Pekingnese - and so she is not able to stand up in her crate, so I unzip the "peek out" end so she can stand up and stretch her legs during stops where I am not changing planes. Actually, she wakes up only upon landing and falls asleep the minute we get out of the initial take off. Her only problem is a running nose, both onboard all planes, and both inside and outside the terminals. I presume it is caused by general air pollution of some sort as she does the same if we visit some one who smokes cigarettes. Jet fuel is kerosene.

If your dog is a service animal, a hotel is not allowed to charge you extra for the room. I am not familiar with pet deposits, but it seems fair unless you don't get it back til it arrives in the mail somewhere in the future - which does seem inevitable unless you can demand an english-speaking maid to do a walk thru and sign off on something you can carry to the desk that the dog/cat did not soil or wet the carpet or shred the shower curtain or claw the drapes.

Regardless, don't book the room thru an online service (if you wish to) until after you have called the hotel direct and spoken to a manager (don't call during their busy check-in, check-out times - middle of the night is great).

They can tell you what the hotel's policies are, can book you a downstairs room near a door if you like for walking your dog. For that matter, they can let you know how far you will have to walk to find a place for your dog to eliminate. Tell them you will be bringing baggies for clean up after your dog and that you will dispose of it outside (most all hotels have a lined waste can outside the front door for fast food wrapper and beverage disposal, et al.

Good luck with all your traveling with your pet....
OneMoreTime
ps: I've never even been frowned at for bring my pet's carrier into a McDonald's. Suspect there are a lot of friendlies out there. WalMarts always love her and never even seem freaked by a dog in their store - even the ones with grocery sections.

I have an emotional support dog. She’s actually trained to do some things that help me with some of my problems (along the lines of panic attacks and OCD, but I won’t get into details) so I guess, by definition, she’s technically a service animal. I am in my mid-twenties and my dog is small so I don’t publicly claim that she is a service animal because I don’t want to have to deal with the criticism of being called a “Paris Hilton wannabe…” In fact, until the fees became completely outrageous, I paid for her to fly with me on airplanes, stay with me in hotels and live with me in my apartment so I wouldn’t have to deal with people’s comments.

The last couple of times I have flown, she has been with me as an “emotional support” dog. I have the necessary documentation from my doctor to back my claim.

The issue I am having is this: while I understand that many people try to take advantage of the system by passing their animals off as “emotional support” animals or what have you, the stress and embarrassment that come from having to legitimately make this claim and produce the documentation can make matters worse than they were to begin with. Let me explain by sharing my latest experience with you. Please note that I realize the airline acted within their rights.

I booked my flights a month in advance. From that time up until the night before I left, I made 4 separate calls to the airline to inform them I was flying with an emotional support animal and to confirm this was in their system. I was flying on Delta and this was a round-trip. Although I didn’t experience any difficulty on my trip away, coming home was a bit different. The first problem I encountered was that I was not allowed to check-in online. This, of course, was Delta’s way of getting me to check-in at the ticket counter and to give them the opportunity to interrogate me and/or try to get me to pay. I know this, because as I have said, I used to pay to have my dog fly with me before the cost was raised to $150 one-way.

I clearly have huge issues with flying, hence the ESA, so I was already stressing out. I was furthermore worried that somehow, I’d be refused boarding. I was afraid they’d be too technical and claim that some type of wording or something in the letter wasn’t exactly what it needed to be. (This actually happened to me over Christmas with Delta… I was refused boarding and it took me 24 hours to get home for Christmas. I will never forget the stress and panic attacks I had that day!)

As I waited in the line for over an hour, my breathing began to quicken. I could feel my heart beat faster. My mouth became so dry, that I literally lost my voice until I could find my water bottle. I became light-headed and kept feeling like I was going to pass out. This was the time before the flight that I usually go through my imagery and exercises to calm me down, but instead, I was standing in this line. It was really upsetting me! I finally approached the desk. The woman behind the counter was actually nice (thank heavens) but she wasn’t familiar with Delta’s policy regarding an emotional support animal. She inquired about this with her manager or coworker who was standing next to her, helping another customer.

The man very loudly exclaimed “She can only have the dog if she has a letter from her doctor stating she has a disability.” His voice was deep and loud, and it carried back to the massive line standing behind me. I turned around to see just about every face staring in my direction. I think I blushed, and I began to shake. I was so afraid of everyone thinking I was a fraud because I’m young and my dog is small. I was very upset. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, the man repeated himself about 2 or 3 more times. I think he liked to hear himself repeat policy – like it made him feel important or knowledgeable or whatever. He looked at me (and so did the customer he was helping) and said, “Do you have documentation from your doctor?”

I couldn’t even speak. I just nodded my head and pulled my letter out of my bag for the agent to read. It was so embarrassing because my hand was shaking as I did it, and everyone was watching.

The nice lady read my letter and I think she could tell that the last thing I needed was more stress, so she didn’t look at it long. The loud agent then said, “And you need to have one of these tags on your bag.” It was the same, typical green one that they always used to give me when I paid to carry my dog on. He then looked at his co-worker and said, “Did the letter say that she needed the dog to be with her in flight??”

I was eventually given my boarding pass. When I arrived at the gate, even though my dog was in the system as a support animal, the gate agent stopped me as I was boarding to check my tag and, I assume, make sure I wasn’t trying to “get away” with anything. It actually made me mad. How many more employees were going to question/interrogate me? What more did I have to do to get on the d*** plane?

By this time, I was just so upset and humiliated, not to mention TERRIFIED for my flight… right as I walked on the plane, I began to hyperventilate. It was HORRIBLE! One of the flight attendants was standing in front of me and said, “Oh dear, honey. Do you need a napkin?” I nodded. It was very sweet of her, and immediately started a waterfall of tears. I was MORTIFIED at this point. I was in the front of the plane that was nearly full… all of first class and coach could see me hysterically crying! And what’s worse, my seat was the very last one on the plane, so I had to walk all the way to the back like that!

I had also been told by one of the other flight attendants that my dog HAD to remain in her bag so while I was sitting there, hysterical, my dog was trying to get to me to calm me down. She was scratching her bag, trying to get out and was very upset (during a normal, calm flight, she does not make a peep. She has been trained). So, my emotional support dog was of no use to me in this situation because I was not allowed to have access to her.

Needless to say, the flight was a nightmare. I broke into loud sobs as we took off and spent the remainder of the time trying to hide my face. I kept my head down after we landed as I walked off the plane. ☹

The point I’m trying to make here is that while the airline acted in accordance with the law, their lack of sensitivity (the man yelling my personal information out in front of the crowd), being questioned over and over after I had adequately planned for this trip, and the law itself contributed to making my flight even WORSE than it could have been. The point of having my dog with me and paying all of the money I have to get her trained is so that I can AVOID the very emotional response that I had in this experience.

Like I said, I realize that people try to take advantage of the “emotional support animal” rules to avoid paying for their pets (and heaven forbid, keeping the airline from capitalizing on their animals), but I’d rather see many people take advantage of this than see one person who legitimately NEEDS this, have to go through what I went through.

Honestly, with the way the rules are set now (and if the airline chooses to follow them to the most rigid extent possible), I believe that the benefits of flying with an ESA are negated by the stress that the airline places on the already emotionally unstable passenger. Why must we be treated this way? Why must we have to show documentation when others do not? Just because my problems are not visible does not mean that they don’t exist. I am still so upset!

Does anyone know of any group that is trying to push for more rights for those of us with ESAs? I’d really like to share my story with them.

Thank you for reading this.

hey everyone i just had a few quick questions. umm where to start i have severe post traumatic stress disorder, a history of black outs with self mutilation and bad anxiety and panic attacks associated with a diffrent metal illness (nothing bad) a touch of OCD and a blown knee. I have a small dog trained to alert me when someone approaches me if im zoning out or not currently focused. because if someone startles me it can trigger flash backs and a bad episode that can leave me how do you say messed up for several hours if not days. he is trained to get help when i black out (its obvious) or attempt self mutilation. he is also trainied to get my attention if i am focusing on something to long * i can stare into a mirror and find a flaw in my skin or something and convince my self its some illness) and get me to do something else ie play or go for a walk. walk me during nightmares caused by the PTSD. and allow me to focus on him when i am out in huge crowds so i can do what i have to do. he is also trained to retrieve my cell phone when and if i fall. from around my house or from my purse. * i have fallen down a flight of cememnt steps in the past out side at night thanks to him i was able to call family and have someone come and get me.* i am 22 and thanks to him i am no able to go out do errands and such alone. i dont need to be escorted every where. several friends have told me to visit my doctor * also an intense fear of the drs so i have to be escorted and my family hopes with taking him i will be able to attend the doctors alone without spiking my blood pressure* and see if my dog can be classified as a service dog as without him . i cant go out alone. i have 2 weeks until my mother no longer has a week day off. im going back to school (online) and would love to be able to take him with me so i can attend regualr classes and such. i just want to know what people think he is classified as. i have had diffrent comments from a PSD to a SD to a ESA. i dont classify him as an ESA as he is trained for several diffrent things

feed back appreciated

I was wondering what other animals are used for emotional support I heard that some people use capuchin monkeys for this,if so dose anyone know how to get one I had a cat but he was no company at all talk about stuck up lol and I am scared of dogs, I live alone and do not go outside my home because it makes me have panic attacks my phych.thinks it would be good for me to have a monkey because it would be like a baby only it would not grow up and leave home,all my kids are growen and do not have time to keep me company any help on this would be most apersheated.
katmae

I am so sorry of your struggles. I have heard that too about monkeys but dont know about it first hand. Have you looked or googled online? Would this be to help you be able to get out? I wonder now thinking about it why you dont see monkeys out like service dogs for ex? Would you think of getting a dog possibly or would it be too hard to take him out? I was not sure if you may have a sliding door or something?
Though I get out I also live alone and because of my medical and pain I am limited so have limited contact with people since my family is out of state so I also feel lonely. I did go through a period when I had severe ocd/anxiety/depression where I had not to the extent of what yours sounds like but a hard time leaving do to many factors. That though after over a decade of struggles and many treatments is better so I guess my point is that I hope things for you can too.
If you find out about the monkey let me know or if I read of anything I will let you

I do know that they train then for people in wheelchairs, the grop is called the helping hands,but they can noy help me I'm not in a wheelchair but thank you and if you hear anything I would love to know

I do not know if you are getting my messages,so I'm going to send you another one please let me know if you do get them,I found some breeders of capuchin monkeys,how good is your sence of humor? 6500.00 for males and 8000.00 for females (pitty cash right?) will medacade help pay for this if my psychiatrist writes me a perscription?

I was wondering if my Fiancé can register his emotional support dog so he can take his dog with him to the store. He is a well behaved dog. I have looked all over the internet but I can't find anything about this. I hope someone can help me on this. Thanks