All About Accessibility: Understanding Service Dogs

 

Designated by the Ohio General Assembly beginning in 2016, Ohio Service Dog Awareness Week, the last week of July, recognizes service dogs that have assisted Ohio citizens with disabilities, including adults, children, and Veterans.

 

Service dogs are specially trained to assist individuals with disabilities, which can include various conditions such as blindness, low vision, deafness, hard of hearing, mental health disabilities, physical disabilities, seizure disorders, or diabetes. It’s important to understand that service dogs differ from emotional support dogs and therapy dogs. While service dogs are trained to perform specific tasks to help their handlers, emotional support dogs provide comfort but are not trained for specific tasks. Therapy dogs are often used in settings like hospitals and schools to provide emotional support to many individuals, but they are not typically trained to assist a specific person with a disability.

 

When interacting with service dogs, it's best to speak to the handler rather than the dog and keep your own dog from getting too close. It’s crucial not to touch or distract the service dog, offer food or treats, or assume that a napping dog is off duty.

 

For more details on service dogs, please visit the Accessible Ohio service animal resource.