April 2025 | Service & Therapy Animal Month

jdoyle8775
Apr 4
5 min read

Updated: Apr 28

April 28th UPDATE

Below are three organizations the Foundation has supported over many years, and we recognize each for the tremendous work it does supporting so many with the service dogs it trains and provides.

A couple of quotes about service dogs (curated by the Quotesanity Team)

“Service dogs are not just our helpers; they are our heroes. They selflessly dedicate themselves to improving the lives of those in need, teaching us valuable lessons about compassion and selflessness along the way.”
“Service dogs may not have wings, but they give us the freedom to soar. They guide us through life’s turbulence, keeping us grounded and helping us find our way when we feel lost.”

Canine Companions for Independence

Canine Companions is leading the service dog industry so its “clients and their dogs can live with greater independence”. Since its founding in 1975, dogs and all follow-up services are provided at no cost to its clients. Canine Companions believes that “independence shouldn’t be limited to those who look or live a certain way. Disability reaches all races, classes and backgrounds, and Canine Companions will too”.

Who it serves:

Children with physical or cognitive disabilities aged five or older or adults with physical or cognitive disabilities who require the assistance of a facilitator such as a parent, caregiver or spouse.
Veterans with a physical or auditory disability or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Professionals working in a health care, visitation, criminal justice or education setting.

National Disaster Search Dog Foundation

Mission: To strengthen disaster response in America by rescuing and recruiting dogs and partnering them with firefighters and other first responders to find people buried alive in the wreckage of disasters.

Founded in 1996, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF) offers professionally trained canines and an ongoing training program at no cost to fire departments. And it ensures lifetime care for every dog in its program: once rescued, these dogs never need to be rescued again.

Currently, there are 94 SDF-trained Canine Disaster Search Teams located in these nine states: California, Florida, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. Thanks to mutual aid agreements between counties, cities and states, these precious, life-saving resources can be deployed regionally and nationally to make sure that when disaster strikes, no one is left behind.

SDF recruits dogs from across the country that are rescued from abuse or abandonment. Typically, these dogs demonstrate high energy, tenacity and boldness, making them ideal for search and rescue, but unsuitable for a family pet. After passing stringent screening and testing criteria, the dogs are then trained to harness that high energy, drive and tenacity into life-saving skills.

NEADS World Class Service Dogs

NEADS® trains a wide range of Service Dogs to meet the needs of people with a variety of disabilities or hearing loss. NEADS Assistance Dogs are matched with professionals in classroom, courthouse, hospital, ministry, and therapeutic settings.

NEADS provides Service Dogs for:

Veterans
Adults with Physical Disabilities
Children with Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities
Hearing Impairment
Assistance Dogs for the Classroom, Ministry, Hospital, Courthouse and Therapeutic Settings

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (UVMA) U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook, 38.4% of American households have a dog; 25.4% of households have a cat; 2.8% have birds and 0.8% have rabbits and horses, respectively. The total number of these animals in the U.S. is as follows:

Dogs: 76,811,305

Cats: 58,385,725

Birds: 7,538,000

Rabbits: 2,000,000

Horses: 1,914,394

See the section below (Emotional Support Animals)

for other animals that can be ESAs! You might be surprised!

Compare that to just 500,000 service dogs in the U.S., and you can see that we have a critical shortage of dogs to help the roughly 61 million Americans living with disabilities (about 26% of the population), according to the CDC.

How do You Define a Service Dog? Service dogs are “individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability”, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act. And while you might be very familiar with guide dogs helping the blind and visually impaired and service dogs that assist with mobility and other tasks, did you know that there are also service dogs for the hearing-impaired, along with medical alert dogs who can signal the onset of a medical issue such as a seizure, low blood sugar or alert its owner to the presence of allergens, to name just a few?

There are also psychiatric service dogs to assist with disabilities such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, PTSD, schizophrenia and other conditions. According to the American Kennel Club, examples of work performed by psychiatric service dogs “could include entering a dark room and turning on a light to help with a stress-inducing condition, interrupting an individual’s repetitive behaviors and remind their owner to take a medication.” Finally, autism service dogs are trained to alert their handlers of certain behaviors by providing stability and a calming influence. They can help provide focus to their handler and have been shown to help with abstract and concrete thinking (AKC).

There are other categories of “service animals”, but they are not considered actual service animals by the definition above. However, the work they do is very important to the individuals who own them!

Emotional Support Animals (which can include any type of pet) provide comfort just by being with a

person (we can all relate to that!). You might be surprised that not just dogs and cats can be emotional support animals! A list of other ESAs: ferrets, snakes (yes, eeeek!), rabbits, miniature horses, pigs and hedgehogs have all made the grade as emotional support animals. Flirty, an accredited ESA, pictured here, was the first miniature horse to fly on a commercial flight. According to American Service Pets, in the past two years airlines have seen over a 77% increase of animals on planes. HOWEVER, it's important to know that in 2021 the Department of Transportation did rollback the requirement that airlines must allow emotional support animals to fly free in their cabins. While service dogs and psychiatric service dogs ARE still allowed on flights, ESAs are no longer allowed in most cases. But, most domestic carriers still accept some pets (if your cat or dog is under 20 pounds and can fit in a carrier in the seat in front of you). For a FEE, these airlines: Alaska, Southwest, United, American, Delta and Hawaiian Airlines are currently allowing you to bring a pet with the guidelines mentioned above (including if you have an ESA animal). Check with YOUR airline before you consider bringing an animal on a flight.

Therapy Dogs provide “opportunities for petting, affection and interaction in a variety of settings on a volunteer basis” (AKC). You’ll see therapy dogs in hospitals, assisted living residences, schools and with victims of traumatic events or disasters.

Courthouse Dogs are fairly new in the U.S. Several states allow these types of dogs to accompany a child or vulnerable person during trial proceedings.

Facility Dogs are a growing category of therapy dogs that work in institutional settings such as schools, airports or health care facilities.