Types of Dogs

Contrary to popular belief, there are actually many classifications of service and working dogs. We've gathered a few to make it easy to see the different types and what they do. By clicking any of the tabs below it will show you their job, about the handler, and what the animal does for that classification.

Service Dogs
Severe Allergy Alert Dogs (AADs)	Autism Assistance Dogs		Brace / Mobility Support Dogs (BMSD)		Diabetic Alert Dogs (DADs)		Hearing Dogs
Medical Alert Dogs (MADs)	Medical Assistance Dogs		Psychiatric Service Dogs (PSDs)		Seizure Response Dogs		Visual Assistance Dogs
Wheelchair  Assistance Dogs		FASD Service Dogs		Sensory Signal or Social Signal Dogs (SSigD)		Seizure Alert Dogs
Working Dogs
Bed Bug Sniffing	Search & Rescue		Explosive Detection		Cancer Detection		Allergy Alert
Emotional Support Animals
Therapy Dogs

Service Dogs Where they can go: Restaurants, shopping centers, libraries, hospitals, public transportation, as well as most other places. The only places that Service Animals are not allowed to go are Sterile Environments, such as a burn unit, or inside an operating room, or in a church if the church does not welcome the animal.  Churches are allowed to say no to Service Animals because there is a separation of Church and State in our country. Unfortunately, that gives Churches the right to deny or refuse Service Animals from entering the building if they choose to. Certifications: Since no training is “required” most owners just get the CGC Certification.  Allergies, fear of dogs, and local health code laws are not legal reasons to deny a service dog from a building that allows the general public. If someone is allergic When a person who is allergic to dog dander and a person who uses a service animal must spend time in the same room or facility, for example, in a school classroom, restaurant, or at a homeless shelter, they both should be accommodated by assigning them, if possible, to different locations within the room or different rooms in the facility.  Source: ADA

Example from work
When I was working at Capital One, there was a manager named Abby that I worked with who was highly allergic to my dog Nox. So to make things easier on the both of us, I would ask the night cleaning crew to vacuum often in my area to prevent dander. Although it is in the ADA requirements for a service dog to be properly groomed, and he was, I wanted to do everything possible to make it easier for my co-workers to not be disturbed. While he was still in training, I would bring him up to the office on days with less or no one working to have him get used to an office environment at a young age. Since this was done when he was only a few months old, he now knows when he’s in his vest, and especially in an office to be calm, quiet, and collected because as his handler, it makes me less stressed and easier to focus at work with my service animal by my side.

Here are some examples of Service Dogs and how they assist

Type	Psychiatric	Visual	Hearing	Mobility	Medical Alert
Help With	PTSD Autism Anxiety Panic Disorders Suicide Prevention	Assisting the Blind	Assisting the Deaf	Assisting those impaired physically	Low blood sugar in diabetics Brain aneurysms Traumatic brain injuries

Emotional Support Animals
Difference from a support dog	Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals under the law. Psychiatric Service Animals are for disabilities such as PTSD, suicide prevention, Autism, Anxiety, Panic Disorders, etc. Emotional Support Animals are for comfort, only. Emotional Support Animals are basically pet dogs who are trained to comfort their owner for their depression, anger issues, etc.

Therapy Dog

Difference from a support dog

A Therapy Dog is a dog who goes into places to bring joy to other people such as patients in hospitals or nursing homes. Therapy Dogs are there for OTHER people and their sole purpose is to make people other than the handler happy. They often go into hospitals and visit the children's ward, or nursing homes to visit the residents there that were forced to leave their pets behind when moving into the nursing home. Therapy Dogs MUST be certified (usually through TDI - Therapy Dogs International) and must always ask permission from the establishment before entering the building.