beardie service animal help

[sobotta]

Does anyone know how I would have to go about registering 1 of my beardies as a service animal? I live in wisconsin and I suffer from PTSD, I get bad anxiety and depression spells and every time I have my dragon with me she keeps me calm and I never have any issues.

Any help would be appreciated

 

[randommonks]

From wikipedia:

"As of September of 2010, the United States' Americans with Disabilities Act has redefined a service animal as "any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not service animals for the purposes of this definition."[4] This revised definition excludes all comfort animals, which are pets that owners keep with them for emotional reasons. (For example, the owner may feel calmer when he or she is near the pet.) Unlike a service animal, a comfort animal is not trained to perform specific, measurable tasks directly related to the person's disability. Common tasks for service animals include flipping light switches, picking up dropped objects, alerting the person to an alarm, or similar disability-related tasks.

There is no license or registration process for service animals in the United States. As a result, any person could claim that any animal was a "service animal" and demand to bring it into places where animals are normally banned, such as food preparation areas, hospitals, pet-free apartment complexes, and airplanes. A primary goal in revising the definition was to reduce abuse and fraud committed by people who falsely claimed that their cats, birds, ferrets, reptiles and other pets were service animals."

 

[Mirthy]

While the wiki article may be true, I know that emotional assistance animals are still welcome, regardless, in many places.
The best place to look for information regarding this would be your own doctor.
I work for an airline and we have a little boy who flies with us who brings an iguana along. His medical reasons are, of course, his own business, but I can tell you from staff point of view that we are aware of and happy to see the duo.

Comfort or emotional assistance animals still carry documentation but I do not have any information on it. As I suggested before, your doc is the best place to start. I'm glad your dragon brings you comfort.

 

[randommonks]

While the wiki article may be true, I know that emotional assistance animals are still welcome, regardless, in many places.
The best place to look for information regarding this would be your own doctor.
I work for an airline and we have a little boy who flies with us who brings an iguana along. His medical reasons are, of course, his own business, but I can tell you from staff point of view that we are aware of and happy to see the duo.

Comfort or emotional assistance animals still carry documentation but I do not have any information on it. As I suggested before, your doc is the best place to start. I'm glad your dragon brings you comfort.

You are correct

"The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 (42 USC 3601, et seq.) establishes a procedure for modifying "no pets" policies in most types of housing to permit a person with a disability to keep a pet for emotional support. In housing that allows pets but charges supplemental rent or deposits for them, these fees must be waived. The ESA's owner can be charged for actual damage done by the animal, but they may not require the applicant to pay a fee or a security deposit in order to keep the animal.

The Air Carrier Access Act establishes a procedure for modifying pet policies on aircraft to permit a person with a disability to travel with a prescribed emotional support animal so long as they have appropriate documentation and the animal is not a danger to others and does not interfere with others (through unwanted attention, barking, inappropriate toileting, etc.)."

Did the iguana ever have "inappropriate toileting" ( :lol: ) on the plane? I might look into having my cat documented by my doctor as a comfort animal. She brings me peace on those stressful days.

 

[AtlasStrike]

There was a big uproar about iguanas and snakes being claimed as "emotional support animals." I believe that currently only dogs, cats and properly trained miniature horses qualify for the housing exemption and cabin flight status. I personally would much rather be on an airplane with a beardie than a cat, but I don't get to make the rules.

 

[Mirthy]

There was a big uproar about iguanas and snakes being claimed as "emotional support animals." I believe that currently only dogs, cats and properly trained miniature horses qualify for the housing exemption and cabin flight status. I personally would much rather be on an airplane with a beardie than a cat, but I don't get to make the rules.

Not so at my airline...our comfort animal symbol that alerts us that one will be on board is a turtle because we had one of those also.



Oh and as to the other question, no potty problem! In fact, a lot less chance of that with a beardie or a iguana than a dog or cat ...