Emotional Support Animal Questions You Get Asked

When it comes to service and therapy dogs, one of the biggest challenges isn’t dealing with your ailment. Instead, it’s navigating life in a world full of people that don’t know (or worse, THINK they know) everything about these animals and their relationship with you. If you’re considering getting a service or therapy dog, you may already be aware of some of these issues. Some of the common misconceptions have to do with friendly people trying to play or distract your dog while he/she is working. Another common complaint is that people don’t understand the rules regarding these loyal dogs and handlers can be unfairly barred from certain locations.

In fact, there are a number of other issues and challenges handlers have to deal with that aren’t so obvious until after you actually start walking around with your new furry friend. To get you prepared for a few of these scenarios, let’s go over some of the less known but equally difficult situations you may find yourself in at some point in the future.

Medical History

Many people don’t know that once they start going out with a service or therapy dog, suddenly their medical history becomes a topic of conversation. That’s not to say that people don’t trust that you need a emotional support animal but having that animal by your side can help people feel more comfortable asking you what are in fact very personal questions. That’s one of the great things about dogs in general (and maybe why you have a therapy dog in the first place!). They put people at east. Of course, your medical history is and should be totally private. The best thing you can do is be prepared for questions like this ahead of time, so you’re not caught off guard.

Even More Questions!

It’s not just questions about your private medical history you’ll get a lot of. People are drawn to dogs and may be more curious about your little helper than they are of you. Many people with service and therapy dogs find themselves being asked all kinds of questions about what kind of breed their dog is, how long they took to train, and what it’s like having them around. These might not be as personal as medical questions, but they’re still personal and you aren’t a full-time emotional support animal ambassador tasked with answering everyone’s questions whenever you step out of the house. Again, knowing ahead of time that you might get more of this type of behavior is already a good step in being better equipped to cope with it.

Your Emotional Support Animal is Medical Equipment

This isn’t the case for therapy dogs, but highly trained emotional support animals aren’t just helpers, they are technically considered medical equipment. That’s something you might not have even realized yourself, so you can imagine what regular people on the street think. If you have a chance to do so politely, it can be useful to try to explain that fact to people if you feel they are being inappropriate with your dog. Remember, most people don’t mean any ill will, they simply don’t know the laws and can’t help but get excited about hard working dogs!

No amount of training can perfectly prepare you for everything that will be thrown at you with your new service or therapy animal out in the world. At the end of the day, you have to embrace your situation, be happy that you have such a loyal companion, and get out there and experience what the world throws at you.

Things People Ask You About Your Emotional Support Animal

When it comes to service and therapy dogs, one of the biggest challenges isn’t dealing with your ailment. Instead, it’s navigating life in a world full of people that don’t know (or worse, THINK they know) everything about these animals and their relationship with you. If you’re considering getting a service or therapy dog, you may already be aware of some of these issues. Some of the common misconceptions have to do with friendly people trying to play or distract your dog while he/she is working. Another common complaint is that people don’t understand the rules regarding these loyal dogs and handlers can be unfairly barred from certain locations.

In fact, there are a number of other issues and challenges handlers have to deal with that aren’t so obvious until after you actually start walking around with your new furry friend. To get you prepared for a few of these scenarios, let’s go over some of the less known but equally difficult situations you may find yourself in at some point in the future.