Emotional Support Animals Vs Service Animals. A service animal is a highly trained, socialized animal that performs multiple tasks for one person. An emotional support animal serves as more of a companion.
One important thing service dogs and emotional support animals have in common is their ability to change the lives of their owners, enabling their human companions to successfully navigate everyday life. The disability can be mental or emotional. Although these animals often have therapeutic benefits, they are not individually trained to perform specific tasks for their handlers.
Their primary role is to provide emotional comfort, companionship, friendship and affection to their owner.
According to the ada, service animals are working animals, not pets.they have been specifically trained to perform tasks related to the disabled person’s specific disabilities. Esas offer emotional support and companionship to their owners, sometimes helping with symptoms such as anxiety, depression and several kinds of phobias. The federal fair housing act (fha) applies to residential facilities and provides protection for emotional support animals in addition to service animals. Under the ada and florida law, owners of public accommodations are not required to allow emotional support animals, only service animals (including psychiatric service dogs).