The types of support dogs, explained
Five labels get mixed up constantly. Each one carries different rights, and using the wrong one is where most trouble starts.
Service dog
A dog individually trained to do work or perform tasks directly related to a person's disability: guiding, alerting to sounds or seizures, retrieving, bracing, interrupting a panic attack, reminding someone to take medication. In the US (ADA) the dog may go anywhere the public goes, no paperwork required. In Canada, provincial human rights codes protect access, and the federal transport rules require training by a specialist organization or trainer for flights and trains.
Psychiatric service dog
A service dog whose tasks relate to a mental-health disability — for example, waking a handler from a nightmare, grounding during a dissociative episode, or checking a room for someone with PTSD. Same rights as any other service dog. The difference from an ESA is training: the dog does something.
Emotional support animal (ESA)
An animal whose presence eases the symptoms of a person's disability. Any species, no training. Protected in housing (US Fair Housing Act; Canadian human rights codes as part of an accommodation), but generally not in stores or airline cabins. The document that matters is a letter from a licensed health professional who knows you.
Therapy dog
A dog that visits hospitals, schools and care homes with a volunteer handler to comfort other people. Therapy dogs have no individual access rights; they go where they're invited, usually through an organization's program.
Dog in training
A future service dog that isn't yet reliable at its tasks. Not covered by the ADA, but many US states and some provinces give trainers public-access rights to allow socialisation. Check your location's notes.
The honest test
If your dog's job is to do something when needed, it may be a service dog. If your animal's job is to be there, it's an ESA. Calling an ESA a service animal is the misrepresentation most state and provincial penalty laws target.