The person who first mentioned therapy dogs on that other thread is from New Zealand, where they may use different terms. I suspect the dogs she saw were service dogs. There is a legal definition for service animals, and therapy dogs, comfort dogs, and other labels are not allowed in many of the places where the ADA requires service animals to be accepted.
Dogs can be trained to alert for seizures, & that to me would be an example of a service dog.
It was I that mentioned the Therapy dogs. The lady who had the dog called it a therapy dog. It was not my term. There was another dog on board but I saw this particular therapy dog more often, mostly in the observation car or on the platform during stops. My understanding of a therapy dog is one that is taken into retirement homes, or hospitals to interact with sick/infirmed/lonely people. The lady who had this particular dog on my trip was quite elderly. Whether she had a disability or not, I don't know. She sure could talk tho
Both dogs I saw on the train were of the small variety. I personally gave it no thought that these dogs were on the train.From what I understand, one of the requirements is that the service animal must provide a constant service, and not an occasional service. So, an animal that only provides a service in very specific circumstances such as giving comfort only when in an open space or only when in a closed space, would be only providing an occasional service and not covered by ADA.
One of my dogs was a Therapy dog. He had to take and pass an official Temperament Test under AKC guidelines, after which I was allowed to add the suffix of "TT" to his registered name. I also had to have him registered with an organization as a Therapy dog, but that was mostly for liability insurance needs.
That makes sense. A "seeing eye" dog is a service animal because its human is blind 24/7. Same as a "hearing" dog because its human is deaf 24/7. And a mobility assistance dog is a service animal because their human is confined to a wheel chair constantly (whenever not in bed).
That is exactly why I used that example. I think using an animal for comfort, would not be a service animal, but Amtrak gets to make the decision. Since Agoraphobia is a medical diagnosis, they may allow it, but only Amtrak could answer that question. I think that would be a stretch of the rules.
One of the things that supposedly is big on the On-line dating sites is the Love or dislike of pets! (ie "Must like cats! If you sleep with your pets don't contact me!" etc. etc. ) :lol:
...I want my comfort monkey....he makes me feel better LOL
When my estranged husband died a few years ago I had to fly from New Zealand and meet up with my daughter who lived in Long Beach to get to middle Virginia where the husband lived. (My son also had to divert from London, England where he had been on holiday) My daughter had a couple of cats and it was cheaper to take them with us for however long we needed to be in Va than put them into a cattery. So the cats came on the plane with us, in bags under the seat. The airlines only take a certain number of animals on each flight. This particular flight had a couple of dogs and maybe another cat. The worst part was going thru security. Had to take the cats out of their carriers, hold them by the scruff of their necks and walk thru the security arch. Three or so weeks later we returned to Calif out of Dulles (heightened security) with the cats. Have you ever tried to undo, remove and then do up your sneakers and hold a cat by the scruff of the neck in an international airport. Security also wanted to know what was the large dense package in my backpack they could see on xray. Try explaining to airport security that it is your husband. We had to laugh.
Please tell me the proper way to obtain papers to qualify my companion/therapy dog for travel on the train. Thanks
