Even though we can’t pet them, service dogs are an enjoyable and adorable part of daily life. But in a viral TikTok video, a woman sneakily films as an employee at her psychiatrist’s office attempts to deny her and her dog entry into the office. The employee informs her that she’s spoken with the ADA (by which she presumably means somebody at the U.S. Department of Justice, the government agency tasked with enforcing the ADA, or Americans with Disabilities Act), and they’ve deemed Holly (the dog) an “emotional support dog” and not a service animal. On top of that, the dog growled at the provider at a prior appointment and was not welcome back.
The owner remains very calm and seems to know her rights, as she informs the employee that Holly detects high heart rates, stops panic attacks, and has cardiac alert. She also shares that the dog is in training but she got the growl under control immediately and it offered no threat to the doctor.
It appears that the employee had been gearing up for the conversation, saying that she’d been talking to the ADA in preparation for her next visit and continuously told the owner that the ADA told her she could deny the dog and her owner access. She even offered to show the owner her email and give her the name of the ADA employee that she talked to. The owner noted in the comments that she never saw the email.
After the conversation, the employee still told the owner that it would be best if she rescheduled her appointment or used telehealth in the future. In the second part of the saga, the owner offers to put her dog in the car with her mom so that she can attend the appointment that she was otherwise being denied.
According to the ADA, a service animal is defined as a dog specifically trained to assist a person with disabilities. This includes physical and mental liabilities and illnesses, though emotional support animals do not fall under that umbrella. Service animals also can’t be denied access to any facilities run by governments, businesses, or organizations that serve the public, and can only be asked to leave if the owner cannot maintain control of the dog, or if the dog is not housebroken.
In this instance, the dog can’t be removed for growling, because following the growl the owner maintained control of her dog. The receptionist also can only ask the owner if the service dog is required due to disability, and which tasks the dog was trained to perform. So long as the dog in the video is professionally trained for a disability (and not emotional support) and the owner maintained control of her dog, they were well within their rights to be there.
It seemed like the conflict was eventually resolved, at least for the specific appointment. However, the owner has posted multiple videos of times when she’s had trouble bringing her psychiatric service dog into public places, and she and her followers are still rooting for a change.