Our furry friends were our emotional support animals before that was even a thing. Mentalfloss.com defines an emotional support animal as…
“Pets that improve the quality of life for people living with disabilities. Typically they help people with mental health disorders, such as depression, generalized anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, or some other condition that affects their emotional state.”
And let’s also remember these animals were recognized by the Fair Housing Act and the Air Carrier Access Act. Within limitations of course.
We’ve all heard the horror stories of airline passengers trying to convince the authorities that their exotic pet is traveling with them for support. Most of the time, these attempts fail. Just recently the Department of Transportation cracked down on these support group efforts on planes. Perhaps someone’s pet peacock was the last straw?
Now let’s not confuse these with service animals, which are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. These animals are defined “as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability. The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person’s disability.” And according to WSJ.com, service dogs can still fly free.
Pettable, the company that assists people with obtaining authorization to procure an emotional support animal or service dog, is offering up a one thousand dollar payday. They are looking for a “Director of Doggie Flicks” to watch 6 heartwarming, sometimes tear jerking movies about dogs, over a 48 hour period.
Here they are…..
