The number of fake emotional support dogs is exploding

It’s easy to get your pet designated an emotional support animal. But abuse of the system takes a toll on those with genuine needs.

To promote your pet to the status of an “emotional support animal”, or ESA, all you need is a therapist’s letter asserting the animal contributes to your psychological wellbeing. If you don’t have a therapist, there are for-profit websites, known among some psychologists as “ESA mills”, that will facilitate a quick, dubious disability appraisal by a clinician over the phone or via a web survey, then sell you miscellaneous swag like vests and tags (none of which are legally required for assistance animal owners to have) to make your pet look more official.

We logged onto a website in America and bought a certified id, letter, doctor letter for just $399 for a fake certificate and I also popped down the road to Value Co and bought a fake service dog jacket.

While ESAs are technically not legally allowed to venture everywhere in public with their owners (only service animals have that right), they do come with perks. Equipped with a therapist’s letter, you may move your pet into an animal-free apartment or dormitory, and fly with your pet in a plane’s cabin for free. And nothing stops ESA owners from asking for further accommodations.

Support animal or service dog?

A service dog on a FlySafair Flight recently courtesy Grant Smith

While not all spurious ESAs wreak havoc, some do – with serious consequences. In 2018, Delta Air reported an 84% surge in animal incidents since 2016, including urination, defecation and biting. Recent media reports of emotional support peacocks causing pandemonium in airports, , and dogs storming the stage during Cats have further contributed to the sense that ESAs are an epidemic. Worse case even an air hostess was bitten by an ESA dog.

Recently this year a “Trained Great Dane “tried to get onto a flight as an assistance animal. Where certain breeds of dogs are not fit for purpose, they have been accredited by dubious training centres.

For people who do have genuine disabilities, the situation is becoming untenable.

A few years ago, a security guard at Westville mall refused entry to a handler and her certified assistance dog. She was on way to her doctor’s appointment. She had a seizure due to the stress and fractured her ribs.

A handler and his Assistance dog, which helps him with myriad daily tasks, says people on social media who broadcast their fraudulent pets infuriate him. Not only can fake ESAs distract or attack working service dogs, but service providers who have been inconvenienced by bad behavior from an unruly pet often sour on accommodating all animals thereafter. (British Airlines/ Delta Air, for example, recently banned all ESAs from flights over eight hours,)

Despite having protected service animal, he is often denied rides from Uber drivers; he films these exchanges and keeps a running thread of them on his Twitter feed.

“I’ve had drivers ask me point blank, ‘What happens when your dog defecates in my car?’ I’ve said, ‘That’s not how trained service dogs’ function,’” says Honick. “People’s perceptions get skewed because somebody brought in their misrepresented animal. And that makes it harder for people like me who have a legitimately trained dog like Pico, who’s never caused any problems, because there’s this wariness.”

A Further 2 incidents recently happened here in South Africa, where Uber drivers refused to take Guide Dogs in their cars. SAGDA is taking Uber to The Equality Court.

It can be hard to know whether you’re looking at a service dog or an ESA without asking the animal’s owner, and even that can be tricky: you are legally only allowed to ask someone with a service animal two questions: “Is that a service animal?” and “What task is it trained to perform?”

Nothing can stop people from lying, or exploiting others’ confusion by using the terms “service animal” an “ESA” interchangeably. “The majority of folks who slap a vest on their pet have already crossed that line.

It’s my opinion that it constitutes to committing an act of fraud and that person should be criminally charged by The South African Police.

“The easiest giveaway is behaviour. A trained service animal is going to behave unobtrusively and professionally. If those things aren’t happening, odds are high the animal is fraudulent.”

The National Institutes of Health reports that “studies have found that animals can reduce loneliness, increase feelings of social support, and boost your mood”, and any pet owner can confirm that having an animal companion is one of the most effective non-pharmaceutical antidotes to anxiety you can get.

Who Certifies?

We have a serious concern where there are untrained staff and unregulated training centres are out there busy certifying dogs.

My question is what is their standard? Just because im a behaviourist/dog trainer does that make me able to train a service dog. No its doesn’t.

Does the average dog trainer have the skill and knowledge how to train and give the correct support to the dog and handler ? NO

Furthermore, Medical Health professions need to be also held accountable for not checking that their clients have the correct trained dog which they have signed off on, Stating that their client needs a Therapy Dog or An Emotional Support Dog and it’s the wrong dog for them.

Mental health professionals who lack full awareness of the law will likely fail to recognize that writing such letters constitutes a disability determination that becomes a part of the individual's clinical records,"

The professionals who sign off on ESA letters need to adhere to a strict and standardized evaluation model which AADSA strongly advocates.

We at, Smart Service Dog, go beyond the international requirements and involve a Medical Health Professional from day one in all aspects of the training and accreditation of the dog.

‘Not just any pet’

The question is, short of relying on everyone’s moral compass kicking in, how do we cut down on fraudulent ESAs?

In fact, guidelines would help anyone who requires an assistance animal: “As we have more clear guidelines, ESAs will hopefully start to be more well respected, because not just any pet can be certified,”

With stronger regulations in place, the dog days of dubious ESA certifications will be over. Until then, we’re left with a failing honor system rife with confusion, selfishness, and profiteers.

The cost of a Service Dog is over R 120 000 to R 150 000.00 depending on the training. Which is expensive for the handler now they have all these other challenges.

We have written several articles re Service dogs on our blog pages. Pop on over and have a look.

That’s why we at Smart Service Dogs are involved with the Association of Assistance Dogs Southern Africa and are a founding member of the Association. To streamline and control the correct training procedures for Assistance Dogs in SA.