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Emotional Support Animals In The Spotlight
ResumeEmotional support animals provide comfort to their owners. How’s the rest of the world dealing with the dog in the next seat?
![Student Kamran Mehta pets Angie, a certified therapy dog, at the University at Buffalo in Amherst, N.Y. (David Duprey/AP)](https://media.wbur.org/wp/2017/03/pug-1.jpg)
It’s hard not to sympathize with the comfort given by an emotional support dog. You may have seen them nestled next to a passenger on a plane. Maybe nestled next to you. But the definition of an emotional support animal is so loose it’s also being fudged. People bringing pets along – to hotels, restaurants, grocery stores – just for fun, or to save a buck. And it’s not just dogs. Think pigs, ducks, snakes, turkeys. This hour On Point, we’re sniffing out the facts on emotional support animals. — Tom Ashbrook
Guests
Hal Herzog, columnist for Psychology Today, where he writes the "Animals and Us" column. Professor emeritus of psychology at Western Carolina University. (@herzoghal)
Stefanie DeSimone, student at Plymouth State University. She has a emotional support dog named Flo.
Aubrey Fine, clinical psychologist who specializes in animal-assisted therapy. Professor at California State Polytechnic Institute. Editor of the "Handbook on Animal Assisted Therapy."
From Tom’s Reading List
Psychology Today: Are the Results of Animal Therapy Studies Unreliable? — "Animal-assisted therapy is a growth industry. According to a survey conducted by the Human Animal Bond Research Initiative, 69% of family practice physicians have worked with animals in medical settings. And Yale researchers reported that when it comes to the treatment of children with behavior problems, the public views animal-based therapies about as acceptable as psychotherapy and much more acceptable than drug treatments."
New Yorker: Pets Allowed — "Contrary to what many business managers think, having an emotional-support card merely means that one’s pet is registered in a database of animals whose owners have paid anywhere from seventy to two hundred dollars to one of several organizations, none of which are recognized by the government. (You could register a Beanie Baby, as long as you send a check.) Even with a card, it is against the law and a violation of the city’s health code to take an animal into a restaurant. Nor does an emotional-support card entitle you to bring your pet into a hotel, store, taxi, train, or park.
Boston Globe: Pretending your pet is a service animal? That could soon be illegal -- "It’s become a sneaky way to bring house pets into stores, restaurants, airplanes, and other places where four-legged creatures are usually banned: buy a service animal vest and — voila! — take Fido with you as you’re shopping, eating out, or catching a flight. Pretending your dog is a service animal is a harmless ruse, right? Wrong, disability advocates say. And in Massachusetts it could soon be against the law."
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Meet Stefanie DeSimone's Emotional Support Dog, Flo
![flos](https://media.wbur.org/wp/2017/03/flos.jpg)
This program aired on March 28, 2017.