An emotional support animal provides comfort to help relieve a symptom or effect related to a person's disability. Also, there is no animal or breed restrictions for ESA's as long as it is reasonable and justified.Note that being an emotional support animal is not the same as being a service animal (like seeing-eye dogs). These types of animals have stricter criteria that must be met, including different forms of training such as obedience public access and disability training. These additional trainings are necessary since service dogs have public access and travel rights, unlike emotional support animals who are only protected under housing rights.ESA's do not have public access or travel rights, so it's best to check with individual business guidelines to see if they allow ESA's. Additionally, you can train your dog to become a PSD (psychiatric service dog) in order to have public access and travel rights.
The general criteria is to have some emotional or psychological condition that is improved by having an animal that provides support. Conditions may include depression, generalized anxiety, paranoia, insomnia, and others. And remember, Emotional Support Animals do not require special training!Only a licensed mental health professional is qualified to determine if you meet the criteria. Through our service, you can speak directly with a qualified mental health professional in the state where you reside. Pettable connects you with a licensed mental health profession for a consultation to determine if you qualify for an ESA. Unlike, some less legitimate services, we do not provide letters for fee, but instead we connect you to a professional for an honest evaluation.
Step 1: Once payment is submitted, a member of the Pettable team will reach out to you via email, within 24 hours, to begin the process of booking your ESA consultation. This email will include forms for you to sign (HIPPA disclosure, consent to tele-health and consent to terms of service). Signing these forms is important because this lets us connect you with one of our therapists licensed in your state.Step 2: When you have signed and submitted your forms, you will receive a scheduling link that will allow you to book your consultation with one of our therapists at a time that is convenient for you.Step 3: Your therapist will let you know if you have been approved to receive an ESA letter at the end of your consultation. If approved you will receive an ESA letter within 24 hours.If for any reason you are not approved we will refund your entire purchase.Get your official ESA Letter
When you take our quiz we collect information to match you with a therapist that has experience with your case and can meet your specific needs.Additionally, to our knowledge, Pettable is the only provider that offers a full Money Back Guarantee - meaning if you do not qualify for a letter after your consultation or your landlord does not accept it after filing a complaint with the HUD, then we’ll refund 100% of your purchase.We have experience with every kind of ESA situation - multiple pets, breed restrictions, weight/size restrictions, traveling across state lines, immediate turnaround, international/domestic travel, etc. We are confident we can help you with your specific ESA needs and if we can't, we will refund your money 100%. See our Money Back Guarantee FAQ for more information.
No problem, we've got your back! Our mental health professionals and customer support team here at Pettable are available to get on a call with your landlord should they want to validate the legitimacy of your letter. Should your landlord request a validation of your letter, please have them reach out to your therapist using the contact information on your ESA letter. If your landlord would also like to speak to our customer support team, please have them reach out to 855-920-0323 or [email protected]. In the unlikely event that your letter does not work as intended and we've tried to make it work with the landlord we will refund your purchase 100%.
We can turn around an ESA letter in as fast as 24 hours! If you need it this quickly make sure to choose our "Express Service." You can select this option at checkout. To ensure the fastest turn around possible, it is important that you sign and submit our consent forms. These forms are sent via email by a member of the Pettable team once payment is submitted. Signing these forms allows us to connect you with a therapist in your state. We have an extensive network of mental health professionals, licensed across states, with wide range of availability and can route you to someone that is able to meet your timeline needs.Once a consultation is concluded, letters are turned around within 24 hours and most of the time much more quickly than that.
After speaking with a licensed mental health professional and receiving your own ESA Letter, all you need to do is designate which animal will be your specific emotional support animal. It can be any breed or species, whether an existing pet or a new pet you adopt or rescue. You do not need to go to any specific breeder or place to acquire one.
Absolutely! There is research and data that support the theory that animals provide substantial and measurable emotional support. If you're thinking about the benefits of an emotional support animal, you can learn more by researching online or talking to qualified mental health professionals in our network.
Our ESA letters contain the following:
The Fair Housing Act requires housing providers such as landlords or management companies to allow the possession of animals that work, provide assistance for, or perform tasks that benefit individuals with qualified medical disabilities – or that provide emotional support to individuals to reduce a symptom or effect of a disability.The Fair Housing Act also requires individuals, who wish to possess a service or support animal, to follow specific criteria relevant to the type of support needed. For an emotional support animal, the individual has to speak with a licensed mental health professional in the state they reside and receive a prescription of an ESA Letter in order to qualify.
Although the Fair Housing Act and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development does not specify guidance around the issue of ESA letter expiration, we recommend that you renew your ESA letter annually for a few reasons:
Renewing your letter is easy through our seamless consultation process.
Federal and state laws require a live consultation over the phone, video, or in person to properly vet and qualify an individual to warrant an ESA Letter. To ensure our ESA letter are compliant, all of our consultations are conducted live over the phone in order to meet the legal standards set forth and assure the validity of your letter.
Yes. Federal and state laws require a live consultation over the phone, video, or in person to properly vet and qualify an individual to warrant an ESA Letter. Since the letter grants privileges about keeping a pet in a place that otherwise would not allow it, base guidelines must be met to qualify.
Yes. An emotional support animal can be any breed or species as long as it supports an emotional or psychological condition.Since emotional support animals do not require any training, your childhood pet or newly adopted animal can qualify.
Yes, you can register multiple pets on the same ESA letter. At Pettable we can accommodate up to two pets per letter for no additional charge.According to the American Disabilities Act your request for multiple animals must be "reasonable".An example of an unreasonable request is if you want four great danes registered as ESAs and you live in a tiny apartment.In order to make sure we're meeting the standard of "reasonable" Pettable is able to accommodate up to two pets per letter as long as you meet the criteria to warrant an ESA letter. At the end of the day it is a judgement call but we want to make sure that you are covered in any situation you're in, which is why we've set this policy.
Once you have a proper ESA Letter, your landlord is required by the Fair Housing Act to allow you to keep your designated emotional support animal with you at your place of residence.Sometimes landlords create barriers for individuals in attempt to refrain from accommodating legitimate ESA's. If this occurs please reach out to your assigned mental health professional to validate or assist in verifying your legitimate ESA letter.
An emotional support animal (ESA) is a pet that helps its owner by providing companionship, helping relieve stress and otherwise comfort its owner just by being present. ESA owners’ rights to keep an ESA in a rented home are protected under the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA). The law requires landlords to allow ESAs even if they have a No Pets rule or limit the types or sizes of pets renters can keep in their homes.You’ll need a licensed medical professional to diagnose you with a qualifying condition and provide you with a valid ESA Letter to protect those rights. Unlike psychiatric service dogs (PSDs) and other service animals, airlines and businesses are not required to allow you to keep your ESA with you. ESAs do not have to receive intensive training but should be well-behaved. That is important because, while qualified ESA owners have specific rights when it comes to living with an ESA, bad behavior like constant barking, aggressiveness, or destructive actions are reasons that a landlord or property manager can have your pet removed or make you move out.A psychiatric service dog (PSD) is a dog trained to perform specific actions to assist someone to deal with the effects and symptoms of a recognized psychiatric disability. To provide that help, PSDs need obedience and situational behavior training. But they also need extensive, individualized training to provide the complicated help individual users require. We discuss those tasks and training requirements elsewhere in this FAQ.While ESA owners’ rights are limited to housing under the Fair Housing Act, the use of psychiatric service dogs, like other service animals, is also covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA). Those laws protect PSD users from discrimination while traveling on airlines and other commercial travel providers, in housing, and in access to most private businesses and public spaces. As long as their PSD is properly trained and can be reasonably accommodated, Psychiatric Service Dog users are entitled to have their PSD living with them in their home; in an airline's main cabin; and when they go to appointments, public events, and go shopping, out to eat, or on errands to other businesses.
It takes time to train any service dog, including PSDs. For most dogs, the service training process requires between one and two years of continuous training.As a responsible PSD user, you need to understand the service dog training and behavior requirements that apply where you live, including federal, state, and local rules. Under the regulations included in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), service dog training must include work or task training.All service dogs have to be well-trained to always behave properly in public. A service dog that behaves poorly or reacts inappropriately to an unexpected situation can be removed and banned from public places.Of course, that involves obedience training to react properly to commands. But service dogs also need training to NOT react to different situations. “Exposure” training involves a long checklist of potential triggers that a dog might react to, whether that’s somebody hugging you or petting them unexpectedly, people wearing unusual clothing like a long jacket or a hard hat, loud noises, or other dogs playing or fighting. The list of potential triggers is very long and training a service dog to react properly (or NOT react) to each one takes time.What makes a service dog, including PSDs, different from other well-trained dogs is that they must also learn to help you with specific needs created by your disability. That help falls into two categories: Work and Tasks. Tasks are the actions a service dog will do when its user tells it to do something, like fetching something or helping you to stand up.Work includes all the actions a PSD is trained to do without prompting, like warning you when it senses a panic attack coming on, comforting you so you can get back to sleep after a night terror, or reacting to other non-verbal cues to help warn of and head off an episode.
Certified professional dog trainer - Our training program was created by a certified professional dog trainer specializing in service dogs training. Our program walks you through all the steps you need to take to self train your PSD. Our training program even contains a section overviewing your rights as a PSD owner so that you can confidently bring your dog in public places.
Pettable's PSD training course is self guided. This means that you can work through the lessons at your own pace. Course completion is dependent on how much time you are able to commit to training, and how fast your dog picks up on the tasks.Once you and your dog have successfully completed the course, we will immediately send you a personized training certificate for you to display all of your dog's hard work.Since training can take time, you can also choose to include an ESA consultation with one of our licenced mental health professionals. An ESA letter will allow you to live with your dog immediatley while you train them on PSD tasks. Once trains your dog will graduate from being an ESA to a PSD and will be able to enjoy all public access benefits.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities. Under the ADA, State and local governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that serve the public generally must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of the facility where the public is allowed to go.
Pettable Academy's Mastering Focus program covers basic obedience, body language, focus games, and real life application training over the course of 17 videos. Pettable Academy's Puppy Kindergarten covers puppy-proofing your home, potty training, teething techniques and much more over the course of 13 vidoes. Both programs include the option to submit a video of your dog's behavior to Lisa Gallegos, our certified dog traininer, for evaluation. She will review your video and provide you with personalized analysis to help you and your dog navigate proper training techniques and correct any mistakes.Additionally, both programs include a course completion certificate so you can display you and your dog's hard work at all times!
Pettable Academy is designed to be the most efficient method for training your dog or puppy. We have partnered with professional dog trainer Lisa Gallegos, CPDT-KA, to curate two thorough, video-based programs to take the guesswork out of self-training your dog or puppy. The online dog training programs consists of multiple modules focused on helping you master basic obedience training, puppy potty training and other methods of training – helping you keep your dog on its best behavior for the long term.
The Mastering Focus online dog training courses cover tactics including basic obedience training, improving manners. and enforcing commands like "sit", "stay", "down" and "leave it. Puppy Kindergarten covers growth-related training, such as teething, housebreaking and puppy-proofing a home.
Absolutely! Each Pettable Academy online dog training program is designed to help you at any stage of training. Every module is meant to be repeatable and followed at a self-guided pace, ensuring you and your dog can take your time and move at the pace most comfortable for you and works for your schedule. Additionally, Pettable Academy was curated by a certified dog training professional, ensuring that the information provided in each course will work in the real world.
It's recommended to start training your puppy as early as possible, ideally around 8 to 12 weeks of age. Puppies are like sponges during this time and are highly receptive to learning and socialization. Early training helps establish good habits, builds a strong bond between you and your puppy and sets the foundation for future learning. If your dog is no longer a puppy, however, it is never too late for them to start learning! Our Mastering Focus course is designed to improve the behavior of dogs of any age.
Our program curriculum is written and led by certified dog training professional, Lisa Gallegos, CPDT-KA. Lisa specializes in dog obedience and manners training, and has transferred her expertise in this subject matter into our Pettable Academy dog training courses. This ensures your pet will have the know-how to be on its best behavior at all times.
The optional 'Live Support' package is available as an add-on to any Pettable Academy course and provides you with the ability to send a video of your dog's behavior to certified dog training professional Lisa Gallegos, CPDT-KA for professional analysis. Lisa will review the video of your dog's behavior and respond with personalized training recommendations to help you and your dog achieve your training goals at the pace you desire.
