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Psychiatric service dog
PSD Letters for Dogs Trained to Perform Tasks
A psychiatric service dog is individually trained to perform tasks that mitigate a psychiatric disability. That training — not documentation — is what makes it a service animal.
Free screening
Find Out Whether You Qualify
- 10 minutes of questions, nothing to pay
- Reviewed by a clinician licensed in your state
- Signed letter within 15 minutes of approval
- Declined? You are not charged for a letter
HIPAA-aligned · no card required
Read this page carefully before choosing this route, because the difference between a PSD and an ESA is not a matter of paperwork tiers. It is a matter of what the dog has been trained to do. If the dog has not been trained to perform specific tasks, no letter from anyone makes it a service animal.
What Counts as Task Work
The task has to be a trained response to your disability. Examples that clinicians and trainers recognize:
- Deep pressure therapy on cue or on detection of a panic response.
- Interrupting dissociation, flashbacks or a self-harm behavior by a trained physical prompt.
- Retrieving medication, water, or a phone during an episode.
- Guiding you to an exit or to a safe person when you are overwhelmed.
- Blocking or circling to create physical space in crowds, for hypervigilance.
- Room searches or a trained signal on entering a space, for post-traumatic stress.
- Waking you from a night terror, or prompting a medication routine at a fixed time.
What does not count, however much it helps: being present, being comforting, sensing your mood, or calming you simply by existing. The regulation says so in as many words — emotional support, comfort and companionship are not work or tasks.
What Our Assessment Covers, and What It Does Not
A clinician can assess whether you have a psychiatric disability and whether trained task work would mitigate it, and can document that. A clinician cannot assess your dog, certify its training, or issue anything that functions as a service dog credential — because no such credential exists in US law.
So the assessment produces documentation of the disability-related need for task work. The training itself is your responsibility, whether you work with a program or train the dog yourself, which the ADA permits.
Where a PSD Has Rights an ESA Does Not
- Public places. Shops, restaurants, hotels, transport, and most workplaces open to the public, under the ADA.
- Aircraft cabins. Service animals still travel; airlines may require the DOT form in advance, and may refuse a dog that behaves aggressively or is not under control.
- Housing. Same protections as an ESA, which is why we include a housing letter in the PSD fee rather than charging twice.
The Obligations That Come with It
A service dog must be under your control at all times and housebroken. A business may lawfully exclude a dog that is out of control, and misrepresenting a pet as a service animal is a criminal offense in most states. The standard for public access work is high, and it should be.
Free to begin
Find out whether a clinician licensed in your state supports a letter for you.
Choose the right route
Which One Is Actually for You?
An ESA Letter, If…
- The problem you are solving is housing
- Your animal helps by being present
- Your animal is a cat, or a dog unsuited to public work
- You have no plan to undertake months of training
A PSD Assessment, If…
- Your dog performs, or is being trained for, specific tasks
- You need access to public places or air travel
- You are prepared for the training commitment involved
- Your dog is temperamentally suited to working in public
28 CFR § 36.104
The ADA definition of a service animal covers a dog individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a psychiatric disability, and states that the provision of emotional support, wellbeing, comfort or companionship does not constitute work or tasks. Everything about the PSD category follows from that sentence.
Client stories
Verified Client Reviews
Verified feedback from clients who completed a screening with a clinician licensed in their own state.
★★★★★
4.7 out of 5 · 2,914 verified reviews
★★★★★
Breed restriction on a 60-pound mixed dog. The management company reversed within ten days of receiving the accommodation request and the letter together.
★★★★★
My building sent a notice about my cat eleven days after I moved in. The clinician actually asked about my panic attacks rather than just my pet, and the letter ended the whole dispute in one email to the management company.
★★★★★
I had already paid for a $39 certificate elsewhere and my landlord's attorney rejected it in a day. Healify was slower and asked far more questions, which turned out to be the entire point.
★★★★★
Pet rent was $65 a month plus a deposit, on an animal I need in order to sleep. The fees stopped the week after I sent the request with the letter attached.
★★★★☆
Honest about what it does not cover — I had assumed my dog could fly with me and they told me plainly that changed in 2021. The housing side worked exactly as described.
★★★★★
University housing was the difficulty, not the letter. Their disability services office wanted a specific process and my clinician answered their verification email the same day.
Licensed provider
The Physician Behind Your Evaluation
Every ESA and PSD assessment is conducted by a licensed clinician. The professional who signs your documentation is identified below, with the means to verify the license.
Licensed provider
Dr. Jonathan Chance Miller, MD
Licensed Physician · Telehealth · ESA & PSD evaluations
An evaluation should feel like a conversation, not an interrogation. My job is to understand what you are living with and document it accurately — or to tell you plainly if an assistance animal is not the right answer.
Related Reading
Questions
About Psychiatric Service Dogs.
Do I Legally Need a Letter for a Psychiatric Service Dog?
No. The ADA requires no documentation, certification or registration for a service animal, and a business may ask only whether the dog is required because of a disability and what task it is trained to perform. Documentation is useful in practice — for airlines, for housing providers and for your own records — but it is not a legal precondition to having a PSD.
What Does the Airline Need?
Airlines may require the Department of Transportation's service animal air transportation form, which you complete and submit in advance. It asks you to attest to the dog's training, health and behavior. It is not a clinician's form, and no one can complete it on your behalf.
Can You Train My Dog, or Refer a Trainer?
We do not provide training and we do not take referral fees from trainers, which would compromise the assessment. Look for a trainer who follows the standards published by Assistance Dogs International or a comparable body, and who will let you speak to previous clients.
Can Any Breed Be a Psychiatric Service Dog?
Under the ADA the category is dogs, without breed restriction. Temperament and trainability matter far more than breed: the dog has to work reliably in public, around noise, crowds and other animals, without becoming reactive.
What if My Dog Is Not Suited to Task Work?
Then an emotional support animal letter is likely the honest route, and we will say so. Pushing an anxious or reactive dog into public access work is unfair to the dog and tends to end badly for both of you.
What Counts as a Trained Task?
A trained response to your disability — deep pressure on cue, interrupting dissociation, retrieving medication, guiding you to an exit, blocking in crowds. Comfort by presence is not a task.
Can You Certify My Dog as a Service Dog?
No, and neither can anyone else: no service dog credential exists in US law. A clinician can document the disability-related need for task work; the training is your responsibility.
Can I Train the Dog Myself?
The ADA permits owner training. What matters is that the dog reliably performs specific trained tasks and behaves appropriately in public.
What Can a Business Ask Me?
Two questions only: whether the dog is required because of a disability, and what work or task it has been trained to perform.
Does a PSD Letter Include Housing Protection?
Yes, a housing letter is included at no extra cost, because the Fair Housing Act analysis applies to service dogs as well.
What Paperwork Do Airlines Want?
Airlines may require the Department of Transportation's service animal air transportation form, which you complete and submit in advance. It is not a clinician's form.
What if My Dog Is Not Suited to Public Work?
We will say so, and an ESA letter is likely the honest route. Pushing a reactive dog into public access work is unfair to the dog.
Discuss It Before Committing to Training
The assessment covers both routes. If an emotional support animal letter is the more honest fit, the clinician will tell you and you will be charged the lower fee.