What Every ESA Owner Should Know About How to Fly with a Dog
Witnessing emotional support animals on airplanes is no longer a rare phenomenon. We can now see all sorts of animals flying with their caretakers on board the plane. And dogs are one of the most preferable options among airline passengers.
Unfortunately, it’s not all that simple. Before taking your ESA dog aboard, make sure you learn more about airline restrictions and other rules. That’s just because flying with a dog is not all about your rights and freedoms.
To help you out a bit, we’ve gathered all you should know about how to travel with your companion dog correctly.
Requirements for Flying with a Service Dog and an ESA Dog by Plane
Traveling with a service animal or an ESA without any extra costs is permitted by all major airlines in the US. The most important requirement for flying with a dog as your support animal is to have a valid ESA certificate at hand.
Why is an ESA certificate important?
Having an ESA letter is an important consideration because, without it, you won’t have any right to fly with your furry friend. In other words, no one will allow you to do it simply because you won’t have proof that it’s your companion animal.
But in return for you right to take your support animal on board the plane, you’ll have to follow certain rules. And this applies to both service animals and psychiatric ones.
Note: Requirements for flying with emotional support dog and demands for service dog transportation may be slightly different. Perhaps the main reason for this is that service animals are usually granted more rights while ESAs are not as vitally important for their owners.
What’s the difference between ESA and service dogs?
Service animals should be well-trained to complete certain duties for those who have a physical disability like mobility problems, eyesight problems, deafness, convulsions/seizures, etc.
On the other hand, emotional support dogs don’t need specific training to become your companion animal. Their major tasks are to offer companionship to their owners and to help their caretakers fight the symptoms of a mental disorder.
What are the requirements for dog transportation?
As a rule, dogs are accepted for the role of emotional support pets and service animals in the majority of cases although this privilege is not granted to all animals without exception.
To make sure you meet the requirements for dog transportation, you should provide some extra documents to the airline company. The exact set of documents may vary from one airline to the other. But for the most part, you’ll have to provide at least 3 extra forms:
- Medical form from a mental health expert
- Veterinary health document (containing vaccination details)
- Approval of your dog’s behavior.
Apart from having an ESA letter at hand, you should also provide a special notice to the airline company several days before the expected flight. This will let the airline know that you want to travel with your companion dog.
Note: In most cases, the notice for service dogs is not required but support dogs are a different case.
Pros and Cons of Emotional Support Animals on Plane
There are many positive things associated with taking your ESA pet with you on board the plane. On the other hand, negative things are also possible. In fact, too many passengers complain about the ESA’s behavior on plane and in some cases, it might even result in injury.
So, let’s examine the pros and cons of traveling with an ESA. This will let us know what is more important – to have a companion dog by your side during an air flight or to make sure it doesn’t cause any harm to other people.
Positives of traveling with an ESA dog
By traveling together with an emotional support dog on plane, you’ll have an opportunity to:
- Avoid unwanted and unjust pet fees
- Stay together with your pet even on board the plane
- Get emotional support if you are scared of air flights
- Have a loyal travel companion
- Fight stress associated with air travels.
- Dog’s misbehavior is possible even if your dog has a gentle character
- Dogs can bite and injure other passengers
- Your rights of an ESA owner can be removed if your dog behaves in a wrong way
- It’s always risky to take an animal on board the plane as you never know how it will react to the new environment.
On the reverse side, by taking your dog on a trip with you, you may also face some risks. And the negative points of traveling with your ESA are just as numerous.
Negatives of traveling with an ESA dog
Due to these and other reasons, having an emotional support animal on plane is not always beneficial and risk-free for you and other passengers.
What you should understand is that all ESAs should be taught to behave normally in public places. Otherwise, they might not be permitted to enter the passengers’ cabin on the plane. A good advice to eliminate this problem is to participate in Canine Good Citizen Training program.
Why you might not be allowed to travel with your ESA
Reasons why it may happen are multiple. For the most part, they are related to how well your dog is trained and how good-natured it is. For instance, this may happen if your dog demonstrates wrongful behavior when other people are around and doesn’t know good manners.
The next risks and dangers are possible when you are traveling with your dog by plane:
- Biting or making attempts to bite other people
- Threatening the safety and wellbeing of other people
- Growling or showing aggression
- Jumping at someone or making attempts to do it.
Note: Just like service animals, emotional support dogs must always be under their owners’ control.
You as your dog’s owner should keep it from biting other people or causing any damage to others. Luckily, it’s not difficult to teach any dog how to behave properly. With just a little bit of training, your dog will learn the basic rules of behavior and you’ll be able to take it on a trip without any risks.
Want to go traveling with your dog? Get an ESA certificate and discover amazing benefits of ESA dog ownership.