Taking your service dog to the United States

Four sets of rules meet at the border, and none of them is the one you use at home. The US Centers for Disease Control decides whether the dog gets in. The Americans with Disabilities Act decides where it can go once it is there. Federal aviation rules decide what the airline can ask if you fly. And the Canadian Food Inspection Agency decides what happens when you come back.

One thing is true of all four: none of them asks for a card — not a provincial one, not a trainer's letter, not ours. That is how the American system is built, and it is why the useful thing to carry is not a card at all but an answer. The ADA lets staff ask what your dog is trained to do; the CDC wants a form and a microchip; the airline wants a self-attestation about training and behaviour. A ServDog registration is where all three answers already sit — the dog is registered, its training is on record, and the tasks are written down and dated — and the card is the quick way to open that conversation at a hotel desk before anyone has to ask.

Getting in: the CDC rule

Since 1 August 2024 the CDC has applied a single set of import rules to every dog entering the United States, and its overview page is blunt: "You must follow CDC's dog importation requirements, or your dog will not be allowed to enter the United States."

Canada is not on the CDC's list of countries considered high risk for dog rabies, so the lighter pathway applies. The CDC says "the only required documentation for dogs entering or returning to the United States that have been only in dog rabies-free or low-risk countries in the past 6 months is the CDC Dog Import Form." Its FAQ answers the Canadian case directly: "For dogs that have not been outside Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., you will only need to fill out the CDC Dog Import Form online."

Entry has three requirements, in the CDC's words:

• "Dogs must appear healthy upon arrival."
• "Dogs must be at least 6 months old at time of entry or return to the U.S."
• "Dogs must have a microchip that can be detected with a universal scanner to identify them."

The form is completed online, one per dog. "Once you verify your email address, you will receive an emailed copy of your receipt within 15 minutes after your initial submission," and "You must show the receipt (printed or on your phone) to U.S. Customs and Border Protection on arrival in the U.S." The receipt "is valid for one dog to enter the United States multiple times from the same country within six months from the date of issuance" — so a handler who crosses regularly files it twice a year, not every trip.

There is no service dog exemption. The CDC's FAQ, answering a question about service dogs arriving from high-risk countries, states the rule in general terms: "Service dogs must meet the same requirements as all other dogs entering the United States." Nothing on the low-risk pathway page or in the Canada answer says otherwise. A service dog under six months old, or without a scannable microchip, does not enter, however well trained. The only service-dog-specific rules concern dogs that have been in a high-risk country in the previous six months, which does not describe a dog that has been in Canada.

Rabies certificate. The CDC's Canada pathway does not ask for one, and the current CBP page conditions "valid proof of rabies vaccination" on arrival "from countries at high risk for dog rabies." Carry your dog's current rabies certificate anyway: it is the document Canada wants on the way back, and it costs nothing to have in the folder.

Once you are there: the ADA

The Americans with Disabilities Act governs access to businesses open to the public across the United States, and the Department of Justice's guidance on it is unusually plain.

Definition. "Under the ADA, a service animal is defined as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability." Note what is absent: no specialist trainer requirement, unlike Canada's federal aviation definition. An owner-trained dog that performs tasks is a service animal under the ADA.

Emotional support animals are not. "Because they have not been trained to perform a specific job or task, they do not qualify as service animals under the ADA." An animal that is protected in your apartment at home through the duty to accommodate has no ADA access rights in a Buffalo restaurant.

What staff may ask. "In situations where it is not obvious that the dog is a service animal, staff may ask only two specific questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform?" ADA.gov's 2010 requirements page adds: "Staff cannot ask about the person's disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task."

Documentation. "Covered entities may not require documentation, such as proof that the animal has been certified, trained, or licensed as a service animal, as a condition for entry." On registries and certificates specifically, the Department of Justice says: "These documents do not convey any rights under the ADA and the Department of Justice does not recognize them as proof that the dog is a service animal." That applies to every private registry, ours included. It also means your Alberta, BC or Nova Scotia card is not required and is not a source of rights in the United States; carry it if you like, as a courtesy document.

Where the dog may go. Businesses "Must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of the facility where the public is allowed to go."

When a dog may be excluded. "If a particular service animal is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it, or if it is not housebroken, that animal may be excluded."

Hotels. Hotels and motels are covered by Title III. "A guest with a disability who uses a service animal must be provided the same opportunity to reserve any available room at the hotel as other guests without disabilities," and "Hotels are not permitted to charge guests for cleaning the hair or dander shed by a service animal." Whether a privately owned short-term rental is a place of lodging under the ADA is not something we found settled in a primary source; ask the host in writing before you book.

State law adds to this. ADA.gov notes that "Some State and local laws also define service animal more broadly than the ADA does." State law also runs the other way: a widely cited compendium at Michigan State University's College of Law counts, "As of 2026," 35 states with laws against fraudulently representing a pet as a service animal. Those are state statutes; check the state you are visiting.

If you fly: two rulebooks on one flight

A flight between Canada and the United States is governed by both countries' rules at once. The US Air Carrier Access rules, 14 CFR Part 382, apply to a foreign airline "only with respect to flights you operate that begin or end at a U.S. airport," which is exactly what an Air Canada or WestJet flight to Chicago is. Canada's ATPDR applies to the same flight from the Canadian side. The Canadian rules are on their own page; here is what the American side adds.

Definition. 14 CFR 382.3: "a dog, regardless of breed or type, that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability." And: "Animal species other than dogs, emotional support animals, comfort animals, companionship animals, and service animals in training are not service animals for the purposes of this part." Whatever a Canadian carrier's own policy on emotional support dogs, it does not change the American rule; on a US-bound flight, an ESA is a pet.

The DOT form. Under s.382.75(a), an airline "may require the passenger to provide you, as a condition of permitting the service animal to travel in the cabin, a current completed U.S. Department of Transportation Service Animal Air Transportation Form." Under s.382.75(g)(1), where the reservation was made more than 48 hours before departure, the airline "may require that passenger provide up to 48 hours advance notice by submitting the form." The form is a self-attestation (it asks for your trainer's and veterinarian's contact details, but neither signs it): you sign that "the animal has been individually trained to perform a task to assist with a disability" and "the animal has been trained to behave in a public setting." It is a government form you fill in yourself, not a document issued by a trainer — a different instrument from the Canadian ID-card provision, and neither substitutes for the other. Air Canada hosts the DOT form separately from its own service dog form, and its own form describes itself as covering travel within Canada and to international and Caribbean destinations. Which form, or whether both, applies to your US itinerary is the airline's call; ask when you book.

Long flights. For a segment "scheduled to take 8 hours or more," the airline may require the DOT Service Animal Relief Attestation Form, confirming the dog "will not need to relieve itself on the flight, or that the animal can relieve itself in a way that does not create a health or sanitation issue."

Other rules. An airline is "not required to accept more than two service animals for a single passenger"; the dog travels "on the passenger's lap or in the passenger's foot space"; the airline "may require that a service animal be harnessed, leashed, or otherwise tethered at all times"; and it may not require you to check in physically at the airport because you are travelling with a service animal.

Charges. Canada's no-charge rule steps back here: s.31(2) of the ATPDR says the prohibition on charging "does not apply" to service dog carriage "for the purpose of a transportation service between Canada and a foreign country." The American rule steps in. Under 14 CFR 382.31(a) a carrier must not impose charges for services the rule requires, and s.382.77 requires the dog to be carried in the cabin, so a fee for the dog itself is not permitted on a flight that touches a US airport. An adjacent seat is different: Part 382 does not require one for a service animal, so a charge for a second seat is not something the American rule prohibits. Ask the airline in writing what it charges for one.

Coming home: the CFIA

The Canadian side is the one place in this whole journey where an assistance dog is treated differently, and in your favour. The CFIA's import reference document states:

"An assistance dog that is imported as a guide, hearing, or other service dog is not subject to any restrictions for import where the person importing the assistance dog is the user of the dog and accompanies the dog to Canada."

For any other dog three months old or older, the rule is that "the dog is accompanied by a valid rabies vaccination certificate issued in either English or French by a licenced veterinarian from the country of origin, which clearly identifies the dog and shows that the dog is currently vaccinated against rabies." "Pet dogs imported from any country are not subject to post-import quarantine in Canada."

The practical advice is to carry the rabies certificate regardless. A border officer who does not recognise your dog as an assistance dog will ask for it, and producing it ends the conversation faster than citing the exemption.

Outbound, the CFIA "has no role in the export of dogs and cats to the United States" — the CDC rules above are the whole of it.

A checklist

1. Microchip, scannable with a universal scanner. If your dog has none, this is the item with the longest lead time.
2. Dog at least six months old on the date of entry.
3. CDC Dog Import Form filed online; receipt on your phone and printed. Valid six months.
4. Current rabies vaccination certificate, in English or French, identifying the dog.
5. If flying: the DOT Service Animal Air Transportation Form submitted to the airline 48 hours ahead, plus whatever form the airline itself asks for, plus the relief attestation for any segment of eight hours or more.
6. A one-sentence answer ready for the ADA's second question: what work or task has the dog been trained to perform?

What we do

Items 3 through 6 live in one place. Your document store holds the rabies certificate, the CDC receipt and the airline forms so they are on your phone at the crossing rather than in a drawer at home, and your Taskbook is where the one-sentence answer to the ADA's second question comes from — written at the time, not improvised at a door. The card says the same thing in a form a hotel clerk can read in three seconds: registered, and here is what it does.

None of the four agencies on this page recognises a registry card, ours included, and we will not suggest otherwise. What we offer is the record behind the answers they do ask for.

Last reviewed: 8 September 2026. Border and aviation rules change; confirm at the agency pages above before travel. This is general information, not legal advice.