Do I need to register my service dog? No, says a registry

Service dog registration is not required under the ADA. That is the first sentence on servdog.com/us, a private assistance-dog registry, and it is the Department of Justice's position in its own words (the full answer, with sources): "Mandatory registration of service animals is not permissible under the ADA." If you still want a record of your own, you can register your service dog free.

It is also the question Americans with a service dog type into a search engine more than any other, and most of the sites that rank for it sell the opposite. The Department of Justice says of those too: "There are individuals and organizations that sell service animal certification or registration documents online. 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." (What that means for a certificate you find online.)

ADA service dog rules: what a business may actually ask

Two questions, and no paperwork. Under the ADA's regulation for businesses, 28 CFR § 36.302(c)(6) (what a business may ask, in plain words), a business "may ask if the animal is required because of a disability and what work or task the animal has been trained to perform", and "shall not require documentation, such as proof that the animal has been certified, trained, or licensed as a service animal." The Department of Justice's own guidance adds that staff may not require the dog to demonstrate its task, and that "The ADA does not require service animals to wear a vest, ID tag, or specific harness." The federal service dog rule at the door is on ServDog.

So what is a service dog registry for?

For the second question, and for the day someone says no anyway.

"What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?" is the one question a business may ask, and it is a hard one to answer well at a counter with a line behind you. ServDog's free service dog record keeps that answer written down as the dog was trained, on the person's phone, beside the federal rule in its own words with the section number and a list of what a business may and may not ask. It works with no signal once the app is on the home screen. The dog's registration number and a code a business can scan on its own phone show that the record is real and current. The person is answering from a record, not from memory.

For the day someone still says no, there is the service dog card: the dog's photo, number and scannable code, with a dated Record of Registration. The card is a one-time purchase per dog; the record is free and stays free.

The card says on its face that it is a private registry record, not a government document. ServDog says four things on every US page: registration is not required under the ADA; nothing we issue conveys rights; the Department of Justice recognizes no registration or certification document as proof of a service dog; we do not sell clinician letters. The company's position is that a registry can be honest about all four and still be worth having, because the law is on the person's side and the record is what lets them show it.

A sign in the window: businesses that welcome service dogs

Pet stores, coffee shops and cafés, groomers, veterinary hospitals and veterinarians can all become ServDog partners. A partner is listed in the directory of places that welcome assistance dogs that people check before they go out, with a window decal and a page of its own. Find out how a business becomes a partner.

About ServDog

ServDog Inc. is a private registry for people in the United States and Canada who work with an assistance dog. The record is free; the card is a one-time purchase per dog. Every US page quotes the regulation or the Department of Justice verbatim, names the source and prints the date it was last reviewed. servdog.com/us · contact@servdog.com