The answer is NO.
There is no requirement under the law for an assistance animal to be certified or registered. There is no governmental agency that tracks the status of individual animals and a disabled owner can train a service animal him or herself, so there is no specific training certificate needed. Therefore, any registration is optional and voluntary under law. The registration itself does not create or change your animal’s status. Your animal’s status under the law is determined by your disability and the animal’s assistance to you with that disability.
Although there is no federally-operated registry in existence at this time; several private registries such as the Service Animal Registry of California exist so that we can offer assistance animal owners a critical and helpful tool.
Registration with a registry such as the SARC is purely voluntary and many owners find that it helps them explain their animal’s status to landlords, airline ticket counter agents, employers, retail store staff, restaurant staff, and others.
Those people are not allowed to demand registration “paperwork,” or “documents” for your assistance animal, but many will demand paperwork anyways, even though none is legally required.
Showing your registration certificate is an easy way to assert your rights and is often easier than trying to educate the person about the law. By handing it over, you can shortcut the conversation.
Are you an owner of an assistance animal?
The Service Animal Registry of California invites you to have your assistance animal registered in order to designate its status. We also encourage you to take our online classes so you can be fully aware of your rights and gain more knowledge about your support animal.
Finally, we present to you our book entitled, “ASSISTANCE ANIMAL LAWS: LEARN YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING SERVICE ANIMALS, EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMALS, THERAPY PETS, AND OTHER DOGS, CATS, AND ASSISTANCE ANIMALS” to provide you with a complete education on assistance animals.
Purchase your copy of the book by clicking the text or image below.
