Steps to Get an Emotional Support Dog Letter

If you have a mental health condition such as anxiety and depression, a dog can help you ease your symptoms naturally. Pets provide ultimate emotional support, helping their owners elevate mood and reduce stress levels.

Since emotional support dogs aren’t normal dogs, they enjoy various benefits, such as accompanying their owners in certain places. In this post, we are going to discuss how to get an emotional support dog letter.

Check Whether You Qualify For an Emotional Support Dog

Patients with various medical conditions such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, ADHD, panic attacks, etc. prefer pet therapy to improve their symptoms.

To qualify for an emotional support dog, you must have a disability for which pet therapy works. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, a disability is a physical or mental impairment, which limits an individual’s major life activities.

So, before applying for an emotional support dog letter, you should examine your medical condition and symptoms. However, it’s important to collect all your medical records that prove your disability as the therapist may ask you to show them for verification purposes.

Talk to a Licensed Mental Health Professional

You can apply for your emotional support dog letter by visiting a therapist’s clinic. To avoid any hassle, it’s good to schedule your appointment. The therapist will evaluate your medical condition and check your medical records. And, if they think you really need love and comfort from your dog to ease your symptoms, they will write an ESA letter for you.

Now, you can see a mental health professional online using telemedicine. Visit My ESA Doctor, and get your ESA letter in just minutes. Here’s the process-

• Fill and submit a simple form

• Talk to a therapist via video call

• Receive your emotional support dog letter via email

Thus, you can get your ESA letter from home. Simply download the letter you received in your email and take a printout yourself.

Requesting For Reasonable Accommodation

As per the Fair Housing Act (FHA), tenants who are getting emotional support from pets can legally live with their ESAs in apartments. This also applies to regions with a no-pet policy.

After getting your ESA letter, you can request your landlord for reasonable accommodation in a face-to-face conversation. Or, you can write a letter to your landlord, stating all the reasons why you want to live with your support dog in the apartment.

Your landlord may ask you to show your ESA letter to verify whether you actually need pet therapy to deal with your symptoms.

As an ESA owner, you are responsible for controlling your pet when in a public setting. So, teach your animal basic commands, such as stay, sit, down, etc. A landlord may deny a tenant with ESA housing in case their pet isn’t well-behaved and become a threat to others around.

Covering it up, to qualify for an emotional support dog letter, you must have a disability that limits your major life activities. Talk to a licensed mental health professional to get an ESA letter today.