Service Animals & Emotional Support Animals

Some individuals with disabilities utilize the services of trained animals to provide themselves with direct assistance in daily life. Service animals, often referred to as assistance animals, are permitted to accompany a person with a disability anywhere on campus. Students with true service animals are not required to register with the ARC but must abide by the federal requirements for service animals and provide vaccination records.

Similarly, some individuals benefit from the services of emotional support animals (ESAs). ESAs are afforded protections under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) only. Students wishing to request an ESA in campus housing must complete the following steps fully before bringing their animal to their campus residence. (This process is not required for animals meeting the definition of a service animal per federal regulations.)

ALL the following steps are required and should be completed in order for ESA’s.

1. Read all the details under the picture below concerning the rules for having an ESA on campus, then if you still want to request an ESA, complete the online application for ARC services
2. You will receive an email confirmation that will contain an upload link for your documents, save this email
3. Gather all the supporting documents including:

4. Upload ALL the documents from #3 at one time to the link you will be sent after completing the application for ARC services
5. Schedule an appointment to learn whether or not your request has been approved.

Service Animals

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a service animal is defined as:

“Any animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including, but not limited to, guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting individuals to an impending seizure or protecting individuals during one, alerting individuals who are hearing impaired to intruders, or pulling a wheelchair and fetching dropped items.”

Texas law parallels the ADA with rights and protections for assistance animals. Texas law provides that assistance animals must be trained by organizations that generally are recognized as reputable and competent by agencies involved in the rehabilitation of people with disabilities.

Requirements for service animals and their owners at The University of Texas at Dallas include:

1. Dogs must be licensed in accordance with city regulations and wear a valid vaccination tag.
2. Any other animals that are trained for service to a person with a disability must have vaccinations appropriate for that type of animal.
3. Animals must be in good health.
4. Any service animals occupying University housing must have an annual clean bill of health from a licensed veterinarian.
5. Animals must be always on a leash.
6. The owner of the service animal must be always in full control of the animal.
7. The owner is responsible for appropriate waste clean-up and overall cleanliness of the animal.

The service animal owner is responsible for the appropriate management of his or her animal in all University facilities. Disruptive and/or aggressive behavior on the part of the animal may result in the owner being asked to remove the animal from University facilities.

The ADA does not require service animals to be registered with the ARC or other agencies/organizations. In situations where it is not obvious that the animal is a service animal, personnel may ask only two specific questions:

1. Is the animal a service animal required because of a disability?
2. What work or task has the animal been trained to perform?

Personnel are not permitted to request any documentation for the service animal, require that the service animal demonstrate its task, or inquire about the nature of the person’s disability.

A student with a disability who uses a service animal and who resides in campus-owned housing is required to alert Residential Life of the animal’s status.

Emotional Support and Assistance Animals

Students are responsible for submitting the Emotional Support and Assistance Animal Acknowledgment and Information form, along with any other required documentation including vaccination records for final approval, following the submission of the ARC request for services.

No emotional support and assistance animal will be permitted in University housing that:

• Is not approved by the AccessAbility Resource Center.
• Is not approved by Residential Life.
• Poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others (vaccination records are required).
• Could cause substantial physical damage to University property or other residents.
• Could pose an undue financial and administrative burden to the University.
• Could fundamentally alter the nature of the University’s housing operations.

Standards for Approved Emotional Support and Assistance Animal

All approved emotional support and assistance animals must comply with applicable laws regarding animals and their treatment and care and meet the following standards:

Dogs and Domestic Cats

• All required immunizations must be up-to-date, and a copy of the immunizations must be on file with Residential Life.
• Dogs and cats must be licensed, and a copy of the license must be on file with Residential Life.
• Dogs and cats must be spayed or neutered; a copy of the veterinarian’s report must be on file with Residential Life.
• Collars and tags must be worn at all times.
• Dogs must be kept on a leash at all times when outside the residence hall or apartment.
• Dogs and cats must never be allowed to run freely.
• Dogs and cats must possess friendly and sociable characteristics; a specific dog or cat can be restricted from the premises by the administrative housing staff based on any confirmed threatening or territorial behavior.
• Dogs and cats must be house- and/or litter-trained.
• Dog obedience and training programs are highly recommended.

Any Other Animal

• Will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Standards of Behavior by Animal and Animal Owner

Health, sanitary, safety and disruptive standards must be maintained as follows:

• Animals require daily food and attention, as well as a daily assessment of their general health, behavior, and overall welfare.
• Animals cannot be left unattended overnight at any time; if the owner must be away, they must either take the animal with them, or arrange for them to be cared for elsewhere.
• Emotional support animals must not be taken into the residence hall or apartment offices, administrative offices, common space or student living areas.
• Animal feces, defined as cat litter box contents and any solid animal waste, must be disposed of properly. It is the owner’s responsibility to remove feces from University grounds, dispose of it in a plastic bag and then place that bag in the garbage dumpsters outside. Cleanup must occur immediately. Animal feces may not be disposed of in any indoor trash receptacle or through the sewer system inside any building at the University.
• Residents with cats must properly maintain litter boxes. In consideration of the health of the cat and occupants of the apartment or the residence hall room, cat litter box contents must be disposed of properly and regularly. The litter box must be changed with new cat litter regularly.
• Animal accidents within the residence hall room or apartment must be promptly cleaned up using appropriate cleaning products.
• Regular and routine cleaning of floors, kennels, cages and/or litter boxes must occur. Odor of an animal originating from the residence hall room or apartment is not acceptable. More cleaning requirements are listed below.
• Any flea or tick infestation must be attended to promptly by a professional extermination company at student’s expense. Students are expected to promptly notify management staff and arrange for extermination when a flea problem is noted.
  • Animal owners may take some precautionary measures such as: flea medications prescribed by veterinarians, flea and tick collars, taking your animal to the veterinarian for flea and tick baths.
  • University staff may not use chemical agents and insecticides to exterminate fleas and ticks.
  • Not all the precautions listed here can prevent flea and tick infestations. The owner is responsible for all extermination costs after vacating the apartment or residence hall room.
• Animals must not disrupt others (e.g., barking continuously, growling, yowling, howling, etc.). Animals that constitute a threat or nuisance to staff, residents, or property, as determined by the administrative housing staff, must be removed within seven days of notification. If administrative housing staff, along with University Police, determine that the animal poses an immediate threat, animal control may be summoned to remove the animal.
  • If the behavior of an animal can be addressed by the owner and the owner can change the behavior of an animal so that the pet does not have to be removed, then a written action plan must be submitted by the owner. The action plan must outline the action that will take place to alleviate the problems and must give a deadline as to length of time the plan will take. Any action plan must meet the approval of the administrative housing staff.
  • The day after the deadline for removal from the apartment, University staff will perform a residence hall room or apartment inspection to check damages and infestation and then a mandatory cleaning and extermination will be scheduled. Any animal owner found not adhering to the removal directive will be subject to disciplinary action that could include contract cancellation.
• An animal must not be involved in an incident where a person experiences either the threat of or an actual injury as a result of the animal’s behavior.
• The animal owner will take all reasonable precautions to protect University staff and residents as well as the property of the University and of the residents.
• The owner will notify Residential Life if the animal has escaped its confines and is unable to be located within two hours.
• Liability for the actions of the animal (bites, scratches, etc.) is the responsibility of the owner.

Violations may result in the resident having to find alternative housing off campus for the animal and, if warranted, also may result in a resident being in breach of their housing agreement.

Cleaning and Damages

• When the resident moves out of his/her apartment or residence hall room, or no longer owns the animal, the apartment or residence hall room will be assessed to determine if damage to University property has occurred.
• The administrative housing staff maintains the right to conduct apartment or residence hall room inspections annually for the purpose of assessing damage caused by the animal or otherwise determine the resident’s compliance with this procedure.
• The animal owner has an obligation to make sure that the apartment or residence hall room is as clean as the original standard.
  • If the apartment or room has carpeting, this also includes regular vacuuming and spot cleaning.
• Damages and cleaning are the responsibility of the resident. Replacement or repair of damaged items will be the financial responsibility of the student.

If you wish to officially petition UTD for an assistance animal in housing, begin with the ARC request for services form.

A Note on Online ESA Certification

Some websites sell certificates, registrations and licensing documents for assistance animals to anyone who answers certain questions or participates in a short interview and pays a fee. Under the Fair Housing Act, administered by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a housing provider may request reliable documentation when an individual requesting a reasonable accommodation has a disability and disability-related need for an accommodation that are not obvious or otherwise known. In HUD’s experience, such documentation from the internet is not, by itself, sufficient to reliably establish that an individual has a non-observable disability or disability-related need for an assistance animal. (HUD, January 2020)

Resources

• Service Dogs and Other Special Animal Relationships Links
• Guide Dogs
• Canine Companion for Independence