What Do Psychiatric Service Dogs Do? What You Need to Know About Psychiatric Service Dogs

Psychiatric service dogs (PSD) are a specific type of service animal trained to help individuals with a psychiatric condition function more fully. Instead of providing emotion support like an emotional support dog, a PSD performs tasks to enable to handler to function in ordinary ways. The handler must have a prescription from a licensed mental health professional certifying that the dog is needed to assist with a major life task.