Why Should You Get A Dog Tag For Your ESA?

As per the National Institute of National Health, every 1 in 4 American adults experiences some mental or emotional disability, on average. Increasing research suggests that animals have the ability to bring comfort and therapeutic benefits to individuals going through any mental or emotional disability. For this reason, emotional support animals (ESAs) are rapidly becoming popular.

Under the ACCAAand FHAA, an individual who qualifies the relevant criteria is allowed to own an emotional support animal.However, unlike service animals, ESAs are not required to carry out special tasks, such as walking a blind person across the road or bringing medicine for the owner. Their purpose is only to offer companionship and affection to their handlers, thus helping alleviate symptoms of various mental disabilities including depression, anxiety, phobias, mood swings, gender identity crisis and other different emotional and psychological disorders.

There are no laws in place that obligate emotional support animals to wear an identification tag or vest, unlike for service animals. But having your ESA wear an ID tag can be helpful in case you were to lose him in a crowded place. It also helps other people know that your emotional support animal is more than a pet.

As per the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy, only 15% to 20% of lost dogs find their way back to their owners. In the event of natural or humanmade disasters like floods, hurricanes or factory explosions, animal welfare organizations take charge of saving lost pets whose owners failed to return to protect them. To help your emotional support dog find his way back home safe and quick in case of an emergency, you should invest in a dog identification tag.  

An identification tag is a basic and most affordable way of ensuring that your lost ESA comes back to you. Still, a lot of pet owners overlook its importance or delay adding identification to their ESA dogs. If you find the jingling of multiple tags (license tag, ID tag, rabies tag) distracting or annoying, there are numerous ways to solve that problem.

You can emboss brass tags into the dog’s collar. Another option is “tag silencers,” which is made out of soft elastic plastic and can effortlessly fit around the tag’s exterior. You can also laminate the tag on both sides with standard scotch tape. Lastly, you can tie all the tags with a rubber band to prevent them from making noise.

Microchipping

A microchip is a permanent ID that can last your ESA dog all his life. The microchip is usually the size of a rice grain, and you can insert it below the pet’s skin surface amid his shoulder blades. Scanners read these microchipsad after being scanned. As per a study published by the Ohio State University, micro chipped ESA dogs are 2 ½ times more likely to be returned to their owners, in comparison with the general population of stray dogs that are taken into shelters, as researched by the study.

As an owner, it is important that you keep your contact information updated. If you recently adopted an emotional support animal from an adoption group or a shelter, you should waste no time in updating the information contained in the microchip. Similarly, if you move to a new place or have a new phone line installed, immediately report the change to the microchip company. Even though many animal shelters take steps to contact the owners when the microchip information is outdated, this can be very time-consuming and sometimes impossible.