The difference between an Emotional Support Dog and a Service Dog is training. Has the dog been trained to perform a specific task or job directly related to the person’s disability? For example, alerting a hearing-impaired person to an alarm or guiding a visually impaired person around an obstacle are jobs performed by service dogs. Some dogs perform naturally, and one can learn to recognize it and modify it through training if needed. Per Federal Law no one can ask you to make your Service Dog perform on call and depending on your State Law a Service Dog in training receives all the privileges as one that is a fully trained Service Dog.
