Arkansas Laws on Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals

Under Arkansas's service animal law and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), people with disabilities can bring their service animals to all "public accommodations," including places like:

• grocery stores
• offices
• hotels
• bars and restaurants
• movie theaters, and
• schools.

Public accommodations in Arkansas must comply with both state and federal law. Below, we explain which public accommodations are covered and which animals qualify as service animals—including how the law treats emotional support animals. We'll also review some rules you need to know when you have your service animal in public.

Which Service Animals Are Covered in Arkansas?

The ADA and Arkansas law define service animals similarly, but the ADA gives protections to more types of service animals.

Service Animals Under the ADA

Under the ADA, a service animal is a dog or miniature horse that's trained to perform tasks or do work for the benefit of a person with a disability. The tasks or work your service animal does must be directly related to your disability. Service animals include guide dogs, hearing dogs, and these animals as well:

• psychiatric service animals, which help those with mental and emotional disabilities by taking action such as:
• interrupting self-harming behaviors
• reminding handlers to take medication
• checking spaces for intruders, or
• providing calming pressure during anxiety or panic attacks
• seizure alert animals, which can detect an impending seizure, and might also guard their handlers during seizure activity, and
• allergen alert animals, which can detect the presence of foods or other substances (like peanuts) that could be dangerous to their handlers.

Service Animals Under Arkansas Law

Arkansas state law limits the definition of service animals to dogs and defines service dogs the same as the ADA: dogs that are specially trained to do work or tasks for someone with a disability. For your service dog to qualify, the task(s) it performs must be directly related to the person's disability.

But the Arkansas law only applies to people with visual, hearing, or other physical disabilities. It appears that those whose service animals assist them with psychiatric or mental disabilities aren't protected by state law. But remember that public places in Arkansas must also comply with the ADA, which does cover psychiatric service dogs and other service animals that assist those with mental, cognitive, or psychiatric disabilities.

What About Emotional Support Animals?

Neither the ADA nor Arkansas's service animal law includes therapy dogs or emotional support animals (ESAs)—animals that provide a sense of safety or comfort to those with psychiatric or emotional conditions. Although ESAs often have therapeutic benefits, they aren't individually trained to perform specific tasks for their handlers.

Because emotional support animals don't qualify as service animals under the ADA or Arkansas law, the owners of public accommodations aren't required to admit ESAs—only service animals. Service animals laws also don't apply to pets, and misrepresenting your pet as a service animal to get it into a public place that doesn't allow pets could cost you—up to a $250 fine.

(Learn more about state penalties for service animal fraud.)

What Are Public Accommodations in Arkansas?

In Arkansas, you have the right to be accompanied by your service dog in or upon all public ways, public places, and other public accommodations, including:

• streets and highways
• sidewalks and walkways
• public buildings and facilities
• all public transportation and common carriers, such as:
• boats
• buses
• streetcars
• ferries, and
• trains
• hotels, motels, and other lodgings
• restaurants
• educational facilities and dormitories
• all places of public amusement, convenience, accommodation, or resort, and
• any other place to which the general public is invited.

The ADA sets out a long list of facilities that qualify as public accommodations which must admit your service animal. In addition to the places listed above, it includes:

• public transportation terminals, depots, and stations
• sales, rental, and service establishments
• places of public gathering, like auditoriums or convention centers
• places of entertainment and exhibit, like theaters or sports stadiums
• gyms, bowling alleys, and other places of exercise or recreation
• recreational facilities, including zoos and parks
• libraries, museums, and other places where items are collected or displayed publicly, and
• social service centers, like senior centers and food banks.

Arkansas' Rules for Having Service Animals in Public

Under the ADA, a public accommodation can't question you about your disability or demand to see certification, identification, or other proof of your animal's training or status. If it's not apparent what your service animal does, the establishment can ask you only whether it's a service animal and what tasks it performs for you.

The ADA and Arkansas law both prohibit public places from charging a special admission fee or requiring you to pay any other extra cost to have your service animal with you. However, Arkansas law requires you to pay for any damage your animal causes.

And the ADA allows a public accommodation to exclude your service animal if:

• it's not housebroken
• it's out of control, and you can't or won't get it under control, or
• it poses a direct threat to health and safety (for example, if your dog is aggressively barking and snapping at other customers or staff).

But you're still entitled to enter the public accommodation even if your service animal isn't allowed in.

What Types of Support Animals Are Allowed in Arkansas Housing?

Both the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) and Arkansas law prohibit discrimination in housing accommodations against those who use service animals. You must be allowed full and equal access to all housing facilities with your service animal, and you can't be charged extra for having a service animal (although you might have to pay for any damage your animal causes).

If your lease or rental agreement includes a "no pets" provision, it doesn't apply to your service animal.

Under the FHA, housing facilities must allow "assistance animals"—including both service dogs and emotional support animals—if necessary for a person with a disability to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the home. To fall under this provision, all of the following must be true:

• You have a disability.
• You have a disability-related need for your emotional support animal.
• Your ESA performs tasks or alleviates the emotional effects of your disability.

As a result, many people with disabilities are allowed to have their emotional support animals in their rental homes according to the FHA, whether or not the rental allows pets.

Learn more about your housing rights as a disabled renter.

_{Updated June 28, 2023}