Minnesota Laws on Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals

Under Minnesota law and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), people with disabilities have the right to be accompanied by their service animals in public places, such as restaurants, hotels, stores, theaters, and other places open to the public.

Until recently, Minnesota public accommodation laws only protected the rights of those who were blind, deaf, or had a physical or sensory disability. The law was amended in 2024 so that, like the ADA, it now covers all physical and mental disabilities.

Any remaining differences between Minnesota law and the ADA shouldn't affect people with service dogs, as businesses and other public accommodations must comply with both state and federal law. Read on to learn which public accommodations are covered, which animals qualify as service animals, and some rules you might need to follow when in public with your service animal in Minnesota.

Which Animals Are Covered Under Minnesota Law?

Under the ADA, a service animal is a dog trained to perform tasks or do work for the benefit of a person with a disability. The tasks or work the animal does must be directly related to the person's disability. Sometimes, a trained miniature horse qualifies as a service animal.

Examples of service animals that must be allowed into public accommodations under the ADA include:

• hearing dogs, which alert their handlers to important sounds, such as alarms, doorbells, and other signals
• guide dogs, which help those who are blind or visually impaired navigate safely
• psychiatric service animals, which help their handlers manage mental and emotional disabilities by, for example, 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 let their handlers know of impending seizures and might also guard their handlers during seizure activity, and
• allergen alert animals, which let their handlers know of foods or other substances that could be dangerous (such as peanuts).

Minnesota's Human Rights Act uses the ADA's definition of service animals. (Minn. Stat. § 3363A.19(c).) So, state law and the ADA both cover service animals trained to help people with physical, sensory, psychiatric, and mental disabilities.

Emotional Support Animals Under Minnesota Law

Neither the ADA nor Minnesota's equal rights law covers pets or emotional support animals (ESAs). Emotional support animals provide a sense of safety, companionship, and comfort to those with psychiatric or emotional conditions, and they can have therapeutic benefits.

ESAs don't meet the definition of service animals in Minnesota because they're not individually trained to perform specific tasks for people with disabilities. So, businesses, government offices, and other public places don't have to admit emotional support animals, though they can choose to allow them access. But housing rights laws treat ESAs differently, offering more protection to people who want to live with their ESAs. (More on this below.)

What Counts as a Public Accommodation in Minnesota?

Minnesota gives people with disabilities the right to bring their service animals into all public accommodations, including all of the following:

• public buildings, facilities, and places
• sidewalks and walkways
• buses, trains, boats, and other modes of transportation
• hotels and lodging places
• places of public resort or amusement, and
• any other place to which the public is invited.

Under the ADA, the definition of public accommodations is also comprehensive, including all places to which the public is invited. However, religious entities aren't considered public accommodations under the ADA, including churches, synagogues, and mosques. This exemption applies even if the religious organization provides secular services—like a daycare center that accepts children not affiliated with the institution.

Private clubs are also exempt from the ADA service animal protections, but only if they are member-controlled nonprofit groups that also:

• are highly selective
• charge substantial membership fees, and
• weren't created to avoid compliance with civil rights laws.

But if a private club makes facilities available to nonmembers, those facilities are subject to the ADA's public accommodation rules.

Rules for Service Animals in Minnesota

Under the ADA, a public accommodation isn't allowed to question you about your disability or demand to see certification, identification, or other proof of your animal's training or status. If it isn't 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 Minnesota law prohibit public accommodations from charging a special admission fee or requiring you to pay any other extra cost to have your service animal with you. However, you can be asked to pay for any damage your animal causes.

The ADA allows a public accommodation to exclude your service animal if it poses a direct threat to health and safety. For example, a facility can kick out your service dog if it's aggressively barking and snapping at other customers. Your animal can also be excluded if it's not housebroken or it's out of control and you can't or won't effectively control it.

Minnesota law requires your service animal to be properly leashed or harnessed so you can control it. The ADA does, too, unless your disability prevents you from using a leash or harness, or if wearing a harness and leash would prevent your animal from performing its tasks. (28 C.F.R. § 36.302(c)(4).) But the ADA still requires your service animal to be under your control.

Service Animals and ESAs in Minnesota Housing

Minnesota housing rights laws and federal law protect the rights of people with disabilities to have service animals in their homes, and federal law usually requires landlords to accommodate emotional support animals.

Minnesota Housing Rights Laws and Service Animals

Minnesota law prohibits housing discrimination against those with disabilities. Under state law, if you have a disability and use a service animal, you must be allowed to live with your animal if you request one as a reasonable accommodation. Although you can't be required to pay extra to have your service dog, you're responsible for any damage it causes.

If your disability isn't apparent or already known to the landlord, you can be asked to provide a letter from your doctor confirming that you have a disability. You can also be asked to document your need for a service. But under Minnesota's housing rights law, landlords are entitled to know only:

• whether you have a disability, and
• whether your service animal serves a disability-related need or purpose.

But, you don't have to show any certification or proof of your service animal's training.

Emotional Support Animals Under the Fair Housing Act

Under the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA), people with disabilities must be allowed full and equal access to all housing facilities. The law prohibits discrimination in housing accommodations against those who use "assistance animals."

Under the FHA, assistance animals include service dogs and emotional support animals, if necessary for someone with a disability to fully use and enjoy their home. To fall under this provision, you must have a disability and a disability-related need for the animal. That is, the animal must perform tasks, provide services, or alleviate the emotional effects of your disability.

The FHA allows housing providers to ask for documentation of your disability or your need for your animal, but only if it's not apparent. So, a landlord can't ask a blind person who uses a cane to document the need for a guide dog but could ask that person to document the need for an emotional support cat. You can provide this documentation by obtaining an "ESA" letter from your doctor, therapist, or psychiatrist, stating your disability and why you need your emotional support animal.

Your landlord isn't allowed to charge you extra for having a support animal—although you can be required to pay for damage your animal causes.

And under the FHA, an assistance animal that poses a threat to the health and safety of other people or property can be excluded (if the threat can't be reduced through another reasonable accommodation).

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

For more information about service animals and ESAs in housing, see the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).