South Dakota Laws on Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals

Under South Dakota's service law and the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), people with disabilities have the right to bring service dogs to all "public accommodations," including grocery stores, motels, restaurants, and schools. Public accommodations don't have to allow emotional support animals. But landlords do have to accommodate emotional support animals for tenants with disabilities.

Learn below which animals qualify as service animals in South Dakota and which public accommodations must allow them. We'll also discuss how state and federal laws treat emotional support animals.

Which Animals Are Considered Service Animals in South Dakota?

Under the ADA, a service animal is a dog that's individually trained to perform disability-related tasks or work for the benefit of a person with a disability. (28 C.F.R. § 36.104.) In some cases, a miniature horse can also qualify as a service animal. Examples of service animals that must be allowed into public accommodations under the ADA include:

• hearing dogs
• guide dogs ("seeing eye" dogs)
• psychiatric service animals (for example, dogs that can interrupt self-harming behaviors, remind handlers to take medication, check spaces for intruders, or provide calming pressure during panic attacks)
• seizure alert animals, and
• allergen alert animals (for example, dogs that can alert handlers to foods containing allergens, like peanuts).

South Dakota law states that public accommodations must allow people with disabilities to be accompanied by their specially trained service animals. The law specifies that it applies to people who:

• are blind or deaf
• have another physical disability, or
• have a mental or psychiatric disability.

Based on this definition, the state law covers psychiatric service animals. South Dakota also allows trainers to bring service animals in training (SITs) to public places. (S.D. Codified Laws § 20-13-23.2.)

Emotional Support Animals Under South Dakota Law

Emotional support animals (ESAs) provide a sense of safety, companionship, and comfort to those with psychiatric or emotional disabilities or conditions. Although these animals often have therapeutic benefits, they're not individually trained to perform specific tasks for someone with a disability.

Neither the ADA nor South Dakota's service animal law covers ESAs. So public accommodations in the Mount Rushmore State aren't required to admit emotional support animals—only service animals and service animals in training. These laws also don't apply to therapy dogs or pets.

Landlords, however, need to provide reasonable accommodations for disabled tenants who need to live with their emotional support animals.

Which Public Accommodations Must Comply With Service Animal Laws?

Under the ADA, the definition of public accommodations is very broad. It includes:

• hotels, restaurants, and bars
• any form of public transportation
• amusement parks, zoos, theaters, and gyms
• museums and educational institutions, and
• social service centers, like senior centers and homeless shelters. (42 U.S.C. § 12181(7).)

The ADA doesn't treat religious entities (like churches and temples) as public accommodations. The law also exempts private clubs, except in areas open to the public. (28 C.F. R. § 36.102(e).)

South Dakota law defines public accommodation similarly, and like the ADA, the state law exempts private clubs except when they offer goods, facilities, or services to the public. (S.D. Codified Laws § 20-13-1(13).)

Rules for Your Service Animal or ESA

Under the ADA, a public accommodation can't ask you about your disability or demand to see certification, identification, or other proof of your animal's training or status. (28 CFR 36.302(c)(6).) If it isn't apparent what your service animal does, the establishment can ask you only:

• whether it is a service animal, and
• what tasks it performs for you.

South Dakota's service animal law requires a service animal in training to wear a collar and leash, harness, or cape identifying the animal as a service animal in training. But the law doesn't require this type of identification for fully trained service animals.

The ADA and South Dakota 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. Under state law, this protection extends to service animal trainers with properly identified service animals in training.

Still, you might have to pay for any damage your animal causes. In fact, South Dakota law specifies that you're financially responsible for any damage your service animal does to the premises or facilities.

The law doesn't say whether you must keep your service animal with you at all times when in public. But state regulations require that you have control of your animal and keep it off tables and chairs in food establishments. (S.D. Admin. R. 44:02:07:89(3).)

State law doesn't address when a public accommodation can exclude your service dog. But under the ADA, your service animal can be excluded from a public accommodation if it:

• poses a direct threat to health and safety
• can't be controlled, or
• isn't housebroken.

Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals in South Dakota Housing

Both the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) and South Dakota law prohibit discrimination in rental housing accommodations against those who use service animals. That means you must be allowed full and equal access to all housing facilities, and if your lease or rental agreement includes a "no pets" provision, it doesn't apply to your service animal. And housing providers in South Dakota can't charge you extra for having a service animal. But you might have to pay for damage your animal causes—if other tenants are held responsible for damage.

Under the FHA, landlords and housing facilities must allow "assistance animals," which includes both service dogs and emotional support animals, if someone with a disability needs the animal to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the home. To fall under this protection, you must have both:

• a physical or mental disability, and
• a disability-related need for the animal.

In other words, to qualify, your animal must perform tasks or services or alleviate the emotional effects of your disability. Unlike the ADA's public accommodations protections, the FHA does allow your landlord to ask for documentation of your need for an assistance animal, but only if it isn't apparent. So, a housing provider can't ask a blind tenant to prove the need for a guide dog but can ask the tenant to document the need for an allergen alert dog or ESA.

(For more information, check the Department of Housing and Urban Development's assistance animals page at HUD.gov.)

South Dakota's housing law covers only service animals specially trained to assist those who are blind, deaf, or have another physical disability. (S.D. Codified Laws § 20-13-23.4.) This law doesn't specifically extend to people who use service animals for a mental or psychiatric disability, nor does it cover service animals in training. But South Dakota law does require housing providers to make a good faith effort to make reasonable accommodations for a disabled person, unless doing so would cause an undue hardship. (S.D. Codified Laws § 20-13-23.7.) Having a psychiatric service dog or emotional support animal might qualify as a reasonable accommodation under this law. And in any case, landlords in South Dakota have to follow FHA rules regarding reasonable accommodations for ESAs.

Learn more at the South Dakota Human Rights Division's service animal page.