Frequently Asked Questions

• Service Dogs: Trained to perform specific disability-mitigating tasks. Legally recognised. Public-access rights apply. The terms "assistance dog" and "service dog" are often used interchangeably.
• Medical Alert Dogs: A specialised category of Service Dog trained to detect and respond to medical events.

• Therapy Dogs: Work in clinical or community settings to support therapeutic interventions. No public-access rights.

• Emotional Support Dogs: Provide comfort to an individual but are not task-trained and do not have public-access rights.

• Functional obedience: essential training in reliable responses to cues, tailored to support the dog's intended working role.
• Task-specific conditioning: teaching the dog the particular assistance tasks needed by its handler.

• Environmental reliability: helping the dog respond consistently in different places and around everyday distractions.

• Clinical scenario exposure: practising situations relevant to the handler's medical or disability-related support needs.

• Handler integration: helping the dog and handler learn to work together and use the trained tasks in daily life.

All training is force-free and evidence-based.

South African law protects the rights of disabled individuals to access public spaces with their trained Service Dogs. Key protections include:

• The Constitution of South Africa: prohibits discrimination based on disability.

• Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (PEPUDA): prevents unfair denial of access to individuals accompanied by trained Service Dogs.

• International disability conventions: reinforce the right to reasonable accommodation, including the use of Service Dogs.

Service Dogs may legally accompany their handlers into public spaces, transport, and facilities where pets are not permitted.

Only if clinically appropriate and trained to the required standard. MediDogs evaluates each case individually to ensure safety and effectiveness.