Open petition: Legally recognise and treat therapy dogs in the same way as assistance dogs

Created by David Taylor
Closes on 10 October 2026

I would like the government to amend the Equality Act to recognise certified therapy dogs who’ve been highly trained to provide therapeutic intervention. They should to be treated in the same way as an assistance dog to enable disabled people to have public access comfortably.

I believe that a certified therapy dog provides similar services and benefits to people with a disability as an assistance dog. A disabled person would be far more likely to have access to a therapy dog compared to an assistance dog. An assistance dog is able to provide therapeutic intervention in specific moments in places where therapy dogs are not allowed, due to the law being different between assistance and therapy dogs. I would argue that therapy is a type of assistance.

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