Assistance Dog Day Date in the current year: August 4, 2026

Assistance dogs are specially trained to help people with disabilities perform everyday tasks. They may also be referred to as service dogs, depending on the context. Sometimes, the terms “assistance dog” and “service dog” are used interchangeably. However, according to ADI’s classification system, service dogs are one of three major types of assistance dogs, along with guide dogs and hearing dogs.

Guide dogs help blind or visually impaired people travel safely and independently. They help their handlers avoid obstacles, stop at curbs, find doors and seats, navigate buildings, and use public transportation.

Hearing dogs alert deaf or hard of hearing individuals to specific sounds, such as alarm clocks, ringing telephones, door knocks, doorbells, smoke alarms, household appliances, crying babies, and people calling the handler’s name. Depending on the sound, they may be trained to lead their handler to or away from the source of the sound.

Service dogs work with individuals with disabilities other than blindness or deafness. This type of assistance dogs includes mobility, seizure, autism, diabetic alert, psychiatric, and medical alert service dogs, as well as service dogs for veterans with military-related PTSD. Depending on a person’s disability and specific needs, service dogs can be trained to perform various tasks, such as pulling a wheelchair, retrieving items, opening and closing doors, alerting their handler to medical issues like low blood sugar, finding help and leading them to their handler, etc.

Although assistance dogs may provide protection or companionship, these are not their primary roles. They should not be confused with therapy dogs, which are used in animal-assisted therapy in settings such as nursing homes, retirement homes, hospitals, and hospices, or with emotional support dogs, which provide support to individuals with mental health or psychological disabilities, but are not are not trained to perform specific disability-related tasks.

In some countries, handlers can train their own assistance dogs, while in others, the dogs must be trained, assessed, or certified by officially recognized organizations. Their training typically includes socialization, desensitization, obedience, and specialized training. Some countries have specific legislation for service dogs, while others do not. Where this legislation exists, only certain types of assistance dogs may be recognized. For example, guide dogs are the most widely recognized type of assistance dog, while psychiatric assistance dogs are not recognized in all jurisdictions and often have more limited legal recognition than guide dogs.

Assistance Dog Day is part of International Assistance Dog Week. The main goals of this day and week are to raise awareness of the benefits of assistance dogs for people with disabilities and to promote high training and welfare standards for assistance dogs.