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There are various reasons to have an emotional support dog—they provide companionship, contribute to your mental stability, and can help you manage anxiety and stress. They’re capable of bringing peace when life gets rough.
But if your canine sidekick isn’t well-behaved, they’ll hardly bring you peace. They might even add more chaos to your plate, which beats the purpose of having an emotional support dog in the first place.
We’ll explain what emotional support dog training is and why it’s important, presenting steps and tips to help you turn your dog into a well-mannered bestie.
What Is Emotional Support Dog Training?
Emotional support dog training involves teaching your dog obedience, socialization, and calm behavior to make your relationship smooth and fulfilling.
There are no strict rules on what emotional support dog training must involve. Still, there are some aspects of training you should focus on to make living with your pup an enjoyable and pleasant experience:
| Aspect of Training | Description |
| Obedience | Your dog should know basic commands like “sit,” “stay,” or “drop it” |
| Leash walking | You’ll hardly get much emotional support from a dog who keeps pulling on the leash like they’re training for a sprint competition and can’t handle losing |
| Socialization | Your pup should be comfortable around people and other animals. They should also be exposed to different environments early on |
Why Is ESA Training for Dogs Important?
Here are the essential benefits of training a dog to be an emotional support animal:
- It strengthens the bond between you and your animal
- It ensures your dog is well-behaved in all settings
- It helps your dog react perfectly to your cues and provide comfort and support when you need them
- It contributes to your mental well-being
There are also some practical benefits of training an emotional support dog. A trained dog is far less likely to confuse the coffee table’s legs for chewsticks or feast on the sofa like it’s the best puppuccino ever.
The Fair Housing Act (FHA) ensures that owning an emotional support dog doesn’t expose you to housing discrimination. Your landlord can’t evict you because you have an ESA, professionally trained or not. But a valid reason for eviction is your dog rampaging through the apartment like a category 5 hurricane.
So, training contributes to your peace, helps you connect better with your dog, and ensures your landlord has no reason to question your housing situation.
What Training Is Required for an Emotional Support Dog?
Unlike service dogs, emotional support dogs, like other ESAs such as cats, birds, pigs, and even snakes, don’t require specific formal training, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t prioritize it.
Training is vital for developing your pup’s manners and ensuring they can provide adequate support in all scenarios, whether you’re sipping coffee at a cafe or strolling around the park.
If you don’t have enough patience or don’t know where to get started, you can sign up your pup for emotional support dog training classes or work one-on-one with emotional support dog trainers. To find one, google “emotional support dog training near me,” reach out to a few trainers, and pick the one that matches your preferences.
How To Train an Emotional Support Dog
Training an ESA dog involves many aspects. We’ll walk you through them and offer practical examples and tips to make the training process enjoyable. Here’s what you should focus on:
- Potty training
- Crate training
- Obedience commands
- Socialization
- Responding to specific signs of your discomfort
Potty Training
Besides saving your floors, proper potty training is an essential skill and a first step toward establishing your dog’s proper habits, which is especially important if you plan to travel with your ESA and need them to hold their bladder.
While important, potty training can take a while. If you have a puppy, you may need to take it outside many times a day until they understands the assignment. Here’s how the potty training process looks:
- Take your pup outside for a bathroom break
- Give it a treat and praise it when it completes the mission
- Never punish your puppy if an accident happens—they’re still young and can’t control their tiny bladders
The golden rule is that the number of hours a puppy can hold their bladder equals their age in months. So, a three-month-old puppy can hold it for about three hours. When they’re about six months old, puppies gain full control of their bladder, so you can reduce the number of bathroom breaks to about three to five times.
All dogs, regardless of their age and breed, appreciate routine. Take them out at approximately the same time or after activities such as sleeping, playing, or spending time in their crate.
You should also pay attention to your dog’s cues that they need to go outside. These could involve whining, circling the room and sniffing, or sitting near the door. With a bit of patience and consistency, your dog will be fully potty trained before you know it.
Crate Training
If it’s introduced properly, a crate can provide a safe space for your dog. It becomes a den to which they can retreat to relax or catch up on sleep. Besides helping your dog feel secure, a crate is a valuable housebreaking tool and can ensure you feel at ease leaving your dog alone without worrying about it tearing the apartment down.
Begin the crate training process by introducing your dog to it. Don’t push them inside—allow them to sniff around and explore. Make the crate comfortable by adding blankets and pillows and throw in a treat or two to inspire your pup to go in. Some dog owners feed their dogs meals inside the crate, which is an excellent way to create a positive association with it.
Once your dog goes into the crate on their own, you can close the door, but remain close by and praise them. You can gradually increase the time your dog spends in the crate.
Obedience Commands
Some basic obedience commands your emotional support dog should know are:
- Sit
- Down
- Come
- Stay
- Leave it
Yes, having a dog that knows a bunch of commands is cute and fun, but teaching your dog this is more than showing off. These commands enhance your dog’s safety in different scenarios and improve their self-control. They can be valuable in emergency situations where you might need your dog to stay calm right beside you or quickly return from its sniffing session.
Teaching these commands takes some time, and here are some tips to get you started:
| Command | Instructions |
| Sit | Hold a treat near your dog’s nose and slowly lift it up while saying the word “sit.” Once the dog sits, reward them with treats and praise |
| Down | Hold a treat near your dog’s nose and lower it toward the ground while saying “lie down” or “down.” Reward your dog whenever they drop their head to the ground, even if they haven’t fully lain down yet |
| Stay | Instruct your dog to sit, put out your palm, tell them to “stay,” and slowly walk back. Start with only a few steps and then gradually increase the distance |
| Come | Combine teaching this command with “stay.” When you walk a few steps away from your dog, tell them to “come” and reward with treats. If you have a safe space where your dog can walk without a leash, you can work more on the “come” command. Remember to always offer treats |
| Leave it | Hold a treat in your hand and close it if your furry friend rushes to grab it. When they master that, place the treat on the ground and say “leave it.” If your dog obeys, reward them with a treat (different from the one on the ground) |
Socialization
You can teach your emotional support dog all the tricks in the book, but you’ll have a problem on your hands if your four-legged best friend isn’t properly socialized. The whole purpose of having an ESA in the first place is to have a faithful companion with you at all times, whether you’re resting on the couch, hanging out with friends at a park, or traveling.
To fulfill this purpose, your emotional support dog needs to be comfortable and well-behaved in any situation, and that is why socialization is crucial. By exposing your dog to other dogs, groups of people, and all kinds of environments, you’ll prevent their reactiveness and aggression and develop their confidence and stability.
There are a few rules you should stick to when socializing your dog:
- Socialization should be gradual as pushing your dog too hard can have the opposite effect and make them fearful or even aggressive
- Start with socialization at a young age because puppies are more adaptable
- Teach your dog to be alone. There will be situations when you’ll have to leave your pup at home. You want to ensure they don’t have a separation anxiety episode while you’re gone and wreck the apartment
- Change your walking paths to introduce your dog to different sights, sounds, and surfaces
- Expose your dog to babies and children (of course, in a safe and controlled way) to prevent fear and get your ESA comfortable around younglings
Responding to Specific Signs of Your Discomfort
Although your dog doesn’t need specific training to be an emotional support animal, you can certainly teach them to better respond to your needs. If you’re often anxious or under stress, you can teach your dog deep pressure therapy (DPT). This form of therapy involves firm physical touch to help calm the nervous system.
Here are some suggestions on teaching your pupper DPT:
- Teach your dog the “up” command. Hold a treat in your hand and direct your dog toward a sofa or a bed. When they climb up, reward them
- Repeat the first step while you’re sitting on the sofa or bed
- Start adding signs of anxiety or stress to help your dog understand the cues it’s supposed to react to. Then, ask your pup to go “up”
- Teach your pup the “off” or “down” command to jump off when you’ve calmed down
It Takes More Than Training To Become an ESA
Training your dog to be an emotional support animal will definitely help you make your furry friend the goodest boi/gurl. But it’s important to remember that proper training isn’t a criterion for obtaining an ESA letter that you have to get to prove your need for an ESA in the first place.
An official ESA letter signed by a licensed mental health professional (LMHP) confirms you require an ESA. The LMHP you work with could be a:
Without this valuable document, your faithful companion is “only” your (very well-trained) pet, so you could face housing restrictions, extra deposits, and fees for keeping your pet.
Still, obtaining an ESA letter is often easier said than done. If you don’t have an LMHP, you’ll need to find one in your state and schedule an appointment, which could take weeks and can be a problem if there’s a deadline for the apartment you’re applying for.
While you can obtain an ESA letter online, you need to keep an eye on who you’re working with. Unfortunately, a lot of scammers will try to trick you into paying them for a fake ESA letter that doesn’t comply with relevant laws.
To avoid overly long and complicated processes, endless paperwork, and the risk of scams, work with Your Service Animal. The service will connect you to legitimate LMHPs who will evaluate your mental health and issue an official ESA letter if you meet relevant criteria. The letter is all you need to prove your dog’s ESA status.
Your Service Animal—Quick & Convenient
Forget about spending weeks hunting down an available and qualified LMHP who specializes in ESAs and offers remote consultations. Your Service Animals connects you directly to vetted licensed professionals to offer you convenience and speed while ensuring full compliance with relevant laws.
The process happens entirely online, and you won’t have to wait forever to get an appointment. If the LMHP confirms you need an ESA, they will issue a letter within 24–48 hours of the approval (they know some landlords can be impatient).
Sounds too good to be true? Your Service Animal offers a free quiz to help you understand your chances of obtaining an ESA letter. You don’t have to commit to purchasing the service to do the quiz.
Get Your ESA Letter Now
Here’s how to obtain your ESA letter in a few quick steps:
- Find out if you’re a good fit for an ESA letter with our online quiz
- Schedule an online appointment with a licensed mental health practitioner in your state
- Attend the online call and receive your ESA letter if clinically appropriate
- Receive a full refund if the therapist doesn’t issue an ESA letter or your landlord rejects your letter
