What Qualifies as a Service Animal in Alberta?
Dec 20th, 2022
We have been seeing an increasing number of prospective tenants and existing tenants requesting to include a service animal in the rental units. Davies Property Management strictly follow all current rules in place by Service Alberta when it comes to service animals.
Firstly in Alberta, service animals are defined under the Service Dogs Act. Service dogs are those that are specially trained as a guide for diabled persons. So by definition only dogs can be regarded as a service animal in Alberta. As long as a tenant has a qualified service or guide dog and can control the dog's behaviour, landlords cannot prevent the dog from the rental premises.
All other animals such as a companion animal (aka pets), therapy animals and/or emotional support animals are not covered by Alberta legislation.
All service and guide dogs must have a Government of Alberta identification card.
If you are interested in learning more about getting certification and regulations about service and guide dogs here are some useful resources.