An emotional support animal is termed an animal that is used for the treatment of mentally ill people. It provides love, care and companionship to people suffering from mental illness. Emotional support animals help people in eliminating feelings of depression and loneliness. In order to keep an emotional support animal at home, people need an ESA letter which can be provided by a mental health professional. There are different animals that can be kept as an ESA such as dogs, cats, monkeys, pigs or even miniature horses so that assistance can be provided to people struggling emotionally.
At realesaletter, we understand that proper training is essential for your emotional support animal to provide the best support possible. That's why we offer comprehensive training resources and guidelines to help you train your ESA dog or any other emotional support animal. Our training tips are designed to be easy to follow and cater to different animals and individual needs. We aim to make the training process as seamless as possible for you and your animal, ensuring that your ESA is well-behaved, obedient, and provides you with the support you need.
There are many benefits of an ESA Letter as it allows you to live with ESA. It prevents the emotional support animal from all sorts of discrimination from the side of house owners. People do not have to pay extra for keeping an ESA at home. If you have an ESA letter you can even travel on a flight. There are many animals who are not allowed to travel on an aeroplane because they are dangerous. These animals include snakes, rodents, sugar, spiders, gliders and ferrets. So you need to be careful while choosing an emotional support animal for yourself.
When you keep an ESA, you must properly train it so that it can fulfil its purpose. There are the following tips and guidelines which can be utilized to train your ESA in an efficient manner.
Potty Training
It is the first step of training because it helps to keep both an ESA and home clean. It is not possible for emotional support animals to control their bladder for a long period. According to the age of the animal, set time to take the animal out of the house for potty. Always take your ESA to the same place outside the house so that it can remember the place and come there for this purpose.
In order to avoid different accidents, you need to restrict your ESA to a specific part of the house. When ESAs complete their business outside the house, always reward them with love and praise. Do not freak out if they do any shit inside the house because it takes time to train animals according to your wishes and needs. Before bedding, always take your animal outside the house so that he can get rid of all shit and pee.
Sit
It is the most basic command which is included in the training of the dogs. It is easy for the dogs to follow it but other animals can take time to adapt to it. When your ESA is standing, you can take any treat near him and move it backward and up while saying the word 'sit'. If your ESA sits properly in your command, use simple words in its praise such as 'good' or 'yes'. When your ESA learns to sit, always reward it with a treat too.
Stay
Once ESAs learn to sit, the next part of the command is to train them to stay. You can teach them to stay both on the bed or on a mat. First, command your ESA to sit while keeping your open palm towards him. Slightly move back and increase your step when ESA learns to stay. Keep saying 'stay' until your ESA gets used to it. If your ESA learns to stay, reward him with a treat.
Come
It is the most significant command because it helps in keeping an ESA with you when you go out somewhere. Start to pull his leash while keep saying the word ‘come’ to him. After frequent listening to this word, he will respond accordingly. Offer him some treat after completion of a learning process.
Down
Lying down is considered a submissive posture; therefore it is difficult to teach to different emotional support animals especially dogs. This posture is necessary if you want to take your ESA on a flight. Pick a treat and bring it near the nose of the animal and keep lowering it towards the floor. If your ESA drops the head in submission, praise and reward him. Treat and reward will help your ESA to learn this posture. Once your emotional support animal learns it you can use a flat palm to take him towards the floor or in a lying position.
Leave It
This is an important command for your emotional support animals if you want to take them outside the home. You can start with keeping the treat in your hand and when ESA comes near it close it tightly. Keep saying the word 'leave it'; once ESA gets used to it, place the treat on the floor and train him to leave the treat in its place. You can use different objects for this purpose but treats would be more beneficial. Once your ESA learns it, as usual, reward him with treat, love and praise.
It is very important to train an ESA because it can impact your health and property as well. A real esa letter for housing and an ESA letter for traveling can only be provided to those animals which are well trained to be kept as an ESA. If your ESA is not trained and possesses a disruptive nature it will become difficult for you to keep it with you. So, the training process is beneficial for your health, support and getting an ESA letter from a mental health professional.
Useful Resources
Emotional support animals: merits and demerits of ESA trend – 2023
Emotional support dog - basic requirements and training
Can I Train My Service Dog Myself?
Major psychological disorders that can be healed by keeping ESA
do you own multiple ESAs? here are 5 tips to make sure that they get along
