Take a walk through large retailers like Walmart or Home Depot and you’ll see more and more shoppers with their dogs. Some stores do allow this, but many owners throw out the words “service dog” when they want to bring their dog with them. Florida passed legislation cracking down on this in 2015 and Delta airlines announced this week new animal restrictions as it has seen an 84 percent increase in reported animal incidents since 2016.

Service, therapy and emotional support dogs are all terms you might have heard before. But what do they mean? First, a service dog “means an animal that is trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability,” according to Florida law. A miniature horse can also be a service animal and these animals are not considered pets under the law.

“You cannot ask a person if someone’s dog is a service animal,” said Lauren Driscoll, Flagler Humane Society dog trainer. “A service dog has to do a specific task for someone like turning on lights or retrieving objects. The only thing you can ask someone is, ‘What task does your dog perform?’”

Therapy animals are ones that are trained to go into facilities like nursing homes or hospitals to comfort patients and emotional support animals, often referred to as ESA’s, do not have to perform any kind of task.

“Their job is to simply be close by and in that way act as an emotional support for the owner,” according to the private company USA Service Dog Registration. “ESAs don’t need any specific training, but they must handle public spaces adequately.”

Florida passed a law that makes it a misdemeanor for a person to knowingly and willingly say they have a service animal that isn’t or that they are a trainer of service dogs. The increase in animals traveling on planes caused Delta airlines to announce new rules this week after a man was attacked last summer by a 70-pound support dog. The man could not escape because he was in a window seat and required 28 stitches on his face.

“Ignoring the true intent of existing rules governing the transport of service and support animals can be a disservice to customers who have real and documented needs,” Delta said in a news release. “In 2017, Delta employees reported increased acts of aggression (barking, growling, lunging and biting) from service and support animals, behavior not typically seen in these animals when properly trained and working.”

But the most amusing instance of a service dog not behaving was in December on Broadway during a performance of the musical “Cats.” Yes, it is what you are thinking. The dog forgot he was working, jumped away from his owner and up onto the stage and chased one of the actors during the opening number.

“In the storied history of ‘Cats,’ this is the first time one of the actual cats was involved in an incident with a dog,” a spokesperson for the musical said. “We’re pleased to report that no animals or humans were harmed in the dust-up, and the performance continued without a hitch.”

Jeffery Ritter is development coordinator at Flagler Humane Society and can be reached at jritter@flaglerhumanesociety.org. Flagler Humane Society is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 1908. For more information go to www.flaglerhumanesociety.org.