Nervous Pet Needing Own Service Dog On First Flight Melts Hearts

Dogs provide their owners with love and emotional support, and research has shown that even just petting a pooch lowers the stress hormone cortisol, but canines can also provide comfort to each other.

In a recent TikTok post Michelle Johnson shared a touching moment between her own dog Ottis and another pup on a recent flight.

In the video, which has been viewed over 1.6 million times, Ottis, who is also a service dog, can be seen cuddling up to a much bigger poodle mix service dog on a flight.

"Ottis was so nervous for his first flights, but this other service dog took care of him," reads the caption.

In other videos Johnson reveals that Ottis is a rescue and possibly a mix between a beagle and a Labrador, and that he very nearly didn't end up with her.

After fostering Ottis as a puppy, Johnson decided that he was going to be a "foster fail". Ottis recently celebrated his first birthday.

In the comments Johnson revealed that Ottis "was nervous for the takeoff (change of airpressure) & then slept the whole flight."

There has been a longstanding debate among people with service dogs and people who keep what are known as emotional support animals, especially when it comes to flying.

In 2021 the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) narrowed the definition of a service animal to exclude all other species other than dogs, as well as emotional support animals (ESA), companionship, or comforting animals.

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a service animal means any dog that is individually train to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual "with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability."

"Emotional support animals provide companionship, relieve loneliness, and sometimes help with depression, anxiety, and certain phobias," the act adds, "but do not have special training to perform tasks that assist people with disabilities. Emotional support animals are not limited to dogs."

It is this difference in training that has sparked the debate, as airlines have shared many incidences of passengers demanding to bring animals such as pigs, horses, and peacocks on to airlines for "emotional support."

"Individuals with a disability may use and interact with working animals for a variety of reasons," said the ADA. "But only dogs who have received specialized training to perform a specific task or tasks for an individual with a disability are considered service animals. This is the key difference between a service animal and all other types of working animals, including therapy, comfort animals, and emotional support animals."

The DOT believed that the new regulations would help to ensure the safety of both crew and passengers, as well as highly trained service animals, and each airline has the right to set their own requirements about how service animals travel in the cabin.

"A service dog that needed his own service dog for his anxiety," said one user.

"It's up to the airline. most don't allow esas anymore since everyone and their mother were bringing pets on the plane," said another user.

Newsweek has reached out to Johnson via email for comment.

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