seperation anxiety

Question
I understand you not wanting to respond to medical questions. My question is more a concern for what is considered lawful as far as my dog being a service dog. I have a great deal of anxiety when he's not with me. It's worse than when I had to leave my kids. If I keep him with me when I travel and don't spend more than 3-5 hrs. away from him I don't panic. Does this constitute him a service dog? I just want to be able to take him into nice hotels with me when I travel.

Answer
A service dog is a dog that is TRAINED to mitigate a disability.  A disability under the ADA is an impairment that SEVERELY limits a major life function, (ie. walking, talking, hearing, seeing, etc).  Since I am not a judge in a court of law, my opinion has no weight of law, but in my opinion, if you can leave him for 3-5 hrs, your anxiety does not raise to the level of a disability under the ADA, therefore, your dog is not a service dog.  The other issue is that a dog's presence is not enough to make a dog a service dog.  What tasks is your dog trained to do to mitigate your "disability"?  Any hotel manager (or any other store owner/manager) can ask you three questions if you claim your dog is a service dog.  Are you disabled?  Is your dog a service dog?  And, what types of tasks is your dog trained to do to mitigate your disability?  If you cannot answer yes to the first two and truthfully answer the last one, they can deny access to your dog.