The University of Windsor is committed to the full inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in all aspects of university life. This includes welcoming the presence of service animals for our students, staff, faculty and visitors.
As we welcome your service animal to our campus, here are a few well-being items to keep in mind:
- It is in the best interests of the person with the disability to ensure that their service animal has been trained by a reputable organization. The campus environment has many opportunities for service animals to encounter novel situations that can give rise to problematic behaviour which can be very distressing for their owners.
- Reputable training programs also usually include a component that focuses on training the owner of the service animal. This helps with skills to respond to unexpected situations that the service animal and owner may encounter. It is also designed to ensure consistency of expectations of the service animal, which helps to protect its well-being over the long-term.
- Daily exercise is important for the health and well-being of most dogs who act as service animals. Taking the dog to an appropriate, off-campus location to run and play can help to avoid unwanted behavioural problems.
- Service animals are expected to be fully vaccinated and treated for fleas and ticks as appropriate to the species. Service dogs and cats are required to wear current license and rabies vaccination tags from the owner’s municipality.
- It is advisable to provide emergency contact information with or on your service animal in case the animal gets lost or the handler becomes incapacitated unexpectedly.