Originally Posted by
kipper
How do you test an ESA that is supposed to help with anxiety? What about one that is supposed to help with depression? Do you find a stranger suffering from anxiety and see if the animal helps them? Or a person suffering with depression? Oftentimes, the bond between the animal and the human is part of what helps and you cannot test that with a stranger. Likewise, what works for one person with anxiety or depression may not work for another. It is relatively easy to test service dogs, because they have been trained to perform a specific skill. It isn't quite as easy with an ESA.
You can test the behavior of the ESA. Behavior in public is part of the way genuine service dogs are trained. They're supposed to cope with crowds, not bark/snarl/lunge for no reason related to their special task(s), walk nicely and stay near the owner unless commanded otherwise, etc. A true service dog wouldn't snarl at another animal it sees or lick a stranger, and it would stay it its own space.