Emotional Support Animals
sniffing out the facts
Alexandria and Harley
At first glance, Harley—a four-year-old German Shepherd-Australian Shepherd mix—seems just like any other dog. He enjoys long walks in the dog park, can’t resist the smell of food, and loves being called a good boy.
He is often spotted alongside his owner Alexandria Fuertes, a fourth-year Global Studies major, in the streets of Isla Vista or across UCSB campus. Some would say he’s quite popular among the locals.
But one thing most people don’t know about Harley: he’s an emotional support animal and a psychiatric service dog in training. He does much more than just eat, sleep, and play; he provides the comfort and assistance to help mitigate Alexandria’s emotional and psychological disabilities.
When Alexandria rescued Harley almost four years ago, she didn’t intend to make him an emotional support animal. But from the start she realized that Harley was very sensitive to her emotions. “Whenever I was crying or physically upset, he would naturally come up to me,” Alexandria says. “He’d get in my space and nudge my hands out of the way, put his paws on my shoulder and chest, and lean up against me with his body weight.” Such behavior is similar to what service dogs are trained to do when a person is experiencing an anxiety or panic attack.
Alexandria found that having Harley present during her own emotional breakdowns and panic attacks was extremely calming, so she kept reinforcing that behavior.
She frequently suffered (and still does) from panic attacks due to childhood trauma. “My growing up was a little messy,” she says. “There was abuse in my family, and when my parents divorced, there was a nasty custody battle. Now they’re remarried and there’s still active abuse.”
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And college has been an anxiety-provoking journey for Alexandria, so much so that she has withdrawn from school several times and took a whole year off. Anxiety from school, in combination with childhood trauma, has led to an increase in panic attacks over the last few years.
She had been commuting from Santa Barbara to her hometown in Orange County to see a psychologist and work through her emotional issues. One time, she brought Harley with her, and the psychologist noticed how strong their relationship was.
At the time, Alexandria had been looking into having Harley as an emotional support animal, but she didn’t quite know the process or the laws involved. She was in the middle of moving out of her apartment and realized how strict landlords could be about having a pet.
And as a Global Studies major, she also planned on doing a lot of travelling after graduation and taking Harley with her to make traveling less stressful.
She expressed her concerns to her psychologist, who enthusiastically suggested making Harley an emotional support animal and quite possibly a psychiatric service dog. “I think Harley’s a great dog and shows great promise,” the psychologist told Alexandria. “I can see it being a benefit to both of you.”
So the psychologist wrote Alexandria an official letter stating that Harley’s presence served emotional support purposes as a testament to his necessity in her home.
Alexandria has used that letter whenever moving to a new location, which has happened several times over the last few years. Additionally, landlords have required her psychologist to sign and send in special pet addendums for further validation. For the most part, Alexandria has had positive experiences with landlords.
After Harley became an emotional support animal, Alexandria was interested in having him as a psychiatric service dog to further his training in performing calming tasks and to be able to take him to public places. Her anxiety attacks are often unpredictable, and the consistency of having the dog with her at all times would be reassuring.
Harley now receives private lessons with a trainer, and will be finishing his training before the summer. Alexandria brings him with her to class and to the library to have a more relaxed learning and study experience. He just lays next to her as she studies and is prepared to assist her through a panic attack if she experiences one.
“Animals get us more than we know,” Alexandria says. “It’s pretty amazing to have some sort of a bond with another living being that doesn’t speak the same language as you do. You don’t even share words, but there’s so much communication that happens. And I’m so thankful because I don’t know if I would’ve made it this far through my education and in my life without him.”
“I mean, I would’ve been out of school a long time ago. And going home is still very difficult. Having him there as someone who literally provides this consistency and this grounding presence and the actual physical things that he knows how to do instinctually, it’s amazing.”
As if being an emotional support animal and psychiatric service dog in training wasn’t enough, Alexandria was planning on getting Harley certified to become a therapy dog as well. He has been able to help her more than she thought was possible; why not spread that unconditional love and comfort to others who could benefit just as much?