Service animal

A pet is what your CC&Rs regulate. A service animal is a dog individually trained to do disability-related work. Housing law is broader than the ADA in some eras and narrower in HUD's 2026 enforcement memo — read both, plus your state statute. HOA pet rules — number, weight, breed, "no dogs" — are private covenants. They lose when a federal or state disability law says the animal is not just a pet. The vocabulary is a mess, and 2026 made it messier. The Department of Justice's ADA definition, in 28 C.F.R. § 36.104, is specific: "Service animal means any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability," including physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Other species, trained or not, are not service animals under that definition. The work must be directly related to the disability. Crime-deterrent presence and "the provision of emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship do not constitute work or tasks." That's the ADA public-accommodations definition. It controls the clubhouse-as-public-accommodation question more cleanly than it controls the dwelling. The Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C.

This is general information from an AI helper, not legal advice. Confirm it against your documents and your state's law. If a deadline or hearing is coming up, talk to a licensed lawyer.