Assistance Dogs in Public
ORC 955.43 — equal access, and no fee for the dog
Ohio's own section on this sits alongside federal law rather than instead of it, and it says something specific enough to be worth reading on its own.
Who handles this in Ohio: legal aid programs, lawyer referral and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
Equal access, and no charge for the dog being there. A person who is blind, deaf or hearing impaired, a person with a mobility impairment, or a trainer of an assistance dog, when accompanied by an assistance dog, is entitled to full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of public conveyances, hotels, lodging places, places of public accommodation, amusement or resort, educational institutions, and other places open to the general public. No fee or charge may be imposed for the dog's presence.
A trainer has the same access as a handler. The section names the trainer of an assistance dog alongside the people the dog is trained for, with the same entitlement. Somebody training a dog in a supermarket is exercising a right the section gives them rather than asking a favor, and a business turning them away is not distinguishing between two different situations under this section.
There is a condition in the section about the dog being on a leash while using the facilities of a common carrier.
Housing runs on a different track. Ohio's civil rights rules use a broader category than this section does, covering animals that assist a person with a disability rather than only the ones this section names, and a housing question is answered under those rules rather than under this one.
“Is this a public accommodation question or a housing one.”
Federal law under the Americans with Disabilities Act sets its own definition of a service animal, its own limits on what staff may ask, and its own rules about removal, and those apply in Ohio alongside this section. Emotional support animals are treated differently again, and differently in housing than in public accommodation. Which definition applies to a particular animal in a particular place, and what a business may lawfully ask, are questions for a licensed Ohio attorney or for Disability Rights Ohio, which handles service animal access as a matter of course.
Sources for this section (2)
- ORC 955.43 — Assistance dogs, and the places a handler or trainer may take one
- ORC 4112.02 — Unlawful discriminatory practices, and who the chapter protects
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.