Service Dogs Trained to Combat PTSD in Veterans Getting Good Results

Pups with a Purpose : It Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog…But This Dog Can Help With Cryin' all the Time  

 (and other PTSD-related issues)

Fido Finds a Friend in the Pen

Service-dog programs like Puppies Behind Bars and and Canines for Combat Veterans are having "pawsative" effects on our wounded warriors—helping them to reintegrate into society with greater ease by supplying them with prisoner-trained pups that are wired to please.

Petco may be "where the pets go" but "real" dogs—those who cost a small fortune to train but perform a service above and beyond the call of wagging tails or licking faces—go behind bars.  "Bars" as in prisons, not drinking establishments.  Programs such as Dog Tags: Service Dogs for Those Who’ve Served Us—a part of  the larger Puppies Behind Bars (PBB) service dog training program —are providing much needed companion canines to PTSD-identified veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Dog Tags" employs a rather unique training model: they use prisoners to raise puppies which then become service dogs for qualifying veterans. Puppies Behind Bars' first Dog Tag pup, Pax, was paired in February 2008 with Sergeant Bill Campbell, an Iraq War veteran who suffers from common symptoms of PTSD—including panic attacks, severe depression, memory loss, nightmares and fear of public places. Today, there are 81 PBB "incarcerated" puppies being trained inside six New York area prisons. 

Stark Reality: Repeated Deployments Are Taking Its Toll on Soldiers

Stark Industries Halts Production of Super Soldiers

 CEO Tony Stark Reported M.I.A after Missing Military's Quota for more "Fighting Machines."

If you had to "hump a rucksack" one too many times you'd be unfit for duty too.  Huh? Before you think I'm saying something unfitting this blog, let me define my terms.  I certainly need to, because USA Today didn't in yesterday's front-page story about repeated deployments directly contributing to the recent sharp rise in the percentage of soldiers who are unfit for duty.

It's an interesting article and one everyone should read because it illustrates what I've said so many times: soldiers who keep getting re-deployed are not "Iron Men." Translated into cinematic terms, that means they don't have the advantage of being neatly reassembled on a  multi-billion dollar Stark Industries'  "roboman" assembly line. If that were the case, then they'd all be well-oiled Super Soldiers––mighty men of steel who could take the hits and keep on coming.

Think about it. Although precise numbers are not available, between the years 2006 and 2008, bad backs, strained knees and other battle-related ailments increased from 1.4 million cases in the overall military to 1.9 million. In other words, it's pretty hard to "drop and do 20" ( I can do exactly two before I fall on my face) when your knees and/or back haven't fully healed from the wounds you just received during the last deployment.