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. 

"Dogs of War": Those Daring Dogs that Defy Danger Every Day

Combat PTSD in Canines: What To Do When Fido Freaks and Rover Just Can't "Get Over It."

"These dogs, they're willing to give their lives for you. They don't ask for anything, you know? Some food, some water, little bit of petting. And they're the most reliable person on the planet. You can't get that from anywhere else." - Master Sgt. Eric Haynes

Good doggy. Sniff those bombs. Attack that terrorist. And, if you happen to tremble, and shake and poop more than four doggy-bags full at the sound of a car backfiring, or a bag of popcorn popping years after you've left the battlefield then you, my MBF (Man's Best Friend), are probably suffering from PTSD. 

According to military veterinarians, even Spot can get spooked so bad as the result of his war time experiences—including being exposed to all kinds of ear-deafening explosions—that once back home he'll exhibit classic signs of PTSD, just like his human military counterparts.

Take Gina. A once happy 2-year-old German Shepherd, Gina went to Iraq a playful pup only to return a shivering, shaking, tail-between-the legs mess of a mutt.

Veterans and Volunteerism: New Report claims Possible Cure for "Inner" Demons of PTSD might be the "Outer" Cure of Helping Others

"Recognize our usefulness.  We are not charity cases. We are an American asset." - A veteran from Iraq and Afghanistan 

America’s “Sea of Goodwill” in the form of volunteerism still exists … but it’s missing its most valuable asset: veterans. So claims the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, in the foreword of a recent report: All Volunteer Force: From Military to Civilian Service.

It makes sense. After all, veterans are not only armed to the teeth with survival and other practical, battle-honed skills. They’re also used to laying down their lives for others. In fact, you could call them “The Ultimate Volunteer.”

That desire to serve, to give sacrificially for their country doesn’t go away when they’ve traded the battlefront for the home front. Far from it. In fact, studies show that most veterans, if given the opportunity, will happily don the uniform of civic service. After all, these boots are made for walking … not resting.

PTSD: "Mental Illness or Physical Wound? The difference in diagnosis could mean PTSD stigma will one day be erased.

If they only had a brain...that could be measured, that is.

Latest news on the PTSD medical research front reveals that a specific region of the hippocamus portion of the brain known as the CA3/dentate gyrus is more than 11 percent smaller on average in those veterans with PTSD.

What does that mean, exactly?  You can read the full article (or the actual study if you're so inclined), but I'd be happy to do you a service and give you  the right-brain thinkers' version of it, a.k.a:  "Hippos, Dental Floss and Greek Gyru Sandwiches for the Medically Ignorant."

So, here—after much stretching of my own pea-sized "dentate gyrus"—is my take on the results of this massively funded study (courtesy of your tax dollars):

1. CA3/dentate gyrus is the region in the hippocamus region of the brain. Hippocamus, for those of you who weren't paying attention in Biology class, is the finger-joint size structure found in both hemispheres of the brain. It is essential for laying down memories, as well as for retrieving them. In other words, you can survive a hip replacement, but if you lose, hurt, or damage your hippocamus (on campus or otherwise) you'll become an instant walking amnesiac.

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.