How Service Dogs Help Veterans
Animals, especially dogs hold a special place in our heart. They create a safe space that allows individuals to relieve stress, anxiety, and lessen the hold of emotional strains may have on our lives. One of the biggest issues American veterans' faces is coming home from intense psychological experiences that can break down even the strongest inner walls.
You may be asking: why dogs? Well, who could provide a better companion than man’s best friend?
Dogs provide major health benefits such as increased fitness, improvement in emotion and overall happiness, and lower stress just to name a few! Service dogs undergo specific training for different sectors of providing service for different disabilities. The training includes social situations, behavior requirements, and specialized disability care.
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990), service dogs are described as “a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability”. ADA defines ‘disability’ as any “physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, including people with history of such an impairment, and people perceived by others as having such an impairment (American Kennel Club)”.
PTSD, otherwise known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is one of the more prominent issues veterans faces. Certain symptoms of PTSD such as addiction, panic attacks/anxiety attacks, depression, nightmares, flashbacks cause triggers and can cause the veteran to engage in uncomfortable and risky behavior situations. More factors that veterans face can range from physical disabilities to hearing loss.
Service dogs provide companionship, independence, confidence, motivation, and greater self-improvement to many people who didn’t think it was possible to find that happiness. Not only do service dogs provide emotional relief, they also provide a great amount of physical support as well. People with physical challenges/fatigue issues help “people regain balance, carry items if the individual is too weak to move, assistive tasks in stores, prevent falling” (K94life). Mobility assistance dogs “open doors for those in wheelchairs, manipulate light switches, pick up objects/retrieve them, and more! (K94life)”. For individuals with epilepsy service dogs are trained to detect onset seizures and provide a signal and alert any extra help if needed. These are just a couple examples of the amazing things dogs can do for veterans.
Sources:
https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/service-dog-training-101/
https://k94life.org/programs/benefits-service-dogs/
https://neads.org/service-dog-programs/service-dogs-for-veterans/
https://www.heroesmile.com/how-ptsd-service-dogs-help-veterans/
