PTSD/TBI Dogs are like any other service animals. They are individually trained in obedience, performing tasks, and working in distracting public environments to mitigate their partner's psychiatric disability. Their function is not to provide emotional support, but to perform tasks that enable their partner to function in ordinary ways the non-disabled take for granted.
Different people have different issues or triggers so each person must be treated as an individual and each service dog must be individually trained to meet a handler's specific needs. There is no one size fits all, and each dog must be customized to its human partner.
Service dogs can be trained to mitigate many issues:
PTSD/TBI affects veterans physically. In fact … it is the physical manifestations of PTSD/TBI which a service dogs picks up on and responds to. This is a common, although invisible, wound that many veterans have. We believe it deserves just as much recognition and assistance as other disabilities plaguing our veterans. They deserve to be able to move about the community without the disruption their disability often brings and a service dog can assist in just that.
Yes. Dogs/puppies must be less that 1 ½ years old and must be evaluated for temperament. If you would like to recommend a dog, please click here.
The following goes into the cost of a service dog:
In the past we included veterans with their own dogs as a part of the program, however, we found that there was a low success rate for the dogs to qualify as service dogs. We have elected to train our service dogs using processes similar to Canine Companions for Independence and The Seeing Eye. We provide fully trained dogs and match them with veterans based on length of wait, personalities of the dog and veteran, tasks the veteran needs the dog to do, etc. We also asked our veterans with their own dogs who went through the old process. They unanimously said they would have preferred to wait for a fully trained dog rather than having to train the dog themselves.
A service animal is "any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability.” Companion animals not individually trained to perform any specific kind of task. Instead, the principal service that companion animals provide is simply that—companionship. While service animals are trained to behave flawlessly in public, companion animals may or may not be as well-behaved. As a result, companion animals are virtually indistinguishable from the family pet.
Some dogs are donated and some of the dogs come from area shelters. We eventually plan to start a breeding program.
The dogs are approximately 2 years old.
As dog lovers, our first impulse is often to show our respect and admiration by reaching out and petting these wonderful, selfless heroes or to verbally praise them — which is precisely what we should not do!
Remember, a service dog in harness is on the job and needs to focus on his or her duties.
Here are some guidelines to help you when in this situation: