WASHINGTON – By training service dogs, veterans are helping fellow veterans—and themselves—cope with post-deployment challenges.
At Warrior Canine Connection in Brookeville, Md., just north of Washington, vets suffering from post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injury are paired with puppies that are purpose-bred for service. As these Warrior Trainers help socialize and train the dogs, they benefit from the comfort and companionship they get back.
“They’re dealing every day with their own recovery, their healing, their pain. And when they’re working with the dogs…they can put their issues aside and focus 100 percent attention on the dogs,” said Katie Gorman, life skills trainer at the NeuroRestorative center. The brain injury rehabilitation center is one of 13 programs that Warrior Canine Connection uses for training the dogs.
The dogs are being trained to eventually assist disabled veterans, often using wheelchairs or with prosthetic limbs, overcome mobility challenges they face daily.
Retired U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Justin Bunce lives at the NeuroRestorative home in Germantown, Md. He suffered a traumatic brain injury from an improvised explosive device when he was deployed in Iraq. Now trainer Bunce visits Warrior Canine Connection weekly to work with his Labrador and golden retriever “angels.”
Bunce says he appreciates “the unconditional love and the gratification and fulfillment of having such an impact on the angel that is dependent on you.”
Gorman has seen firsthand how Bunce’s regular interaction with the dogs has improved his memory, mood and sleep quality. Even the repetitive motions of brushing the dogs are physical therapy for his shoulder injury.
Now Rick Yount, executive director of Warrior Canine Connection, hopes scientific evidence will confirm that veterans like Bunce can better adapt to civilian life by working with the dogs.
At Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., researchers are exploring how interacting with dogs can provide mental health benefits for these veterans.
Their study looks at a possible correlation between the veterans’ hormone chemistry levels and their symptoms of post-traumatic stress or traumatic brain injury. Other studies have shown that humans release anti-stress agents such as oxytocin when they interact with dogs.
After two and a half years, when the dogs are grown, fully socialized and trained, they are given to other veterans with significant mobility impairments, Yount said.
“If they should happen to drop something—even as small as a dime—on a tile floor, the dog can pick that up and put it in their hand,” Yount said.
The dogs are trained to pull wheelchairs, turn on lights, open doors and retrieve prosthetic limbs. They can help their owners up and down stairs, or help them off the floor if they fall.
“It’s a non-pharmaceutical intervention that’s showing a lot of promise for some really difficult problems,” Yount said.