American veterans improve their post-traumatic stress thanks to assistance dogs

After working in a crowded and dangerous internment camp in Iraq, Air Force Staff Sergeant Heather O’Brien returned home with anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A playful Labradoodle and a program in the Kansas City area helped her recover.

Dogs 4 Valor, operated through the Olathe, Kansas-based organization called The Battle Within, helps retired veterans and first responders work with their assistance dogs to manage depression, anxiety and other challenges.

“Many times, the veteran with severe PTSD is housebound,” explained Sandra Sindeldecker, Dogs 4 Valor program manager.

“They are isolated. They are very nervous. They don’t make eye contact. Some don’t leave the house at all.”

The program includes both group and individual training. The goal is for the veteran and the dog to feel comfortable with each other and understand each other. The group conducts outings to help veterans regain their place in public places such as airports. Program leaders also provide mental health therapy at no cost.

Veterans and dogs graduate in six to nine months, but group meetings continue.

There is growing evidence of the value of assistance dogs for veterans with PTSD. A small study published in JAMA Network Open in June examined a program operated by K9s For Warriors. Assistance dogs in the program are trained to detect a veteran’s physical signs of distress and can interrupt panic attacks and nightmares with a loving nudge.

Animals help greater improvement

The researchers compared 81 veterans who received assistance dogs with 75 veterans on a waiting list to receive a trained dog. After three months, PTSD symptoms improved in both groups, but the veterans with dogs experienced greater improvement on average.

O’Brien, 40, recalled that the camp where he worked in Iraq sometimes held more than 20,000 detainees. Violence and riots were common and left him with severe anxiety.

“When I got out of the military, I just assumed that you’re supposed to always be alert as a veteran,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien’s mother saw the energetic Labrador-poodle mix on Facebook and convinced her daughter to adopt the dog she named Albus. Months later, O’Brien learned about Dogs 4 Valor, and the two joined the show in October 2023.

O’Brien says he can now go out in public again: he even went on vacation to Branson, Missouri, “things I never would have thought I would do, probably ever again.”

Antidotes against depression and insomnia

Mark Atkinson, 38, served in Afghanistan as a corporal in the Marine Corps. He returned home with PTSD and major depressive disorder, causing insomnia and anxiety. He adopted Lexi, now 5, in 2020.

Lexi, a muscular Cane Corso, needed Atkinson as much as he needed her. Her previous owner had kept Lexi chained before handing her over. Since joining Dogs 4 Valor, they are both able to go out together and enjoy life.

“I don’t really like leaving the house because I feel safe there, you know,” Atkinson said. “And having Lexi has just made me go out and be more social.” Having a group of fellow veterans facing the same challenges has also helped, Atkinson said.

“We come from the same background, different branches,” Atkinson said. “Same problems: PTSD or traumatic brain injuries. And everyone is very welcoming, too. There is no trial.”

O’Brien compared living with Albus to a relationship with a sometimes pushy best friend who often wants to go out. “Best friend constantly wants you to do things that make you nervous,” O’Brien laughed, acknowledging that it’s ultimately up to her.

“I have to decide to go out and just face life,” O’Brien said. “And that’s been hard. And it’s still tough from time to time, but it’s getting more manageable.”

Some veterans said their family relationships have improved since starting the program.

“I’m able to talk, not lose my temper and get along with people, not be as stressed, not have as much anxiety,” Atkinson said. “Or even if I do, she (Lexi) is by my side.”

Timothy Siebenmorgen, 61, says his relationships are also better with the help of his one-year-old American bulldog, Rosie, and Dogs 4 Valor, which he joined in July. He served in both the Marines and the Army, and was deployed on 18 missions.

“In the army they teach you not to show weakness,” Siebenmorgen says. “So you think you can handle everything yourself and you sincerely believe it. And then you realize you can’t do it alone.”

Veterans said the dogs, and the program, have given them new hope and a renewed ability to move forward.

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