Service Dogs and Their Benefits to Disabled Veterans
Service dogs are trained on performing tasks that are aimed to benefit a person who has had a psychological and physical disability. They are mainly used for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders therapy and have been proven to be of great benefit to the veterans. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) is therefore defined as reactions that are brought by experiencing the extreme shock that affects the cognitive abilities of the victim and which do not disappear for extended periods of time. Invariably, PTSD is characterized by insomnia, paranoia, psychosis, and other mentally related conditions occasioned by traumatic events (Crowe et al. 5). Most of the veterans suffer from PTSD when they get home from their line of duties and have a lot of difficulties in getting back to their normal family lives. The thesis of this paper is therefore premised on the need to highlight how service dogs are of great benefit to the veterans.
Benefits of Service Dog to Disabled Veterans
Kloep, Megan, Hunter, and Kertz (425) observed that service dogs provide social and psychological support to the veterans who undergo various forms of affliction and therefore in need of emotional and social support from a close companion that will provide love unconditionally. Similarly, service dogs are also known to form a unique bond and connection with their carers because upon deployment, they automatically become equals with the veterans during the war and are also eligible for the award of Medal of Honor for their selfless sacrifices to protect and guide war soldiers on different war missions. However, the roles of service dogs have been underappreciated while also receiving little attention from the general public who still speculate about their significance. Consequently, the American people got the rare opportunity to witness the immense role the dogs played in war during and after the 9/11 bombing, the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars. Inherently, the dogs combed debris for surviving victims and identification of bodies that was of immense help in emergency response while also providing therapy for servicemen with different afflictions in the hospitals.
Service Dogs in Daily Life of Veterans
Beyond war, veterans who survive without injuries or are disabled are often still attached to their service dogs. The emotional attachment emanates from the fact that the dogs are forever loyal to their service and are a permanent fixture in their lives. Most veterans opt to retain their service dogs for emotional fulfillment and provision of domestic assistance since they are highly trained to help them get along with the rigors of life. A highly trained service dog can be used as a personal guide to the visually impaired veteran who lost sight during combat and can therefore not see. In furtherance, the service dogs provide assistance with transportation of light commodities that are strapped on their bodies thus helping veterans with movement difficulties especially those that lost their limbs to bombing incidences where they got hit by shrapnel and forced to undergo amputation. Additionally, the dogs have also been trained to provide mobility to the veteran's wheelchair in case they are operated manually.
Service Dogs in a Residential Setup
Essentially, service dogs are also of more use in a residential setup whether living with an owner who is disabled or not. Besides providing companionship, the service dogs are alternatively used to accomplish domestic chores such as fetching grocery down the street, picking letters from the mailbox, closing doors and windows, and switching off lights in a room. Service dogs can help an incapacitated veteran with emergency situations in the event they roll over their beds or collapse due to related comorbidities such as heart attack, diabetes, and hypertension. In the event an emergency occurs, a service dog with respond with speed to notify the relevant entities of the emergent problem. Accomplishing simple tasks such as removing shoes and clothes are all possible as the dogs remove such apparel by use of their teeth. Correspondingly, dogs can be used in retrieving items like phones, medication or any other device hence beneficial to veterans who use wheelchairs which makes it hard to pick dropped items. So efficient is the service dog that their high-level training enables them to facilitate transactions at the counters of supermarkets where they can deliver the money to the cashier (Crowe et al. 7). Moreover, since most of the veterans in the wheelchair have difficulties with mobility the service dog can be of assistance in the provision of stability.
Reducing PTSD Symptoms and Other Benefits
The resulting relationship bond between the service dogs and the veterans has been of great use in reducing PTSD symptoms experienced by the disabled veterans. Alleviation of the PTSD is achieved by reducing oxytocin levels that only true and comforting companionships provide thus, traumatized veterans can overcome paranoia and improve their social relations with family and friends. Consequently, the unreserved dedication of service dogs make their veteran owners feel safe and protected and therefore reducing anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts (Carper, Teri, Bartone, and Petty 195). Alternatively, since the medication of veterans who are disabled is very high and the psychiatric sessions are quite expensive, service dogs help in reducing these costs when they are used instead of drug therapy. They help in the reduction of stress for both the veteran and his or her family (Holly Katherine 2017).
Conclusion
Service dogs are of great help to the veterans and they should be used to help them in the recovery of psychologically related disorders that acquired from traumatizing events during and after war situations. Other than providing essential help to the veterans, service dogs are also known to provide perfect companionship as the veterans recover from their afflictions. Dog companionship is therefore believed to provide therapeutic healing of the body, mind, and soul while under the care of war veterans. It is therefore recommended that officers attached to service dogs during the war should also be left to adopt them when they return home from war.
Works cited
Carper, Teri L., Anne S. Bartone, and Frederick C. Petty. "Animal Companions and Military Veterans: How Dogs Can Help America’s Heroes." Men and Their Dogs. Springer, Cham, 2016. 195-214.
Crowe, Terry K., et al. "Veterans transitioning from isolation to integration: a look at veteran/service dog partnerships." Disability and rehabilitation (2017): 1-9.
Kloep, Megan L., Richard H. Hunter, and Sarah J. Kertz. "Examining the effects of a novel training program and use of psychiatric service dogs for military-related PTSD and associated symptoms." American Journal of Orthopsychiatry87.4 (2017): 425.
Robinson, Holly Katherine. "HOPE is a 4-Legged Word: How Service Dogs Can Help Veterans Suffering from Combat-Related Post Traumatic Stress Disorder." (2017).
