Man's Best Friend Is Amazing

Canine Therapy for the Military

I was once at a workshop and saw that a person that appeared to have no physical impairment was accompanied by a service dog. At the beginning of the workshop, the leader gave a speech about how we should not pet him an so on. She went on to explain that he was a psychological service dog, as opposed to the service dogs for the blind that I was more familiar with. She explained that he was able to sense when his owner was about to have a seizure and would alert her so that she could seat herself, or he would brace her fall. He would then bark for help and stay with her until help arrived. As noted on epilepsy.com, "Seizure-alert dogs, as implied by their name, are dogs that can sense and notify their human companions of an oncoming seizure. This alerting behavior has been reported to occur several seconds to 45 minutes or more before the onset of the seizure. The dog does this by exhibiting marked changes in behavior, including close eye contact, circling, pawing, barking etc."


I was also reading an article recently that discussed the use of service dogs for our returning veterans.

"The dogs, provided by the Psychiatric Service Dog Society, are trained to help jolt a soldier from a flashback, dial 911 on the phone, and even sense a panic attack before it starts." 

I really thought this was amazing.  As most of use know, animals can be used in therapy for a number of symptoms/ diagnoses. However, I was also amazed not just at the variety of symptoms that fido can treat, but also the great results these types of therapy produce. "The dog also provides emotional comfort, and can help a veteran with a sense of responsibility, optimism, and self-awareness."




I thought this was just great food for thought, but was also interested in discussions it might produce.
Allow me to play devil's advocate.
1) Are service dogs and therapy dogs considered to be the same? Not according to http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/service.html , which reveals that therapy dogs may not have equal access to public places as service dogs do. What happens when the owner has a flashback in a place that will not allow the dog?

2) Would having the canine companion reduce the motivation to develop coping skills?

3)Also according to http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/service.html, it takes $20,000 to train a dog. With managed care the semi-nightmare that it is, would they cover this expense?

4)What about other people that would benefit from a service dog, but cannot afford it? Is this a slippery slope if Medicare/ Medicaid were to fund this therapy?

WHAT DO YOU THINK???


This blog is based on an article discussing therapy for the military that can be found in full at the NAMI website, or
http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/07/09/canine-therapy-for-military-ptsd/15444.html

More information on Seizure Service dogs can be found at
http://www.epilepsy.com/articles/ar_1084289240

Additional facts
http://www.k9web.com/dog-faqs/service.html

All articles cited are the property of listed sites, and do not reflect the opinion of this writer or reflect the intent of this blog.