“Science has shown that service dogs can positively benefit some veterans with PTSD. But the exact role service dogs play in the day-to-day lives of veterans – and the helpfulness of the tasks they perform – is less known.”
“A recent study, led by Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, shows what trained tasks service dogs perform the most often and which ones are the most helpful to veterans with PTSD. The study found that the task of disrupting episodes of anxiety ranked among the most important and most often used…”
“The study found that, on average, the dog’s training to both alert the veteran to his/her increasing anxiety as well as providing physical contact during anxiety episodes were reported to be the most important and the most often used in a typical day. Veterans with a service dog also rated all of the service dog’s trained tasks as being “moderately” to “quite a bit” important for their PTSD.”
“Some trained tasks include picking up on cues veterans display when experiencing distress or anxiety and consequently nudging, pawing or licking them to encourage the veteran to focus on the dog. The service dogs also are trained to notice when veterans are experiencing anxiety at night and will actively wake up the person from nightmares…” Read the full article here.
Source: Study finds the most important task for a PTSD service dog for veterans is disrupting anxiety – September 2020. K9s for Warriors.
