The findings of a newly published study led by the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine provides further evidence of the benefits of service dogs for veterans with PTSD and helps identify more specifically which dogs and human-animal interactions lead to the best outcomes.
“The ultimate goal of our research is to amplify the voices of veterans and their families through science.“
The research, led by Dr. Maggie O’Haire associate professor of Human-Animal Interaction in the College of Veterinary Medicine with the help of K9s For Warriors (and support from a number of foundations mentioned below), will help maximize the benefits for service dog and veteran pairs and improve mental health and quality of life for more veterans with PTSD.
Key findings from the study include:
- Veterans and service dogs spend about 20 hours together per day on average, comprising about 82% of their time.
- The most common and important task veterans ask their service dogs to do is to calm and comfort anxiety.
- Veterans with worse depression were more likely to ask their dogs to initiate a social connection or help make a friend.
- Veterans with more anxiety and fewer PTSD symptoms were more likely to ask their service dog to signal when someone was approaching from behind.
- The strongest bonds were seen with service dogs who were less excitable and humans who found caring for their service dog to be easy and convenient.
- Lower PTSD symptoms and better mental health were seen among veterans with less excitable service dogs and those with a stronger human-animal bond.
The three-year study was conducted from 2017 to 2020 and involved 82 veterans with PTSD and their 82 service dogs from K9s For Warriors. O’Haire’s team video-recorded behavior tests with the dogs, asked the veterans about their mental health and used smartphone technology to measure daily emotions and how much time veterans spent with their service dogs.
Dr O’Haire has been conducting research on service dogs and veterans for seven years across three studies with a fourth ongoing study. “We are providing quantifiable data that shows how service dogs can improve symptoms and quality of life for certain veterans with PTSD.”
Study Conclusions
Building on existing evidence of service dog partnership being significantly associated with less PTSD severity and better mental health for some veterans, the results of our study begin to illuminate possible means by which reduced PTSD and improved mental health may occur from the PTSD service dog partnership. Findings from this exploratory study set the stage for future research to rigorously test the role of canine characteristics and human-animal interactions preliminarily identified to be important in producing clinical effects.
Despite long veteran waitlists for service dogs, the VA has hesitated to fund service dogs for PTSD due to a lack of clinical evidence supporting their efficacy. Evidence is required to prevent the need for service dogs from being minimized and unsupported. Dogtopia Foundations, one of the funders of this research, stated “Until financial support improves for the men and women who bravely served our country, we remain committed to raising funds to train service dogs for veterans with PTSD and increasing awareness of the need through the efforts of our franchisees who are incredibly dedicated to this worthy cause.”
Funding for this study: National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Merrick Pet Care, Petco Love and and Dogtopia Foundation.
[Study Link] [Dr O’Haire’s Purdue Webpage]