PTSD Service Dogs
Post-traumatic stress disorder is an often debilitating condition with many factors at play – panic attacks, anxiety, phobias, inability to leave one’s home, nightmares, and generalized fear being some examples. PTSD Service Dogs are trained to meet the specific needs of their human partners. While dogs are typically comforting, non-judgmental, eager to please and be loved, PTSD Service Dogs differ from Comfort Dogs and dogs in general. PTSD Service Dogs are highly attuned and trained to arrest, deter, or negate certain behaviours in their human partner. For example, PTSD Service Dogs may:
- provide a physical safe zone around the human partner to combat fear of being around other people or places;
- attune the human partner to the onset of a panic or anxiety attack and deter the attack;
- alert others in the house to an impending panic or anxiety attack that the human partner is experiencing;
- provide safety and security outside of the home.
By being attuned to their human partner, PTSD Service Dogs increase a sense of safety, comfort, and sureness. This can lead to better overall well-being, less frequent bouts of depression, lower blood pressure, and more calmness in the human partner. Please connect with us if you want to know more about how a PTSD Service Dog can be of help.
Belle and I have officially been together just over 8 weeks! Today, I spent 2 and a half hours in Ikea! An actual shop, walking around, having lunch, trying out different chairs, all things I couldn’t do before. Touching unfamiliar things, moving around, sitting in chairs that aren’t mine, getting up and down, even staying around strangers for longer than 30 mins, was impossible before she came home.In the last week, she has started alerting me to impending panic attacks. Before our bond started growing, I would have had to show her once it started, call her over, position her how I wanted for support and work through it together. However, today was so epic and seamless.
This time last year, I couldn’t enter a public place. I struggled to even leave my house for weeks on end, often having groceries and parcels delivered. Covid made my habits look normal, but an OSI/PTSD is no joke. Aspen Service Dogs My Belle has changed my life. I never thought I’d be able to do these things again.
