UA study finds service dogs are effective in treating PTSD

TUCSON, Ariz. — At the University of Arizona, a new study is offering up some proof of what you might already expect to be true about service dogs.

Any dog owner will tell you having a dog will improve your life. But researchers say they now have evidence that a trained service dog can significantly lessen a veteran's symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

For retired Staff Sergeant Steve Lovegrove, who lives in Oro Valley, that's proven to be true.

"For years, I didn't know I had PTSD. I just thought I was angry, you know?" he said. "And then I found out later it was PTSD from that one incident."

It was back in 1990 when he shipped out to Iraq. On the second day of Operation Desert Shield, his life changed forever.

"I was on a CH 47 Chinook. It's the kind with the two blades on top," he recalled. "Our aircraft lost power picking up a large cannon, a 105 Howitzer, and it crashed. So we spent a couple hours picking up all that ammo, and literally disconnected it from the aircraft, and flew it back to our base on one engine, at about 50 feet, and never flew again."

Incredibly, everyone involved survived that crash. But the mental pain it caused, never went away.

Lovegrove started having night terrors. He grew restless at night. Fireworks still set him off, and the crowds he faced back in civilian life, were unbearable.

"I've literally left full carts of groceries in the store and left," he said.

After a suicide attempt in 2014, Lovegrove decided to train his dog Lucky to be a service dog. As Lucky got older, he got Cinder, and put her through a local training program to learn different tasks, that Lovegrove says have made a world of difference.

"She'll come up and sometimes just lay her head on my lap, or put a paw on it or lick my hand, and that just kind of soothes it and tells me, 'okay, snap out of whatever you're going through at the moment,'" he explained. "If my back is exposed, I can have her cover my back. If there's a crowd coming at me, I can have her break that crowd open as I go through."

Leading the study at the University of Arizona, is Dr. Maggie O'Haire, the Associate Dean for Research for the U of A College of Veterinary Medicine. She says based on their findings, it's clear that when service dogs can perform tasks like these and bond with a veteran, they can turn that veteran's life around.

"Our studies found that veterans with a service dog are functioning significantly better, they have lower PTSD symptoms, lower anxiety, lower depression, and overall a higher quality of life," she explained. "Veterans with a service dog had 66% lower odds of having a diagnosis of PTSD when they had a service dog, compared to those that did not."

Lovegrove and Cinder were not part of the U of A study. Instead, researchers followed dozens of veterans from across the country, with rescued dogs trained at K9s For Warriors in Florida, a nonprofit accredited by Assistance Dogs International. They specialize in training dogs to serve veterans with PTSD. The whole goal of the study, was to be able to offer up proof of their impact.

"Now we're at this turning point where if clinicians are going to provide recommendations about service dogs, or if policies are going to support access for these dogs, they're looking for numbers and they're looking for science," O'Haire said. "And I'm honored to be able to help provide that."

The study's findings, are bringing the possibility of a new "leash" on life for veterans who are struggling.

"I am here because of my dog and my family," Lovegrove said. "If every veteran could get that that dog, it would be amazing, because it's such a difference in their lives."

Lovegrove works as a school bus driver now for the Marana School District, and he brings Cinder along for every single bus ride.

The U of A says their study has laid the foundation for a randomized clinical trial which they'll do in the near future, to further understand and show the impact service dogs can have.