Damaged: Helping A Dog With PTSD

For the last 15 years, I've been mostly training Service Dogs. I started training Service Dogs because I was getting a lot of clients with Service Dogs who were reactive, fearful, and even aggressive. This was mostly before the Medical Alert and Psychiatric Service Dogs were being trained.

So most of the dogs I was helping to empower were Guide Dogs, Hearing Dogs and basic Assistance and Mobility Dogs. There were a few trainers like me that started training service dogs at about the same time. But mostly, Service Dogs came from large programs that survived on donations and bred their own dogs.

When one of their dogs developed behavior issues for whatever reason, the programs offered to replace the dog. They had either no interest in rehabilitating the dog or possibly didn't know how. Whatever the reason, their clients didn't want to surrender their Service Dog, they just wanted it fixed. Hence the number of people who started coming to me. At that time, I did mostly behavior training and empowerment training.

So, I started training service dogs knowing I could do it in such a way that it would be unlikely for each dog to develop behavior issues. What I didn't count on was the "fakes" that started showing up a few years later. Those dogs who are untrained, most likely excited, frustrated or reactive, that people who feel entitled are treating as though they were highly trained Service Dogs and taking them into public spaces.

This means that legitimate teams are having to deal with being charged at, lunged at, barked at, snapped at, and even attacked by these untrained dogs. Both the Service Dog and the handler are affected. It can even cause PTSD in one or both when entering public places.

In a dog, PTSD often exhibits as reactivity and aggression. This is mostly a means to either scare other dogs away or make them go away.

So here in this book is how I rehab a dog who has had a traumatic experience and is now reacting adversely to the triggers that predict that experience occurring again. It doesn't matter whether that dog is a Service Dog, a Therapy Dog, or a Pet Dog, this program works and has been in use by me and my clients for 20 years.