There are 21.8 million veterans in the United States. They have fought and served our country at home and overseas. 1 in every 5 veterans suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after their service. Right now there are only 2 treatment option available: therapy and medication.
Merrick Pet Care has introduced a 3rd, Service Dogs.
In January 2010 Airborne Veteran McLean Raybon was deployed to Afghanistan. After returning home, he began struggling with PTSD.
"I don't go out in public much at all I stay away from crowds of unknown people and when I do have to get put into that situation, I just stick to the back corner where my back can be to a wall and just kind of be by myself," Raybon says in a video.
The veteran found himself spending hours alone in his garage, isolating himself from his wife, children and friends. This solitude and fear of the outside world led to an addiction to pain medication.
With the help of Merrick Pet Care and K9 for Warriors, the help of a new friend was able to pull this veteran out of a dark place. Continue to the next page to see how he's doing today.
Each month Merrick Pet Care and K9 for Warriors can have up to 8 veterans come in to receive service dogs. The veterans and their new dogs stay on campus for 3 weeks. With the help of warrior trainers they are taught how to work with their service dog. 95% of the dogs that the organization works with are rescues and retrained to help meet the veteran's needs.
Merrick is a chocolate lab that the organization found after he had been a stray on a local downtown street.
"Having Merrick by my side is extremely calming you know if I get into a stressful situation or something here's right there looking at me with those puppy dog eyes," Raybon said. "I can just reach down and love on him and carry on and he's just there with me."
Raybon was angry the first time Merrick woke him up in the middle of the night.
"He gets up on me and starts pawing my face," he said. "Dogs don't have soft paws. He was just slapping me."
As it turns out, the dog was saving the veteran from his own nightmares.
"With a service animal, that animal is trained to watch your back," Mike Allen, a peer specialist with the Military Veteran Peer Network said. "If something is going to attack him, like his dreams, the dog is going to wake him up."
Share this amazing story to help raise awareness about the help that pets can provide warriors who are battling PTSD.
Source: People