The pitbulls rescued from Michael Vick's dog-fighting ring have shown that they can also recover. It was the largest study done on dogs with PTSD. I can't remember the exact statistic, but something like 47/50 dogs have recovered and are in safe, loving homes now.

Putting them back in combat definitely seems inhumane and lacking in compassion.

Great post. I often think of dogs as an analogy to help me feel less shame regarding C-PTSD. If I was a dog, how would I recover?

This always upsets me, what humans do to animals. My dogs show signs of being affected by my x's abusive and insane behaviour. Cringing, reacting to loud noises, panicking when something falls because he used to go into screaming fits if he dropped something. They are very anxious about me going out because he first locked them in a house alone for 4 weeks, only going once a week to fill water containers and food and screamed at them for messing in the house. He then opened the door and just abandoned them to their own devices. I had run for my life before this happened and couldn't have my dear dogs. I went back and tracked them down living with a neighbour. I have a place where I can have them now and they are slowly relaxing. I carry so much guilt over what happened to them but I had to find a safe place first. I also rely on them so much as an early warning system, I would be more frightened living alone without them. We are healing together and they are my life now.

I'm surprised that they are treating like they never "knew".......

So many abused animlas react to triggers just like us that remind them of the traumatic situation.
I hope they treat them well and not just sent them to the pound cause they can no longer be used.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/02/ptsd-on-the-rise-for-mili_n_1125925.html?ref=green&ir=Green&icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl3%7Csec3_lnk2%7C117400

here's some more on it...................

I wish 47 out 50 of us healed do easy, it would be quieter for here for the reaming 3 though - lol

I know KickingIT! I keep thinking about what those dogs got. A safe home with loving families was key. They also made sure the families had experience with that breed of dog and each dog was followed up on.

Too bad we couldn't figure out how to do that with humans! Maybe then there would be a much higher percentage of recovery. Instead, it seems too many kids or adults who are suffering are punished or placed in situations where more abuse goes on. I think so much could be learned from the Sandusky fiasco. That man had easy access to foster kids.

looney1: you can help your dogs by tossing treats down for them the instant they are triggered. Even causing a mild trigger ready with treats. Dogs have the ability to change their mind rapidly(month or so) and do well with counter conditioning(what this is). I wonder if it would work on humans.

I have a dog who was with me in the worst of it and she was really timid and still deals with some submissive urination, but I have worked in this way to make her much better.

I developed a closer bond with the dog my cousin rescued than other three she has. The dog was so skinny that when they first took her in she could only take maybe seven to twelve steps before having to sit down and rest again. She wouldn't be in the same room as me. Now she nearly knocks me over the first time she greets me and can outrun my dog when they play. :]

Terrific, it's great to be triggered at midnight. I knew there was a reason I don't visit this forum much anymore...

I thought about joining the police force in the mounted division or as a dog handler. I grew up with horses and dogs and loved them like friends, as equal spirits- which they are. It took about two minutes to decide I couldn't train, care for, and develop a trusting relationship with an animal and then ask them to do something dangerous for me. Seemed to me it was like asking your kid (who lives to please you) to do something definitely not in their best interest. Well that's immoral- unethical. It is in my book. People can kid themselves they are better than animals in some way, that it is ok to sacrifice an animal, if a human's life is spared... But I disagree. Training and handling animals then taking them to battle is one more dehumanizing aspect of war I find especially repugnant. I'd be interested to know how the handlers feel about their dogs performing as asked, and being blown up, or shot. I wouldn't mind betting this scenario is a risk factor for the human handler developing PTSD later.

On a personal note, my bully was a big tough dog, but he was born in the house of the guy who was physically abusing me. He was afraid of him, for good reason. Sean (the prick who gave me PTSD) killed my kitten at that house, he threw him against a wall. I was out, at the time. I moved out soon after, and into my own house but Sean knew where my house was, and kept turning up. He'd take my dog, dragging him over the six foot fence (all locked up for 'safety') and go off god knows where. Of course, I would come home, find Spotty dog gone, and know this psychopath was warning me he could hurt my dog, he could hurt me- whenever he wanted.

Spotty was with me during some of the worst moments of my life and we looked after each other as best we could. He suffered fear, distress and anxiety at seeing me distressed and vice versa. Restraining orders didn't work. Police didn't enforce them, in fact, Sean had policemen friends. I assume he gave them information in exchange for getting out of trouble. I ended up having to sell that house, getting raped on the floor next to the kitchen was the last straw. We packed our bags one night, and moved out telling no-one where the new home was. He didn't find us for a few years. The pictures of Spotty dog before this last move are a study in hypervigilance and anxiety. After maybe 12 months at the new safe home, he'd settled down a lot. Pictures show him as the kind, calm, beautiful dog that he was. But we shared a trauma bond, and my wounds hadn't healed. He would pick up on fear and try to comfort me but this would provoke the anxiety in him too. We both carried PTSD with us, him to end of his life, though I was able to find a safer place for us for a few years until we got tracked down again. Spotty dog and me were together through thick and thin, for fifteen years. It was the most profound trusting relationship I have ever had.

I carry a deep hatred of people who are cruel to animals. If PTSD can make people dangerous then this is my trigger.

Sean came home back in the early days to find his dog Zane had eaten his dope plants in the back yard. Zane hid under the house, whilst Sean tried to coax him out. He was holding a brick and intended to kill Zane with it. I got a shovel and told him if he hurt Zane, I'd kill him with this shovel if it was the last thing I did (or words to that effect). He backed down (and excuse me, if I don't buy that dope smoking is just a 'spiritual' thing...) and no one got hurt that day.

I don't believe they do heal so easily. If they love you, and they do, they feel your pain for as long as you feel it. As the person in charge, the one they look up to, our job is to protect them from danger. Same goes for children. Whilst I already had a sufficiently damaged sense of self, when I first crossed Sean's path as an 18 year old, that I experienced denial, minimisation, etc of his abuse of me, it was different when it came to animals. There was no confusion there, and there still isn't.

It's wrong to take animals with you into battle. Seriously, asking your mate to sniff out bombs for you? What bullshit do you tell
yourself, that makes this ok? And how long can you sustain the lie before the truth (your betrayal of your canine's trust) bites you in the ass?

And how many guys go off to war thinking they are doing it for a good reason, only to come home shattered and disillusioned, and some of you I know- feel betrayed by your country for sending you into some seriously dodgy situations. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori...?.humph- better to send young people to war (before the brain has finished developing, and they're still receptive and pliable) and really who over 30 is buying the idea that the reality of war, and the depths of depravity that accompany it, is justifiable? Let alone 'sweet and decorous'?

This governmental 'appropriation' and perversion of the love and trust between a handler and their working dog in combat scenarios, is sick, imo. Pure and simple. Some military official somewhere even now is giving some wet behind the ears kid a dog on a leash, telling him you are now comrades (brothers) in arms (cue Dire Straits). What he's not saying, is that you- the dog handler- will carry the sole responsibility for that dog's safety in your heart, although, that the dog is expendable, is implicit. Of course, by extension, so are you (also officially and state-sanctioned and fucked up), but this is still no justification for putting an animal in danger purposefully, knowing the risk to them, as a job. It's fucked up, dehumanizing. Politics (and other bullshit justifications and agendas aside), it's just fucked up. It has to be said, and I won't apologise for that, but-

Two apologies. 1. Don't want to offend any soldiers with PTSD who come here, what I said was not meant to offend you personally. It's your masters I have a problem with. And if it's about the 'being young, with an underdeveloped brain' thing', I'm just saying you are being cynically taken advantage of. You'll realise that when you are older. There is a cure for being young, and that's surviving to old age. There's no cure for being a cynical "hawk".
And 2. My language. When I'm really upset, I say fuck a lot, out of frustration. Only time will reveal what is fucking obvious to me, scientific research will eventually prove the bleeding obvious. Animals are just like us. But until they/us/me (scientists) do "prove it", as in all things, some will be using, abusing and taking advantage of animals one way or another, right up to the bitter end.

I'm sorry Southerly, but I have to disagree. If someone was trying to get into my house, I would not hesitate to lock my dog outside to buy me enough time to get myself and my fiancee to a safe place. My point is, I know my dog would do anything for me. Don't get me wrong, I do not take that lightly, it is that I know he would rather die for me and for her than to see us both dead. In the same way I believe these animals have a rudimentary understanding of what they are doing. Not one of these soldiers is taking their dogs into a combat zone to be cruel. Just as in joining the armed forces the soldier makes a sacrifice for the whole, the dog does the same. There are dogs who will refuse to work- they are not forced to endure any torture. The majority of these dogs return home safely and can recover from their unseen wounds, the same can be said of their human counterparts thanks to the help of the dogs.

Biwi, I am not sure that I understand what you disagree with. You say you would not hesitate to sacrifice your dog to save yourself? It is fortunate that dogs are such loving, forgiving, loyal animals that yours would not mind you sacrificing it for your personal safety. It'd be awkward if the dog with it's crude understanding is thinking to itself "Why are you leaving me outside with this maniac? I thought you loved me..."

For the record, I didn't for one second imply that the soldiers involved with these dogs were being cruel. Soldiers are trained to follow orders without question and they form strong bonds with their dogs. Whilst a young soldier joins and "makes a sacrifice for the whole", I don't believe they ever fully comprehend what will be asked of them as people, and how high that cost may be and still be living. I know the suicide rate for Gulf War vets is the highest of all the conflicts to date though...Why do you think that is?? It certainly isn't job satisfaction, is it... To suggest a dog consciously makes a "sacrifice for the whole" really strikes me as absurd. I guess if they could have the vote, they'd vote Republican.

If it helps you biwi to sleep at night, thinking the majority of people and animals that go to war recover from their "unseen wounds" and freely and with full knowledge sacrifice themselves and their own young lives so that the rest of us are safe, then who am I to pop that delusion. I mean, who doesn't love a fairytale with a happy ending?

I have a service dog that is for my PTSD, and I agree with you biwi, he would do anything to protect me. The same with the dogs that go to war with our soldiers. They would do anything for them. The reason behind this is that dogs are pack animals, they see us as part of their pack and generally see humans as alpha in the pack, they will do about anything for the alpha. That is how much love and dedication they have for their family.

The other thing is that there are many breeds of dogs that are working dogs, they live for working whether it be hunting, protecting, guiding, rescuing, etc. These breeds get depressed when they aren't doing what they live for. A lot of the military dogs fall in this group.

I hate to see any animals injured, whether it is psychical or psychological injury. I believe that they can and do develop PTSD, maybe they should be placed with vets who also have PTSD, could benefit both.