July 29, 2022 // Franchising.com // PHOENIX, Ariz. - The findings of a newly published study led by the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine provides further evidence of the benefits of service dogs for veterans with PTSD and helps identify more specifically which dogs and human-animal interactions lead to the best outcomes. The research, led by Dr. Maggie O’Haire associate professor of Human-Animal Interaction in the College of Veterinary Medicine with the help of K9s For Warriors and support from the Dogtopia Foundation, will help maximize the benefits for service dog and veteran pairs and improve mental health and quality of life for more veterans with PTSD.
Key findings from the study include:
The three-year study was conducted from 2017 to 2020 and involved 82 veterans with PTSD and their 82 service dogs from K9s For Warriors. O’Haire’s team video-recorded behavior tests with the dogs, asked the veterans about their mental health and used smartphone technology to measure daily emotions and how much time veterans spent with their service dogs.
“The ultimate goal of our research is to amplify the voices of veterans and their families through science,” said O’Haire, who has been conducting research on service dogs and veterans for seven years across three studies with a fourth ongoing study. “We are providing quantifiable data that shows how service dogs can improve symptoms and quality of life for certain veterans with PTSD.”
The therapeutic role of service dogs for PTSD is contentious due to a limited evidence base. A core evidence evaluator is the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) who is the largest integrated health care, benefits and service provider for military veterans. Despite long veteran waitlists for service dogs, the VA has hesitated to fund service dogs for PTSD due to a lack of clinical evidence supporting their efficacy. Evidence is required to prevent the need for service dogs from being minimized and unsupported.
“We’ve seen first-hand the benefits of service dogs for veterans with PTSD and are proud to support Dr. O’Haire’s ground-breaking research,” said Liz Meyers, executive director of the Dogtopia Foundation, the charitable arm of the leading dog daycare franchise, Dogtopia. “Until financial support improves for the men and women who bravely served our country, we remain committed to raising funds to train service dogs for veterans with PTSD and increasing awareness of the need through the efforts of our franchisees who are incredibly dedicated to this worthy cause.”
In partnership with Dogtopia’s franchise network of nearly 200 dog daycares, the Dogtopia Foundation has raised money to help sponsor 187 service dogs since the 501(c)3 nonprofit organization was established in 2017. This number includes more than 60 dogs who have been sponsored in partnership with K9s For Warriors over the last year.
SOURCE Dogtopia
With more than 230 locations operating and 350 more sold and in development, Dogtopia is the largest and fastest-growing dog daycare provider in the world.