Military Canine PTSD: treatable but not curable

By: Chris P. Janelli

This article is a follow-up to a blog article I wrote about a year ago on military dogs suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Thanks to Dog Trainer Lee Charles Kelley (Natural Dog Training in New York City) a video entitled Dogs of War: The Fight Back Home recently came to my attention. This informative video was made in memory of Brix, a Belgian Malinois who deployed to Iraq and retuned stateside with PTSD.  By the way, the Department of Defense no longer refers to their military canines as war dogs, but rather as military working dogs (MWDs). You can learn more about military working dogs and the duties they are trained to perform.

After serving 8 years in the military, Brix was adopted in 2010 by his former Vet Tech and current President of Retired Military Working Dog Assistance Organization (RMWDAO), Cassandra Gardner.  Brix passed away on June 27, 2013.

In the July 2014 blog on military dogs suffering from PTSD, we wrote “Dr. Nicholas Dodman was one of the first animal behaviorists to call it for what it is—PTSD—and successfully treat a PTSD dog with medication.  In fact, Dodman says “the U.S. Army has now admitted to the existence of cPTSD and the C stands for Canine.  

Dr. Dodman, as do many others, believe that who gets PTSD and who doesn’t ultimately boils down to brain chemistry; more specifically to the gene RORA  that is linked with PTSD and associated with protecting brain cells from the damaging effects of stress. RORA has been implicated in resilience but that is not the whole story . . . . just a piece of the puzzle. According to Dr. Dodman, its terrifying moments that cause the body—humans and animals—to “generate chemicals” that are responsible for ingraining the memory to the point that it becomes so permanent and causes flashbacks that are never forgotten. “You can’t erase PTSD once it’s formed,” he says.

This is confirmed in the video below that explores Brix’s fight with cPTSD, by Dr. Walter Burghardt, Jr., DVM, Ph.D., and DACVB who is the Chief of Behavioral Medicine and Military Working Dog Studies at the Daniel E. Holland MWD Hospital at Lackland Air Force Base (Texas); a subordinate unit of the Department of Defense Military Working Dog Veterinary Service (DoDMWDVS) that is responsible for comprehensive veterinary care for all military working dogs (MWD) at the DoD Dog Center.

Dr. Burghardt further corroborates in the video that humans & dogs suffering PTSD display similar symptoms, and that dogs are no different than humans when it comes to prescriptions, such as Xanax and Prozac that can help treat and manage—but not cure—dogs suffering from cPTSD. Treatments have also included using human antidepressants, various other drugs, behavioral enrichment and desensitization, and counter-conditioning.

It is reported that about 5% of all MWDs returning from active war duty have exhibited cPTSD, which makes what Dr. Dodman stated even more important. Dodman said, “If you take beta-blockers within hours of the traumatic event, the memories don’t imprint and you don’t develop PTSD in the first place.”  Dodman’s conclusion is that soldiers in combat should carry a beta-blocker in their packs—specifically propranolol—and if they (the soldier and their MWD) see or experience something horrendous, they should take it to avert the syndrome.  However, to Dr. Dodman’s chagrin, the U.S. army decided not to devote budgets to pursuing the topic through research done on dogs.”

To inquire if anything had changed since Dr. Dodman made this suggestion, the Center for Canine Behavior Studies reached out to Dr. Walter Burghardt who is well known to both Nick Dodman and James Serpell. Dr. Burghardt confirmed that pursuing Dr. Dodman’s suggestion to proactively use a beta blocker prophylactically or as a post-trauma preventive has not been done as a result of innumerable reasons and obstacles; many of which are centered around having hundreds of dogs deployed at any given time in combat situations, performing various jobs under innumerable conditions with no ability to evaluate risk. Thus the military’s approach is on-going evaluation and observation of the dog’s behavior; and if a dog exhibits cPTSD to implement interventional treatment and management.

If a dog is evaluated as unable to return to duty, it is retired from active services and whenever possible—like Brix—adopted out to an appropriate owner and home environment.

In March 2013, the American Thinker posted a blog by Elise Cooper entitled Are military dogs just 'equipment'?  According to the article, “the military still classifies dogs as pieces of equipment, although Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC) is trying to pass a bill that would reclassify a military working dog from ‘equipment’ to a ‘canine member of the Armed Forces.’

Congressman Jones told American Thinker, ‘Military dog handlers consider their dogs as part of their team -- as partners, not as pieces of equipment.’  The congressman agrees with this powerful quote by author Robert Crais from his latest best-selling novel, Suspect: ‘These dogs are not machines...They are alive! They are living, feeling, warm-blooded creatures of God, and they will love you with all their hearts! These dogs will be the truest and best partners you can ever hope to have, and they will give their lives for you.  And all they ask, all they want or need, all it cost YOU to get ALL of that, is a simple word of kindness.’”

A call to Congressman Jones’ DC office to ascertain the status of his bill put me in touch with Raymond Celeste Jr., Military Legislative Assistant to Congressman Jones who replied in an email, “Dear Sir: Please note that this has been accomplished. Attached is the new Air Force Instruction, sir.” Air Force Instruction 31-126 dated 1 June 2015 by order of the Secretary of the Air Force, Army and Navy covers all aspects of how MWDs are trained, handled, cared for, treated medically (including euthanasia) and,  if deemed suitable, adopted out after service.

While dogs have a history of participating in wars side-by-side with their humans as long as the human-canine bond was established, and sacrificing their lives not out of patriotism but out of loyalty and duty to their handlers and training, they are now receiving the recognition, treatment and respect they deserve for having served their country.

Learn more about adopting a military working dog.

There are usually only a small number of dogs available at any time with hundreds of applications on file. Please consider adopting a dog from a rescue, shelter or animal control pound. There are thousands of great dogs waiting for a good home and you may just save its life.

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This article was reviewed and approved by the Public Affairs Office of the Department of Defense Military War Dog Veterinary Service

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