ptsd Canine Ptsd

[Wings]

x

x

x

One Marine Corps explosives dog, a black Lab named Daisy, has found 13 hidden bombs since arriving in Afghanistan in October. Zoom, another Lab, refused to associate with the Marines after seeing one serviceman shoot a feral Afghan dog. Only after weeks of retraining, hours of playing with a reindeer squeaky toy and a gusher of good-boy praise was Zoom willing to go back to work.

"With some Marines, PTSD can be from one terrible event, or a cumulative effect," says Maj. Rob McLellan, 33-year-old operations officer of the 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, who trains duck-hunting dogs back home in Green Bay, Wis. Likewise, he says, the stress sometimes "weighs a dog down to the point where the dog just snaps."

Gunner snapped.

For weeks after he arrived at Camp Leatherneck, Gunner refused to leave the kennel compound. Even now almost any sound sends him into a panic. If a shipping container door slams somewhere nearby, Gunner hunches down and bolts for an open cage door. If an artillery round goes off in the distance, he races into Cpl. McCoy's tent, then weaves around the cages, his tail low and twitchy. Even the click of a camera shutter can send him flashing back to some bad experience only he can recall.

more http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...;s_Most_Popular

Edited March 5, 2010 by Wings

[Pete53]

That is distressing they should retire that dog to a nice family home.

[carlie]

Wings,

Thanks for this post.

carlie

[RonP]

Has anyone really thought about the heroism of these dogs ?

How many have been save by "Mans Best Friend"

I hope they can retire him with the honor he truly deserves. We as Vets, reach that point also.

Can we be Dogs Best Friend ? I hope he makes it from his dreams.....

What a wonderful testament to Canine PTSD.

RP

[LarryJ]

Well, as an animal lover (Harley and Jo-Jo and Whizzer (the d-o-g's (shhhhh, do NOT say "dogs", it'll give 'em a "complex")) and Lucy and Lola and Gracie and Kinky and Gizmoe (the cats') will attest to the animal lover in me, and, as such, it is with trepidation and sorrow that I must tell y'all, but, at least in Nam, when one of the "service dogs" had a "break-down" or coudln't perform, they were "put down", usually right there, "on-the-spot". This has been on of the most upsetting of many memories................................................