These Dogs Are Doing What Medicine Can't

You and I both know this: PTSD isn’t something you just “get over.” It’s a battlefield you carry in your mind, your heart, and sometimes your bones. For first responders and veterans, the visible scars might heal—but the invisible ones? They linger. And too often, they lead people to the brink.

I want to talk straight about one weapon in the fight we hear too little about: service dogs. Not mascots, not comfort animals—full-fledged partners in survival. What if I told you these dogs have, in many cases, done what medicine couldn’t?

The Reality Check: Suicide, PTSD, and the Margins No One Talks About

First, some cold truths we can’t ignore:

• The Center for PTSD (VA) estimates that 20% of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan develop PTSD.

• Among first responders—firefighters, police officers, EMTs—the exposure to trauma is relentless. Studies suggest rates of PTSD among them range between 10% and 20% (depending on department, exposure, support, etc.).

• Now, suicide: In many years, responder suicides outnumber line-of-duty deaths. According to Rise Up & Fight Ministries, that’s not hyperbole—they say, “responder suicides are outnumbering line-of-duty deaths year after year.” 

We already know that people with PTSD are at higher risk of suicidal ideation, attempts, and death by suicide compared to the general population. The numbers are chilling.

So when you’re reading this, I want you to feel what I feel: we owe them more than a pat on the back. We owe them life.

Service Dogs: What the Research Actually Shows

Alright — now to the heart of it. What evidence supports that service dogs can shift the trajectory, even in the darkest places?

1. Anxiety reduction, better self-regulation

Multiple studies show that having a service dog lowers baseline anxiety and hyperarousal (when your body is stuck in fight-or-flight). Dogs provide a grounding presence—their touch, their rhythm—helping people regulate the nerves that have gone rogue.

2. Social connection & reduced isolation

PTSD often turns into loneliness. People withdraw. Service dogs can pull someone out of isolation: they create safe reason to interact (walking the dog, training, visiting public spaces). That reconnection can mean the difference between “I’m alone” and “I still matter.”

3. Reduction in suicidal ideation & crisis moments

This is the piece we pray for. Some preliminary (but promising) research suggests people with PTSD + service dogs report lower levels of suicidal thoughts over time. The dog becomes an anchor—a reminder, a living, breathing promise that someone’s waiting, someone needs me.

However — to be fully honest — I could not find a credible, peer-reviewed study that proves zero suicides ever among veterans or first responders who have had service dogs. The data just isn’t there (yet). That doesn’t mean it’s not happening, but science hasn’t caught up in that specific metric.

Still- in many of the studies, participants report significant decreases in depression, anxiety, and suicidality scales after being paired with a service dog vs. before. The trend is hopeful. The signal is loud: these dogs do something powerful.

Why These Dogs Matter (Even Beyond the Data)

We live in a broken, fallen world. Medicine, therapy, medication—they’re all tools God has given us. But sometimes they aren’t enough, or they don’t reach where our soul breaks. That’s where service dogs come in. They walk the gap—between mind and body, between despair and hope.

You might say, “Why a dog? Why not more therapy?” Because PTSD doesn’t live just in the mind. It lives in the body, in the nerves, in the reflexes. A dog doesn’t argue with your mind—they respond to your body. When your brain can’t talk back, the dog is there to steady it.

To those who say “it’s just animals,” I say: don’t underestimate God’s redemption in the ordinary. In Scripture, God often uses the humble, the low, the unseen to heal, to restore. If a dog can bring someone back from the edge, that’s a miracle in slow motion.

To the Struggler Reading This

If you’re reading this and your throat is tight, your heart buried, your mind racing—listen:

• You are not a burden.

• God sees you.

• Healing is real.

• Sometimes that means combining faith, medicine, therapy—and a four-legged warrior by your side.

Maybe a service dog is part of your path forward. Maybe it’s not. But don’t stop fighting. Don’t give up.

Because of that, we fight. Because of that, we hope. Because these dogs are doing what medicine couldn’t, we press in and believe that life will win again—for you, for them, for all of us.

Stay safe out there.

-Tom

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18 (ESV)

We are a trauma-informed 501(c)(3) on a mission to bring hope, healing, and restoration to first responders and their families- Through chaplaincy, crisis response, formal training, and peer support initiatives, we strive to educate and offer support.

• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs – National Center for PTSD

• O’Haire, M.E., et al. “Effects of service dogs on posttraumatic stress disorder in veterans: A randomized clinical trial.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (2022)

• Kloep, M.L., et al. “Service dogs and veterans with PTSD: Preliminary outcomes from a pilot study.” Frontiers in Psychology (2017)

• Yarborough, B.J.H., et al. “An observational study of the effects of service dogs on psychosocial health and quality of life in veterans with PTSD.” Human–Animal Interaction Bulletin (2018)