Military Dogs Suffer Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder

Military animal experts say that over half of the military dogs serving on battlefields return home with post-traumatic-stress-disorders.

Dogs acting in the army alongside soldiers are a practice with an already solid tradition. The military services include over 2,500 dogs, among which Labradors, Belgian Malinois, Dutch and German shepherds.

There have been situations, such as the Vietnam War, when soldiers have to leave hundreds of dogs on the field, because of the carrying difficulties they provoked, Los Angeles Times reports.

Recently, officials’ care about the serving animals has increased considerably. At a closer analysis, it has been noted that the job difficulties can cause behavioral dysfunctions in dogs, similar to the ones common among humans.

Some traumas are easy to be cured, while some others require a more complex, long-term treatment.

“This is something that does not get better without intervention,” says Burghardt, responsible for a PTSD suffering dog, Cora.

Veterinarians say that even the awareness on the problem alone is a considerable step ahead PTSD treatment in not only dogs, but eventually in humans also.