The term “man’s best friend” takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to military veterans and their service dogs.
Leonardo Salas, senior business management major and marketing minor, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and social anxiety after serving 11 years in the Marine Corps.
Prior to receiving his service dog, Salas secluded himself. He locked himself in his house and wanted nothing to do with the outside world or with people who didn’t understand what he was going through.
“I would only go out to hang out with other veterans and typically go out to drink. I found myself in the position where I was only going out to drink, and when I would drink, I would do it excessively,” said Salas. “I felt myself kind of falling into this pattern.”
One of his friends, who had also been diagnosed with PTSD, noticed what Salas was going through and recommended he go to Service Dogs 4 Service Men, a nonprofit organization based in Hollywood, Fla., that matches a fully trained service dog with military men and women in need.
Salas agreed to enter the program and in July of 2013, he received his service dog, Scout, who was specially trained to help with his anxiety and depression.
Salas said, “My dog has changed my life and my quality of life has improved greatly because of this program.”
When Salas feels uncomfortable and his social anxiety starts to kick in, Scout is trained to distract him or deter his attention. If Scout feels that the anxiety has surpassed the normal level, then he is trained to walk off and pull his leash to lead Salas into an area of less anxiety.
“Greyhounds are used because they are known to be sentimental and they have a tendency of picking up our emotion a lot better than an average dog would,” said Salas. “As a result, Scout is very keen on my emotional status, and how I feel.”
Service Dogs 4 Service Men, which started two years ago, specializes in pairing veterans who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder or who need mobility assistance, with a retired racing greyhound from Greyhound Pets of America.
After a vetern is diagnosed and presents paperwork to Service Dogs 4 Serive Men, he or she is interviewed by Daniel De La Rosa, vice president and director of training for the organization. Once a greyhound is paired with a veteran, the dog goes through an intensive four-to-six month training period.
De La Rosa said, “These dogs are specially trained. I train these dogs to specifically match the needs of the veteran.”
For veterans who require mobility assistance, the greyhound becomes a companion that helps simplify everyday tasks that have become difficult to accomplish. Whether it’s picking something up, kneeling or getting out of a chair, the greyhound can be trained to support its owner in order to make his or her life easier.
Service Dogs 4 Service Men is the only program of its kind that exclusively uses retired greyhounds because, besides being emotionally alert, these dogs have lived a similar life to their veteran owners.
As puppies, these dogs never really had homes and by six months, they’re placed on strict training schedules to compete in races. Like the greyhounds, military men and women go through a regimented training program .
Neither the greyhound nor the veterans are trained on how to deal with reintegration into society after racing or returning from military service, which causes a certain degree of social anxiety or PTSD.
“I think that is why we mesh so well with greyhounds,” said Salas, “Because we are going through the exact same things in life and we are helping each other through it.”
By federal law, a service dog can accompany its owner anywhere, as long as the owner carries proper identification for the dog.
Officers from NSU’s Office of Public Safety have approached Salas and Scout, but, because Scout has the necessary identification, there has never been a problem.
“Being in the infantry with the Marines, you always have to check everything. I understand Public Safety coming over to verify that he is a service dog because they are here to take care of everyone and, if everyone was allowed to bring a dog on campus, it could be dangerous,” said Salas.
Recently, however, Salas found himself in an unfortunate situation due to a misunderstanding.
While talking with friends on campus, Salas said a woman overheard him make an inside joke. To Salas and his friends, the comment was acceptable, but the woman heard the comment and Salas believes she took it out of context.
“There is always that mentality of military vets that, regardless of how much people honor us and respect us for what we have done, there is always a percentage of people that think we are just outright ludicrous,” said Salas.
According to Salas the woman called him a “deviant” for being a war veteran, claimed that Scout had been placed in a dangerous home with a veteran with PTSD.
Salas said, “I just wish there was better awareness, a little bit more open mindedness, and more understanding by people. I am not naïve or unrealistic to think that we can make everybody happy. But it’s hurtful to think how somebody can be so critical to a military veteran because of the things they went through.”
Besides that incident, students and professors have supported Salas and Scout. In fact, Service Dogs 4 Service Men has teamed up with the Nova Student Veteran Association and with Heroes Entering Life’s Opportunities, a nonprofit organization founded by Kelsey Desantis, junior business adminstration major. Together, these organizations are planning an event on Nov. 16 called Freedom Fair to honor and thank military members for their service.
Two other NSU veteran students have entered the Service Dog 4 Service Man program and are possible recipients for the next dog class in December.
Salas says that he hopes people spread the word about the event because Service Dogs 4 Service Men doesn’t just benefit veterans.
“[The program] benefits society as a whole because the better we get, the better we do for others,” said Salas.
