Military Review English Edition November December 2016 | Page 99

DOG THERAPY

the benefits of integrating dogs directly into units to
reduce the rate at which the ASR converts to PTSD and
the degree to which the presence of dogs reduces the severity of PTSD among deployed soldiers, either directly
or throug h better detection and treatment compliance.
The study should be designed to answer a number
of questions. First, what are the optimal and minimum
required ratios of dogs to soldiers to have the desired
outcome? Second, what level of training is needed for
the dogs? Is it necessary or cost effective to integrate fully
trained service dogs into every platoon, or will lower
levels of training meet the requirements? While a service
dog can perform more specialized duties that may be
important in the treatment of PTSD, an emotional
support dog, or even a well-trained, ordinary dog, may
have enough of a benefit to help prevent PTSD without
costing $50,000 in training.47 Third, the study should
measure several outcomes: the frequency of development of ASR; the frequency of conversion from ASR to
PTSD; the severity and duration of the PTSD; and any
impact on unit cohesion and combat readiness. Finally,
the study design needs to avoid a key risk: with the
de-stigmatization shown to come from involving dogs in
PTSD treatment, the rate of reporting PTSD symptoms
could go up with no change in the true incidence. The
study design should be structured to control for this risk
and the confounding data as much as possible.

Future Implications
Before the military could act on the results of such
a study, the economics will need to be understood.
There is reasonable data from which to estimate cost.
Training soldiers is expensive; the basic cost to train a
new soldier is about $50,000.48 However, if additional
training or education and use of expensive equipment are included, that number rises significantly.

Furthermore, as soldiers gain experience, they learn
information that cannot always be taught, making
them worth even more.49 The military invests the
money to train a soldier under the assumption that
they will then serve for a certain number of years or
a certain number of deployments. However, when
a soldier must leave the deployment or the military
prematurely because of PTSD, the military loses the
benefit of the productivity.
Service dogs require about two years of training,
costing $25,000–$50,000. In addition, the military
would assume the costs to transport, house, feed,
groom, and provide the required veterinary care for
the dogs. Such costs are likely to be higher in a forward
operation base than in garrison. Ideally, the study will
allow estimates of the complete cost of the proposed
dog deployments.
Although preliminary numbers look promising,
it is too early to make a formal economic case for the
benefit of integrating dogs into units. In designing the
study, it would be essential to collect the data necessary
to enable an effective cost-benefit economic analysis.

Conclusion
By deploying support or service dogs, service members with PTSD might be diagnosed and treated more
quickly, ultimately improving their chances for recovery as well as enhancing unit cohesion. Dogs might
also help de-stigmatize mental health care and reduce
behavioral incidences due to PTSD. By deploying
the dogs in units, not just with the COSC teams, the
military may be able to reduce the development and
severity of PTSD after an ASR. In this way, the military could more effectively take care of a problem that
is affecting as much as 20 percent of their soldiers; they
could better take care of their own.

Notes
1. Hal Bernton and Adam Ashton, “As PTSD Cases Surge, Army
Overhauling Mental Health Services,” Seattle Times, 2 November 2015, accessed 28 June 2016, http://www.seattletimes.com/
seattle-news/health/hands-on-approach-to-military-mental-health/.
2. Terri Tanielian and Lisa Jaycox, eds., Invisible Wounds of
War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and
Services to Assist Recovery (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2008), 381,
accessed 28 June 2016, http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/

MILITARY REVIEW  November-December 2016

pubs/monographs/2008/RAND_MG720.pdf; Andreas Maercker
et al., “Diagnosis and Classification of Disorders Specifically Associated with Stress: Proposals for ICD-11,” World Psychiatry 12, no. 3
(October 2013): 200.
3. Matthew Burke, “Study Examines Impact of Service Dogs on
Veterans with PTSD,” Stars and Stripes, 31 January 2015, accessed 28
June 2016, http://www.stripes.com/news/study-examines-impact-ofservice-dogs-on-veterans-with-ptsd-1.327058.

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