Page 960 - Total War on PTSD

attachment between us that continues today. I can look at her and know that we have experienced the same things. That's a pretty unique thing to share with a dog.
I have had Rory my Black Labrador, for four years now. I got him from America's Vet Dogs and he was fully trained, with Mobility Assistance as well as PTSD Service Dog training. I spent two weeks on their campus learning to work with him and working with the organization's trainers. Myself and my fellow Veterans learned not only how to train their dogs but also how to handle the dogs, how to give commands, and how to teach the dogs additional bridged skills once they returned home with their dogs. All of the organization's dogs come with a common set of commands, and the commands are based on some very common actions, so they taught us how to take these core actions and 'chain' them into new commands. Just as an example, Rory learned 'iPhone'. For this command, she learned to go find the phone, retrieve it and bring it to me wherever I am. The reason for this particular command is that I spend a lot of time at home alone and I am prone to falls so it's important for her to get the phone to me in an emergency situation.
The VA still doesn't want to recognize PTSD Service Dogs. Rory is insured by the VA and actually has better healthcare insurance than I do. He is recognized as my dog-of-record with the VA so veterinary services are taken care of. You can pretty much go to any veterinarian and the dog will be taken care of. However, the VA doesn't offer the same benefit for PTSD dogs. You have to have a physical condition that the dog is trained to mitigate before the dog is covered and considered as a 'prosthetic device' through the VA.
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