Study: Service dogs ease PTSD symptoms

Specially trained service dogs helped ease PTSD symptoms in U.S. military veterans in a small study that the researchers hope will help expand options for service members. The research was published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open. The dogs are trained to pick up a veteran's physical signs of distress and can interrupt panic attacks and nightmares with a loving nudge. After three months, PTSD symptoms improved in both groups, but the veterans with dogs saw a bigger improvement on average than the veterans on the waiting list.