The Power Of Pets For Veterans With PTSD

As we dedicate Veteran's Day to paying homage to the thousands of brave men and women who protect our country, we also recognize those organizations that work tirelessly to help veterans reintegrate back into society.

One of those organizations is Stiggy's Dogs, which trains shelter dogs to work with veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Founder and director Jennifer Petre explained to HuffPost Live's Nancy Redd everything these service dogs can do.

"They're more than just useful members of a family, they're useful members of society. They help bring these veterans back to society," Petre said. "I could rattle off some of the lists of things. More importantly, these dogs can wake veterans up from nightmares, and not just nightmares that you have at night, but ... also flashbacks that you have."

Petre added that these service dogs can also sense and stop impending panic attacks and conduct perimeter searches around a house for a veteran that may be paranoid.

Aside from the dogs' technical skills, another huge benefit is the simple companionship these four-legged creatures provide.

"Just to have that peacefulness of having that buddy around and that person around like they were used to, their battle buddy, to throw that Frisbee," Petre said.

Watch the full conversation about everyday people going the extra mile for Veterans here.

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