Service Dogs Help Reconnect Veterans, Restore Daily Life

For some veterans, the difference between isolation and re-engagement with the world can come down to something as simple as a nudge.

Or a paw.

A series of testimonials shared during a recent community breakfast in Trenton captured that impact in stark terms, with veterans describing lives once defined by anxiety, anger and isolation now reshaped by the presence of a trained service dog.

“I was a hermit before,” one veteran said. “And now I’m no longer a hermit.”

Another described the change in his home life, where even his children noticed the difference.

“My kids are asking different questions like, ‘Why is daddy being so nice now?’” he said. “Because before, I was angry. I wasn’t happy.”

The stories were shared during an “Eat and Greet: Morning Edition” event held April 24 at the Historic Dade County Courthouse. The breakfast, sponsored by Alliance for Dade, featured Warrior Freedom Service Dogs board chair Susan Millican as the guest speaker.

Warrior Freedom Service Dogs, a nonprofit organization, works to train and place service dogs with veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injuries and other service-related conditions. The goal, Millican said, is simple but far-reaching.

“Our mission is to reconnect veterans with the society and the families that they have gotten disconnected from,” she said.

The dogs are trained to perform specific tasks that go beyond companionship. They can detect rising stress levels, interrupt anxiety episodes, provide deep pressure therapy and even wake veterans from night terrors.

“They smell the cortisol and will indicate on the person,” Millican said. “They let them know something is going on in their body before they even recognize it themselves.”

For veterans dealing with hypervigilance, the dogs can also create space in public settings or help guide them out of overwhelming situations.

“They’ve got my back,” one veteran said.

Founded in 2016, Warrior Freedom Service Dogs has graduated 38 service dog teams as part of its program, and the need remains as significant and as urgent as it was when the organization began its work. Millican pointed to a widely cited statistic that an average of 22 veterans die by suicide each day, a number the organization hopes to help reduce.

“Our goal is to change that statistic,” she said.

To help move dogs through the processes to prepare them to become service animals, the organization relies heavily on volunteers, particularly foster families who help raise and socialize dogs before formal training begins.

“That is one of the biggest needs that we have,” Millican said. “We can’t provide dogs if we can’t get them in the pipeline.”

Millican, a retired educator, has been involved with Warrior Freedom Service Dogs since 2016. Over time, the work became personal.

After being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress later in life, she began to recognize in herself the same symptoms she had seen in veterans for years. Her service dog, she said, was already responding to those moments before she fully understood what was happening.

Now, when she talks about the organization’s mission, it carries a different weight.

For Millican, the work is no longer just about helping veterans adjust to life after service. It is about giving people a way back, to their families, their routines and the parts of themselves they thought were gone.

“You’ve got somebody who’s got your back,” she said.

And for the people who have come through the program, knowing a furry friend is always there can be the support they need to start again.

CAPTION: A veteran works with his service dog. Warrior Freedom Service Dogs, a nonprofit organization, works to train and place service dogs with disabled veterans.