For more than 15 years, VA has covered veterinary care for service dogs that assist veterans with physical disabilities. It has declined to do that for PTSD service dogs, however, citing a lack of empirical evidence for their therapeutic value. Service dogs now prompt deaf people when a doorbell rings, retrieve pills for people in wheelchairs and alert people with diabetes to blood sugar spikes. Psychiatric service dogs are forging a new frontier in this field, and their mission blends those of task-oriented service canines and animals seen as providing emotional support. Only that last third express interest in having service dogs for life.

Source: Washington Post March 27, 2018 14:56 UTC