“Breed Advocacy” and Pit Bull Service Dogs
This section is an extension of the “psychiatric prospect” aspect and highlights a real world example of a group’s attempt to train rescue pit bulls for psychiatric service dog work. In their own words, they describe why pit bulls are unsuitable as psychiatric service dogs due to “reflecting the symptoms of their handler’s PTSD.” They also note that “the longer the team spends together, the more the dog’s training would ‘unravel’ and revert to the genetic disposition of the dog.”
Pit Bulls 4 Patriots was launched in 2011 as a specialty group only training rescued pit bulls to help military vets with PTSD. However, in less than a year, their pilot program fully broke down due to problems with the pit bull breed. By 2012, the group resurfaced under the name, Hounds 4 Heroes, specializing in only using rescued greyhounds to help military vets with PTSD. Both sites are now offline, but we captured their “explanation” before they shut down Pit Bulls 4 Patriots.
What began as a “breed advocacy” service dog stunt in 2011, ended in near disaster. The pit bulls “sensitivity” puts them at risk of becoming “unbalanced by constantly reflecting the symptoms of their handler’s PTSD,” they determined. Because most of their dogs “washed out,” the group was then stuck with pit bulls they could not adopt out. “The founders’ home became filled with dogs and we were thus unable to take in new service dog candidates to train,” states the group.
On the dog side we learned a lot from the very capable, loving and loyal pit bull terrier type dogs in our program. It became apparent that this is perhaps more difficult for the dog than any other type of service because of the extreme emotional/energy state of the handler with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We have found that over a period of time the dogs’ sensitivity, which is normally a wonderful trait, puts them at risk of becoming unbalanced by constantly reflecting the symptoms of their handler’s PTSD. We became clear that we need dogs who are able to provide calm in any situation rather than matching the handler’s feelings. Also, it is critical that PTSD service dogs can adapt and recover quickly from stress, and to be resilient enough to do that again and again.
All service dog programs have washouts — really great dogs who need to be diverted to a different path. A great deal of time, energy and money went into finding new situations for our wonderful pit bull terrier “washouts”. The founders’ home became filled with dogs and we were thus unable to take in new service dog candidates to train. We realized our program needs to work with dogs for whom we can quickly and easily find a permanent home or a foster home when need be. - Pit Bulls 4 Patriots, captured January 5, 2012 (www.pitbulls4patriots.org)
The founders provided more information after they started Hounds 4 Heroes. Blogger Craven Desires captured these statements in a 2015 post. While working with greyhounds, the trainers discovered they did “not have to train over any strong genetically bred instincts and drives (such as protection/guarding, being territorial, herding, dog aggression, or hunting)” and that the genetic instincts and drive the dog defaults to (fighting breed vs. greyhound) is a critical matter of safety.
When living with someone who has fluctuating weak energy and leadership skills, such as anyone with a psychiatric disorder, a dog will revert to its genetically bred instincts and/or to default behaviors learned in puppyhood. Skilled training can override weaknesses in temperament and high-drive instinctual behaviors, but our PTSD handlers will not be able to maintain training over the top of these things. The longer the team spends together, the more the dog’s training would “unravel” and revert to the genetic predisposition of the dog. Examples of this would be an unbalanced German shepherd who falls back inappropriately to his instinct to guard and bite when threatened, or a herding dog who neurotically begins nipping at the feet and heels of anything that moves around his person. - Hounds 4 Heroes, captured February 12, 2015 (www.h4htb.org)