Army Dog PTSD Bomb-Sniffing Kanine

By: Staff
Staff Writer
Published: Aug 7, 2021

Gina is an Army bomb-sniffing dog that suffers daily from PTSD.

Army dog PTSD is a bomb-sniffing kanine. Gina just returned from Iraq and suffers from PTSD, also known as post-traumatic stress disorder. Gina is a highly trained, U.S. military dog that has been diagnosed with PTSD.

After serving a six-month stint in Iraq, Gina was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, by a military vet. More and more military vets are finding that PTSD is affecting dogs that are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Gina, the bomb-sniffing German Shepherd is being treated for the disorder after she came home from Iraq and refused to enter rooms.

Once Gina goes indoors, she becomes terrified, tucking her tail between her legs and crouching on the floor. Then she hides under furniture to avoid humans. The German Shepherd used to be a people-friendly canine.

However, at the age of 2, she was sent to Iraq to search homes and would frequently observe loud explosions. Once she was even in a connvoy when one of the vehicles got bombed. "She was terrified of everybody and it was obviously a condition that led her down that road," stated Master Sgt. Eric Haynes, the kennel master at Peterson Air Force Base.

According to Nicholas Dodman, head of the animal behavior program at Tufts University's Cummings School of Veterinary medicine, dogs can undergo a similar PTSD as humans. "Many vets don't like to diagnose the condition to animals because they feel it degrades military personnel," Dodman said in a statement.

It's been a year since Gina has served overseas, she has been recovering after therapy and is gradually being reintroduced into her life in the military. "while I have worked with many dogs affected by war, Gina has been the worst," Haynes stated. He hopes that she will recover, but isn't sure that she will. "Anytime someone has that much fear about anything, then obviously it will be hard just to get it fixed," he added.