Local veterans advocate Laurie Mann has expressed support for the Australian government's $22 million commitment to provide psychiatric assistance dogs to veterans living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
The Department of Veterans' Affairs' psychiatric assistance dog program matches trained dogs with veterans diagnosed with PTSD.
The funding will also support veterans who sourced an accredited assistance dog prior to the start of the program, providing funding for veterinary bills, pet insurance and vaccinations.
One hundred dogs with veterans
To be eligible for the program, veterans must have a Veteran Gold or White Card, have a current diagnosis of PTSD and be engaged in treatment with their mental health professional for a minimum of three months.
Veterans are also required to attend a training program prior to being matched with a dog to ensure there are no issues around the management of the dog and its welfare.
Mr Mann knows firsthand how important these dogs can be for veteran's mental health.
"I've got I've got a psychiatric dog myself, and they save veterans lives; they also save a lot in medication." he said
"The dogs provide a stability in your mental health; they look after you and they also surprise you with friendship and mateship."
Mr Mann's dog Indy also helps with his mobility.
"I get around on the gopher; she jumps off runs up to touch the traffic lights for me, gets back on and we're ready to go," he said.
"She looks after me if I've dropped something and guards my back.
"She works very hard."
Mr Mann has had Indy for nearly six years after getting her as a pup and training her himself before the program existed.
Many of the dogs used in the program were previously seeing eye dogs trained through the Royal Society for the Blind who either didn't make the grade or couldn't find a match.
Assistance dogs are typically labradors or labradoodles with their size depending on the veteran's needs with dogs typically no less than 4 kilograms.
Mr Mann said the assistance dogs can play a number of roles for the veterans.
"They look after mobility issues, mental health issues; they assist them to do certain jobs" he said.
"They can pick up washing, open doors and wake veterans up in the middle of the night when they are having dreams which are making them go a bit crazy by turning a light on in the bedroom."
"They can be trained to detect diabetes issues, breathing issues; all sorts — it just depends on what each veteran needs."
Mr Mann said the funding is crucial as it can cost anywhere between $10-30,000 to train an assistance dog.
"For $22 million it probably saves millions in psychiatric care, medications and emergency resources having to be consumed looking after these veterans." he said.
"If you spent $22 million and you could save 22 lives or a single life, it's a value-added programme."
