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Florida Congressman pushes for service dogs for veterans

Veteran Brett Simon has had his service dog Reagan for more than four years.

He got her after he came back from his deployment to Iraq.

He said coming back to the states was difficult.

“A lot of it was isolation, medication, not wanting to be in public,” said Simon.

But he said Reagan has helped him overcome some of his fears.

It’s this support that Congressman Ron Desantis said veterans with post-traumatic stress should be able to get.

Desantis said he’s seen firsthand how K9’s have helped vets.

He’s introduced the Puppies Assisting Wounded Service Members Act and hopes to expand access to service dogs for veterans.

His reason:

“Come to find out, this is not something the VA would provide for a veteran,” said DeSantis.

He said the VA is doing a study on the effectiveness of using service dogs for vets -- just how much they really help veterans in order to justify spending the money for them.

But he said that study still isn’t complete.

K9s for Warriors said service dogs cost around $27,000.

He said it could be funded by using money the VA uses for things like office décor.

The VA sent us the study, showing the estimated completion date of March 2017.

DeSantis said his bill would allow vets to get service dogs even before the VA finishes its study.

“We have already more than 50 co-sponsors in a few weeks and bipartisan support,” said DeSantis.

Simon said he’s seen a change in himself and hopes other vets get the opportunity to experience some peace from a furry companion.

DeSantis said the VA was supposed to have the study done by 2013. We reached out to the VA, which sent us this statement:

"Recruitment of Veterans into the pilot phase of the research study started in July of 2011.  Recruitment was suspended in January of 2012 after the children of two Veterans in the study sustained bites by the service dogs provided.  Additional safety features were added to the study, and recruitment resumed in July 2012.  Recruitment was suspended within a month when problems were identified with the health and training of dogs provided by the last service dog contractor. After applying all the lessons learned and seeking advice from a number of established service dog and military working dog organizations, new dog contract health and training standards were developed, and VA dog trainers were hired to support the Veterans in the study. The study was redesigned and expanded to include an emotional support dog arm as a comparison to the service dog arm. Recruitment for the "Phase 2" resumed in December 2014."

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