MARINE 2005-2013 — Year one with a K9s For Warriors service dog

Two tours, medical separation in 2013 for PTSD and a knee that had had four surgeries. Applied to K9s For Warriors in 2019, got matched in 2021. Three-week residential training in Florida. Came home with a Labrador named Otis. Year one with a service dog is harder than the brochure makes it look. The dog is not magic. Otis was trained to interrupt nightmares, block in crowded spaces, and provide tactile grounding during panic — but the handler has to also do their share. Daily training reps. Public access work in stores and airports until the team is calibrated. Lots of veterinary appointments. Lots of strangers asking to pet the dog when the dog is working. What changed was not measurable on a PTSD checklist. What changed was that I started leaving the house again. The grocery store stopped being a thing I had to plan for an hour. Otis would block me if someone walked up too fast. Otis would lean on my leg in checkout lines. Otis would put his head on my chest if my breathing got short. The cumulative effect of those small interventions across a day was that I could go out and not pay for it later. Otis is six now. I am still figuring out what I'm going to do when he ages out. K9s For Warriors will help with that transition. I cannot say enough about the program. I cannot say enough about the dog.