Puppies & Patriots: Healing Heroes, One Paw at a Time

It's Mental Health Awareness Month, and in recognition of this observance, the Department of Health and Human Services went live on their X account with PUPPIES. They had an event spotlighting the work of Warrior Canine Connection and the service dogs they raise and train as service animals for veterans.

The event included speakers from a variety of organizations including HHS, the Veteran's Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Mental Health, the U.S. Public Health Service, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Rick Yount, of Warrior Canine Connection, explained the process of training dogs to become adequate service animals for veterans. The puppies in this particular livestream are 6 weeks old, semi-litter box trained, and currently unnamed. They'll get their names in two weeks. Then training families will take them in and keep them for a year and a half. After this time, the families give them back for intensive training. Training these service animals takes about two years.

The first aspect of their training is learning how to learn. They use normal behavioral patterns and positive reinforcement to create an environment for learning. The most important thing for them is to love and trust humans, they are working on developing a bonding attachment. External stimulation stimulates the neural network in their brains.

Interacting with dogs has a positive impact on our mental health because it releases an anti-stress hormone called oxytocin. The same interaction releases oxytocin in the dogs. That's what I call a win-win.

My favorite part was when Chaplain Michael Zoosman from the NIH clinical center led a meditation while sitting on the floor with the puppies. The wee doggos appeared to sit and listen to his voice, then they fell asleep. It was the most precious thing I have ever seen.

I will admit, I yelled at the camera operators a few times when I wanted to see what was happening and they didn't move to follow the action. Like when I wanted to see Lieutenant Commander Abigail salute her handler.

You can watch the replay of the live stream below.

Warrior Canine Connection has a 24-hour LIVE PUPPY CAM on their website. It's worth a watch.