A University of Saskatchewan team is leading a 1.4 million dollar study into how psychiatric service dogs can help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder recover from alcohol and drug addictions.

Researcher and Professor Darlene Chalmers said concluding the dogs do help in a previous study laid the foundation for the next phase.

She said over 30 people from various backgrounds including academia will work with service dog organizations across Canada to develop a tool kit for further research.

Then a pilot project will involve 30 veterans with dogs trained specifically to address their needs with subsequent mentorship from the team on training the organizations to implement the tool kit.

The basis of the program is the natural bond and the instinct dogs have to respond when recognizing distress.

Chalmers said the dogs are trained for each veteran in how to react to their emotions whether it’s simply being present for a public walk or waking a veteran who is experiencing a nightmare or night terrors.

She stresses service dogs are not the answer for all veterans and not all dogs are suitable remembering the welfare of the dogs are also part of the equation.

The 3 1/2 year study is getting 850-thousand dollars from Health Canada with the university contributing 175-thousand. Another 360-thousand dollar worth of in-kind support is coming from Audeamus, a non-profit service dog organization run by and for veterans.