Marine veteran Cole Lyle enlists service dogs in fight against veteran suicide

Cole T. Lyle’s service dog, Kaya, could help him in ways that therapy and medication couldn’t as he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Afghanistan.

The German shepherd was trained to wake up the former Marine from the nightmares that plagued his sleep by turning the light on, pulling down the sheets and sitting with him “until my heart rate went down and I would go back to sleep.”

“The same with anxiety attacks,” Mr. Lyle told The Washington Times. “She would recognize what was happening and perform what’s called animal-assisted intervention: get in my face, lick my hand, do something to break up the snowball effect.”

September is National Suicide Prevention Month and National Service Dog Month. As far as Mr. Lyle is concerned, the dogs play a pivotal role in combating what he calls the “veteran suicide epidemic.”

“I think if you ask any veteran who’s had a service dog and who has been in crisis, they will tell you that they serve as an important backstop,” said Mr. Lyle, who was honorably discharged in 2014 and now works as executive director of Mission Roll Call, a veterans advocacy group.

“When you’re in that awful spiral of depression and feel alone, you look at the dog and say, ‘I can’t leave the dog because the dog would miss me,’” he said. “The dog provides a sense of purpose and a sense of responsibility that pills and therapy just won’t ever do. I 100% think that service dogs are a tool to fight veterans’ suicide.”

Kaya died earlier this year from an aggressive form of cancer, but Mr. Lyle’s battle continues.

Mission Roll Call and other veterans groups seek to expand access via the Service Dogs Assisting Veterans (SAVES) Act, a bill to award grants directly to nonprofit organizations that train and provide service dogs to former military personnel struggling with mental health issues.

Sponsored by Sen. Thom Tillis, North Carolina Republican, the legislation would build on the 2021 Puppies Assisting Wounded Servicemembers (PAWS) Act, which launched a five-year pilot program run by the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide canine training to eligible veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

About 100 dogs have been placed with veterans through the PAWS Act, but demand is exceeding supply, Mr. Lyle said.

“There are tons of organizations that do this. The problem is they all operate off nonprofit-based budgets, and they have so many veterans on their waiting list that the wait can be upwards of one year or two years,” he said.

Mr. Tillis’ bill would authorize $10 million per year from fiscal years 2024 through 2028, and no single nonprofit organization would receive more than $2 million.

Are service dogs effective? K9s for Warriors, the largest service dog provider to veterans, said a study conducted by Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, found that 92% could reduce their medication and 82% reported reduced suicidal ideations after they were paired with the specially trained dogs.

The Department of Veterans Affairs agreed that dogs can “lift your mood and be a good companion” but cautioned against treating service dog assistance as a substitute for medication and therapy.

“Currently, there is not enough research to know if dogs help treat PTSD and its symptoms,” the VA said on its website. “Evidence-based therapies and medications for PTSD are supported by clinical research. We encourage you to learn more about these treatments because it is difficult to draw strong conclusions from the few studies on dogs and PTSD that have been done.”

VA press secretary Terrence Hayes said the department “continues to review multiple studies on mental health and service animals.”

“We recognize the potential therapeutic benefits of service dogs for Veterans with certain conditions and will continue to look into this,” Mr. Hayes said in an email. “However, to date, there is no substantial evidence that service dogs provide improvements in functioning and quality of life for Veterans with PTSD as compared to emotional support dogs.”

Veterans commit suicide at a higher rate than those in the general population, according to a 2021 Rand Corp. study, although researchers disagree on the number of former service members each year who take their lives.

In its latest report, the VA found that, on average, nearly 17 veterans per day died by suicide in 2020. America’s Warrior Partnership challenged that number. Its interim study released last year said as many as 44 veterans ages 18 to 64 die each day from suicide or self-injury, primarily through overdoses.

The SAVES Act has bipartisan support, but lawmakers are concerned about the speed of implementing the PAWS Act.

Sen. Maggie Hassan, New Hampshire Democrat, recalled that her office aided Tim Carignan, a veteran having difficulty obtaining insurance coverage for his service dog, Duchess, through the VA. That benefit is included in the PAWS Act.

“Can you talk about how the VA coordinates between health care providers and nonprofit organizations that train service dogs for veterans to ensure veterans who need them can receive service dogs as soon as possible?” Ms. Hassan asked at a July hearing of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

Miguel LaPuz, the VA’s assistant undersecretary for health, said, “We are in the process of developing in VA the opinion on how we’re going to proceed with that.”

He apologized for “not being ready to discuss that at this point.” Ms. Hassan pressured him to treat the issue with “some urgency.”

“Obviously, this was passed in 2021,” she said. “We know how useful service dogs can be for our veterans, and something like this barrier that prevented requisite insurance for the dog made it hard for this particular veteran to get that kind of service, and we’re seeing more and more training efforts to get the dogs to veterans.”

Ms. Hassan, a supporter of the PAWS Act, co-sponsored the SAVES Act with Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, and Republican Sens. John Boozman of Arkansas, Kevin Cramer of North Dakota and Rick Scott of Florida.

Mr. Tillis called the PAWS Act “only the beginning of several steps we need to take to make these incredible animals available to more veterans because for every one that’s being served today, there are dozens who are not.”

“We must work to ensure the Department of Veterans Affairs is implementing the PAWS Act as we intended by partnering with service dog organizations to connect as many veterans as possible with canine training to improve well-being and help veterans thrive,” the senator said. “I’ve made this a top priority to do everything possible to combat veterans’ suicide.”

Mr. Lyle’s dog, Kaya, inspired the PAWS Act. The SAVES Act was introduced in January, and Kaya died a month later, a few months shy of her ninth birthday.

Since I’ve received several questions about Kaya and how she died, here’s the story: https://t.co/AX1xT2BaAz

If, after watching, you’d like to help honor her legacy…visit https://t.co/Mv6KWxa7KY and consider a donation.

— Cole T. Lyle (@ctlyle1) April 29, 2023

Mr. Tillis eulogized Kaya on the Senate floor in February as an “ambassador for veterans and service dogs everywhere.”

“Cole, thank you for sharing Kaya with us,” an emotional Mr. Tillis said. “Kaya, thank you for bringing comfort, hope and healing.”

Mr. Lyle, who enlisted at age 18 and served in Afghanistan in 2011, said he is often asked when he plans to adopt another dog. The answer is he doesn’t know.

“Frankly, I’m not ready yet,” he said. “And I don’t know if I would need another service dog if I get another dog.”

He said veterans and medical experts debate whether post-traumatic stress is a chronic condition requiring long-term care or an acute condition that can be resolved more quickly.

“I tend to fall somewhere in the middle of that debate,” Mr. Lyle said. “I’ve learned to live with my symptoms, and they haven’t really reoccurred since Kaya passed away. I’m definitely going to get another dog one way or another. I just don’t know that it will necessarily need to be a service dog.”

He has since founded Kaya’s K9s, which provides financial assistance to veterans for emergency care for their dogs, to “keep Kaya’s legacy alive.” The website is kk9s.org.

Caring for dogs can be expensive, but Mr. Cole said he has yet to meet a veteran with misgivings about having a canine companion.

“I’ve never met nor spoken with a veteran who had a service dog, and I’ve spoken with a lot of them, who told me that they regretted having a service dog, getting a service dog, or it just didn’t work for them,” Mr. Lyle said. “I’ve not met one. In fact, many of them come up to me and say, ‘If I hadn’t gotten a service dog, I would have killed myself,’ which is pretty powerful testimony.”