Our Research

The K9 PTSD Center's focus is on developing programs to enhance dogs with PTSD I/II and other fear and anxiety-based behaviors. We are proud of the years of never-before research we have completed here to achieve our mission of healing. All our research here is observational, using cameras and in-person observation. Every research program we complete brings us one step closer to identifying and treating this behavioral issue. Every dog wants to be the best they can be, and through research, we can develop these tools to help each of them. We never use any adversity in our research; the dogs are never put in a position of failure. We must always maintain a sterile environment free of triggers that will affect our results. We continue to innovate research studies to learn more and more about how important and special dogs are in our lives. In addition, our research crosses over to help humans; once again, men's/women's best friends are giving us more. To name a few of the research projects that were the first of their kind completed here at the center.

We took a deep dive over several months to determine the effects of anxiety and light. Is it better to have dogs with anxiety issues sleep with the lights on or off? This reach was invited to present at the IAABC.

This six-month study was conducted by watching hundreds of hours of video to determine if there was a correlation between aggression, anxiety, and C-PTSD I/II. We used an N-value of ten patients with N-five for the control. We determined the conditions in which we operationally defined what was sleep and positions, to name a few.

This study was conducted to determine memory in the dog's behavior. We created the conditions in which the dog's nose was usable and only through visual cues. This was a fun study for both the researcher and the dog, as it was all gameplay.

We created a questionnaire which we deployed throughout the country to collect information to determine the first-ever profile of behaviors to diagnose C-PTSD I/II and other anxiety-based behavioral issues. With a total of N-4783 dogs throughout the research, we were able to look for patterns in behaviors that we had not previously collected. This research was presented at the University of Arizona World Canine Conference.