Vets, homeless dogs paired, and both benefit

Dave Sharpe was troubled by thoughts he couldn't share after he returned from serving in Iraq. "I found myself waking up in the middle of the night, punching holes in walls, kicking and beating the refrigerator door," he said.

Then one day, the former Air Force senior airman went with a friend to a local pit-bull rescue facility and took home a puppy, Cheyenne. Next time he found himself kicking something, "I saw this puppy, cocking her head, looking up at me like, 'What are you doing?' "

Finally, Mr. Sharpe had someone to whom he could open up. "I froze, I put down my drink, I picked her up and laid with her in my bed," he said. "I cried, and I told her the whole story. I didn't feel judged."

The experience inspired Mr. Sharpe, who lives in Arlington, Va., to start Pets2Vets, a group that pairs veterans with homeless pets by arranging adoptions of shelter animals. It has made two or three matches a week since its start in October.

One of the goals of Pets2Vets is to raise awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Mr. Sharpe said that while a few groups provide veterans with service dogs, many PTSD and traumatic-brain-injury patients don't qualify for those programs. Even when they do, they may hesitate to apply because of the stigma still attached to psychological problems.

But Cheyenne showed that even a "regular" dog can work miracles, Mr. Sharpe said, and former Army Staff Sgt. Will "Ace" Acevedo agrees. Mr. Acevedo took Xena, a Jack Russell mix puppy, home to Fayetteville, N.C., at the beginning of December.

"She's done wonders for me," he said.

Diagnosed with PTSD in 2003, Mr. Acevedo said medication can only do so much. Xena gives him something else to think about instead of feeling sorry for himself, and with an energetic puppy in a house with brand-new carpets, he has plenty to keep his mind busy.

"Instead of you focusing on yourself and your battle wounds, you focus on the dog," he said.

Like Mr. Sharpe, he said, "I talk to her. I tell her how I feel. She looks at me, like, 'Don't worry buddy, everything's going to be all right,' and she licks my face."

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