Suburban business turning battle vs. PTSD into a real dogfight

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Army veteran Brad Schwarz and his dog Panzer at Pack Leader Academy in Palos Heights. Owner Pam Barnett hopes to raise money to train dogs to help returning soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. | Matt Marton~Sun-Times Media

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Pack Leader Academy: Call (708) 361-3647 or visit www.packleaderacademy.net

Black Dog K9 Training: Call (708) 371-4926 or visit www.blackdogk9.com

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Updated: February 13, 2012 11:27AM

When the nightmares come, Brad Schwarz is shaken from his sleep.

Like many servicemen and women who have returned from war, the former Army sergeant suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. But when Schwarz sits up and sees his German shepherd Panzer unfazed — no shots have been fired, no bombs dropped — it is Schwarz’s assurance that he was only dreaming.

“It’s very comforting to wake up and know that if I heard a noise, if there was actually something going on, he’d be on top of it before I even knew about it,” Schwarz said.

That’s where dog-training facilities such as Pack Leader Academy in southwest suburban Palos Heights come in.

Owned by Vic and Pam Barnett of Burbank, the academy trains service dogs as companions for veterans with PTSD. And with the war in Iraq over and plans in place to reduce the size of the military, the demand figures to grow as members of the military come home.

Pam Barnett said she gets calls from across the country and has a waiting list even though she only works with servicemen recommended by the U.S. Department of Veterans of Affairs and referred by a doctor.

The Barnetts have trained and groomed dogs for 30 years and owned Poodle Pampering shops in Oak Lawn and Chicago, but Pam Barnett said she was inspired to help veterans two years ago when she saw a PTSD-trained dog on TV and thought, “I could do that.”

Her intention was to train one dog for one serviceman. The couple had sold their business and planned to move to Ottawa, Ill. But then the economy crashed and they couldn’t sell their house. So they opened Pack Leader Academy, 12332 S. Harlem Ave., in July.

The business also offers obedience training, grooming, canine nutrition and more.

The Barnetts and Schwarz have founded Paws Assisting Wounded Warriors (PAWWS) and are pursuing certification as a charitable organization. Pam Barnett also dreams of opening a barracks-like residence where veterans can live while training their dogs.

“When they’re done, they can either go on with their life or come and be a dog trainer, too,” she said.

A new ‘battle buddy’

Schwarz, 26, of Hanover Park, was hurt in a roadside bombing in 2008 during his second tour in Iraq. He suffered several herniated discs, memory loss and knee injuries.

His return to civilian life was another battle. After his discharge in December 2009, he struggled with PTSD, turned to drugs and alcohol and pushed friends and family away.

“I’ve had symptoms of PTSD since my first tour was over, but I ignored them,” Schwarz said. “There was a big stigma, too, for a long time and still is in the military about PTSD and asking for help.”

But Schwarz finally reached out and asked a caseworker at a veterans medical center about getting a dog. He was sent to Barnett.

The benefits for a veteran with PTSD working with a service dog are real, according to Navy Reserve Lt. Cmdr. Anthony R. Peterson, a psychologist and section chief of PTSD programs at the Capt. James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago.

“Individuals with PTSD can, on occasion, experience dissociative episodes (where they do not have an appreciation of present time). Trained service dogs can assist with shortening the time of such dissociative episodes or averting them altogether,” Peterson wrote in an email.

“Service dogs can serve as a good buffer between the veteran and individuals in his/her immediate environment and can also serve to alert a veteran to an approaching person. I believe that use of service dogs for PTSD treatment is going to see considerable growth over the next several years.”

According to the National Center for PTSD’s website, of the 61 percent of men who experience a traumatic event (including a serious accident, combat or natural disaster) in their lifetime, 8 percent develop PTSD; and of the 51 percent of women who experience trauma, 20 percent develop the disorder. Combat tends to elicit higher numbers than some other events.

Schwarz is resigned to living with it.

“It gets better over time,” he said, “but it’s never, ever going to go away.”

To help, the Barnetts acquired a 2-year-old German shepherd with fundraising help from American Legion Post No. 510 in Lake Bluff. They united Schwarz with Panzer — which is German for “armor” — about a month ago.

“It’s life-changing,” Schwarz said.

In the Army, everyone has a “battle buddy,” he said. The pairs stay together, looking out for each other.

“Panzer is kind of like my new battle buddy,” Schwarz said.

The process

Before a dog is paired with a veteran, it must pass a canine “good citizen” test, Pam Barnett said. It can take months to get a dog to that stage, and it then begins about three months of training with the veteran.

The Barnetts would like to cut out the first stage and acquire dogs already at least obedience trained, as they did with Panzer.

“We don’t have time, and these guys don’t have time to wait all of these months that it takes to train a dog,” Pam Barnett said.

They hope that when the nonprofit group is certified, donations will allow them to buy enough obedience-trained dogs to meet demand.

Panzer still is training with Schwarz. The process includes 50 hours of “team building” and 30 more hours of training in public.

Panzer is learning to perform tasks such as retrieving medicine, leading Schwarz outside if he has a panic attack and nudging his back when someone is approaching from behind so he isn’t startled.

Panzer then will take a test to be a certified service dog.

“It’s a lot of work and a lot of time, but it’s worth it,” Schwarz said. “He doesn’t let me be alone, really, which is nice. And Panzer doesn’t judge me if I’m having a bad day and I’m angry or whatnot. He’ll just help me out if I need it.”

The psychiatric benefits often mean more than anything medicine can provide, Vic Barnett said.

“There’s no magic pill you can give them for PTSD,” he said.

Schwarz also is learning how to teach other veterans to work with dogs.

“I have a girlfriend, have a place, have a daughter, have a car,” he said. “A lot of veterans don’t. But I’m to that point, so my goal is to help everyone else get to that point.”

Marty Sullivan, of Black Dog K9 Performance in Alsip, also plans to start training dogs for veterans with PTSD. He already helps Pets to Vets match dogs with veterans.

The growing demand is why Pack Leader Academy exists because the goal was to train just one dog.

“It was just supposed to happen,” Schwarz said.