These therapy dogs are bringing Georgia to the forefront of helping first responders with PTSD

ATLANTA — Georgia could be leading the country with a program that helps all first responders work through some of their most difficult days.

Channel 2′s Dave Huddleston learned how two K-9s have helped dispatchers, firefighters and law enforcement officers get through their darkest days on the job.

Henry County Deputy Keegan Merritt was on the job April 4, 2019, when he walked into an ambush.

He thought he was responding to a call for a woman who needed help, but he said the suspect had already killed hostages and was holed up in a house waiting for police to show up.

He shot Merritt in the finger.

“(The bullet) goes through this finger, my middle finger, hits the pistol grip and hits me in the chest,” Merritt said, describing how he was shot.

The standoff ended with the suspect dead, and Merritt said the was just the beginning of his runaway emotions of anxiety, stress and PTSD.

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“I was scared to go to sleep. I would see the blood in the driveway and get shot every night,” Merritt said. “(That led to) drinking and taking my pills.”

Merritt told Huddleston the destructive behavior continued for six months until his wife of 15 years had had enough.

“I don’t like this, I don’t know who you are” is what she told him, Merrit said.

Therapy helped him work through his PTSD and saved his marriage and his life. He said he knew he couldn’t work through his problems alone, and that’s where the program Team Blue Line stepped in to help.

The organization provided him with funding for a therapy dog — a 150-pound Great Dane named Garth.

Garth is a service dog trained to help first responders dealing with trauma.

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“(Garth) can hear a heart rate go up, he can smell blood pressure, different pheromones, stuff like that. I don’t know the whole science behind it, but he’ll go up to them and you can see their face change,” Merritt said.

Since 2019, the two have counseled thousands of first responders, including more than a hundred in the last in two months of 2021.

Merritt said when they walk into a room for peer counseling, Garth knows who’s hurting the most.

“Forty guys in the room and he walks right to the guy who’s struggling,” Merritt said.

Deputy Director Lt. Stacey Collins of the Georgia State Patrol peer counseling program says GSP has two therapy K-9s, Garth and Kylo.

“They really are game changers. I think they may be some of the first K-9s strictly to help first responders,” Collins said.

Tails of Hope trained Garth and Kylo. The 100% volunteer organization turned the two rescues into K-9 therapists.

“Garth can go into a room and he knows his job is to make people feel better. It’s about sensing what is happening in your body. He goes up to them and they start to melt, and you can see the relief on their faces,” Tails of Hope Director Suzanne Harron said.

The Georgia State Patrol has five peer counselors like Merritt and two very special officers who help those who put their lives on the line for the public every day.

“I feel great now, I’ve gotten to the gym, I’ve gotten off all the medications the heartrate is back to normal, and I slept perfect 8 hours last night, no nightmares,” Merritt said.

If you would like to help the organizations that are making a difference for first responders or know of someone who may need a service dog, you can contact Team Blue Line. The 501(c)(3) honors the fallen, helps the injured and represents police officers.

Tails of Hope, founded in 2020, is an all-volunteer program. If you would like to donate to the 501(c)(3) program, you can call them at 770-842-0217.

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