dog breed rescue

[narrator] mya is more than justa pet to chicago's jacob hyde, a veteran at the age of 26. [jacob hyde] in the marinecorps you have what's called a battle buddy and you're neverwithout another person. you never do anything alone. since i've gotten mya,she's my battle buddy. i've constantly gotsomeone watching my back. [narrator] jacob strugglesto function in civilian life, diagnosed with ptsd...post-traumatic stress disorder.

[jacob] it's hard, it's aneveryday struggle, sitting on the floor thinkingabout cutting myself or wondering how ican kill myself. [narrator] mya was trained byan inmate thru a ground-breaking program calledpuppies behind bars. jacob found the programonline, applied, and was chosen to receive a dog. [jacob] it was the happiesti've ever felt in my life. that night when i found outshe was going to be my dog.

[narrator] mya learned to doeverything from opening and closing doors to puttinggroceries in a basket, even putting laundryin the washer. [jacob] if i feel really badand i'm having one of those bad panic attacks on the floor ,mya goes to the bathroom and gets my pills that are ina bag and she drags themin here on the floor. she lays there, puts her paw inmy face and licks me and just licks me until i come outof it and stop shaking. there's no limit to whatshe can do for me,

[jacob] over one millionpeople have served in iraq or afghanistan by theend of this war. organizations like puppiesbehind bars support our troops by putting service dogs in theirhands and allowing veterans to get thru their lives and allowing veterans towant to stay alive. [narrator] donationshelp cover the $30,000 cost to train the dogs. one strong supporter has beenthe rocky mountain conference

of the united methodist church. now, with mya's help, jacobis pursuing a doctorate in psychology, aiming tohelp others like him. [jacob] she's the only way ican get around in public now, because of her. and if i didn't haveher, i wouldn't survive.