Fayetteville veteran accused of killing service dog found dead in home :: WRAL.com

Serial killers start off killing and torturing animals. The manner in which they did this is horrible and to film it is disgraceful. And I agree with you that suicide is terrible.

SGM Erik Marquez - I said this on another post when the story broke about the dog being killed, but I will echo it here again.

This horrible story is a great example as to what is WRONG with many service dog programs. Of course, I am making rather large assumptions here but in my dealings with these types of programs, they really break down into two groups; the good and the shouldn't be here. The good service dog organizations do a great job providing a Veteran with a way to allow that Veteran to engage in his/her community. The Veteran is required to visit with the animal several times and even after placement, there is ongoing support for both the animal and the Veteran. And then there are the others.

These other groups put no thought, time, effort into both the animal and the Veteran. They send an animal into a situation without gaining a full understanding of the Veteran and his/her problems. There is no follow-up care with the animal and/or Veteran. There is no mental health support for the Veteran. The Veteran is often left having to deal with the stresses of their issues and the stresses of having an animal to take care of when they can barely take care of themselves. I firmly believe that this case is proof of what happens when these type of groups are allowed to operate. Now, a great dog that could have helped a Veteran is dead and the Veteran the animal was supposed to help as become yet another static.