Puppy love helps troops

Animal-assisted treatment can calm patients, make their appointments more enjoyable. Lolita C. Baldor reports.

After three deployments to Iraq and three to Afghanistan, Staff Sergeant Dennis Swols is agitated, prone to bouts of anger and unable to really talk about his time on the battlefield.

But as Swols sits in a small office in the Robinson Health Clinic at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, his hand drops to the furry head beside him and his mood brightens. Settled at his feet, Lexy, a 5-year-old German shepherd, gives Swols a few moments of distraction.