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These books about service dogs for veterans tell the amazing stories of friendship, loyalty and the bond of man and our military heroes. Our warriors continue to fight both mental disabilities including PTSD and physical disabilities and these service dogs help them to heal.
Service dogs play a crucial role in supporting veterans as they navigate life after military service.
For those interested in learning more about these remarkable canine companions and their impact on veterans’ lives, there’s a wealth of literature available.
Whether you’re a veteran, a dog lover, or simply curious about the healing power of human-animal relationships, this post will explore some of the best books about service dogs for veterans, highlighting stories of courage, companionship, and recovery
A Dog Called Hope
A decade ago, special forces warrior Jason Morgan parachuted into the Central American jungle on an anti-narcotics raid. He’d served with the famous Night Stalkers on countless such missions. This one was different. Months later, he regained consciousness in a U.S. military hospital with no memory of how he’d gotten there. The first words he heard were from his surgeon telling him he would never walk again. The determined soldier responded, “Sir, yes, I will.”
After multiple surgeries, unbearable chronic pain, and numerous setbacks, Morgan was finally making progress when his wife left him and their three young sons. He was a single father confined to a wheelchair and tortured by his pain. At this very dark, very low point, Morgan found light: Napal, the black Labrador who would change his life forever.
A Dog Called Hope is the incredible story of a service dog who brought a devastated warrior back from the brink and taught him how to be a true father. It is the story of Napal, who built bridges between his wheelchair-bound battle buddy and the rest of able-bodied humankind. It is the story of Jason, who found life’s true meaning with the help of his faithful companion. Humorous, intensely moving, and uplifting, Jason and Napal’s heartwarming tale will brighten any day and lift every heart.
Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him
A heartwarming dog story like no other: Tuesday, a lovable golden retriever, changes a former soldier’s life forever.
A highly decorated captain in the U.S. Army, Luis Montalvan never backed down from a challenge during his two tours of duty in Iraq. After returning home from combat, however, his physical wounds and crippling post-traumatic stress disorder began to take their toll. He wondered if he would ever recover.
Then Luis met Tuesday, a sensitive golden retriever trained to assist the disabled. Tuesday had lived among prisoners and at a home for troubled boys, and he found it difficult to trust in or connect with a human being–until Luis.
Until Tuesday is the story of how two wounded warriors, who had given so much and suffered the consequences, found salvation in each other. It is a story about war and peace, injury and recovery, psychological wounds and spiritual restoration. But more than that, it is a story about the love between a man and dog, and how, together, they healed each other’s souls.
Tuesday's Promise: One Veteran, One Dog, and Their Bold Quest to Change Lives
Following the success of his New York Times bestseller, Until Tuesday, Iraq War veteran Luis Carlos Montalvan advocated for America’s wounded warriors and the healing powers of service dogs.
In this spectacular memoir, Luis and Tuesday brought their healing mission to the next level, showing how these beautifully trained animals could assist soldiers, veterans, and many others with mental and physical disabilities. They rescued a forgotten Tuskegee airman, battled obstinate VA bureaucrats, and provided solace to war heroes coast-to-coast.
As Luis and Tuesday celebrated exhilarating victories, a grave obstacle threatened their work. Luis made great progress battling his own PTSD, but his physical wounds got so bad that he was wheelchair-bound. He needed to decide whether to amputate his leg and carry on with a bionic prosthesis. Even as he struggled with dramatic emotional and physical changes, ten-year-old Tuesday was lovingly by his side through it all.
Luis’ death in December 2016 was another terrible tragedy of the invisible wounds of war. This book was his last letter of love to his best friend, Tuesday, and to veterans, readers, friends, and fellow dog lovers everywhere.
Never more timely than now, Tuesday’s Promise is an inspiring story of love, service, teamwork, and the remarkable bond between humans and canines.
Second Chances: A Marine, His Dog, and Finding Redemption
In 2010, Sergeant Craig Grossi was doing intelligence work for Marine RECON—the most elite fighters in the Corps—in a remote part of Afghanistan. While on patrol, he spotted a young dog “with a big goofy head and little legs” who didn’t seem vicious or run in a pack like most strays they’d encountered. After eating a piece of beef jerky Craig offered—against military regulations—the dog began to follow him. “Looks like you made a friend,” another Marine yelled. Grossi heard, “Looks like a ‘Fred.'” The name stuck, and a beautiful, life-changing friendship was forged.
Fred not only stole Craig’s heart; he won over the RECON fighters, who helped Craig smuggle the dog into heavily fortified Camp Leatherneck in a duffel bag—risking jail and Fred’s life. With the help of a crew of DHL workers, a sympathetic vet, and a military dog handler, Fred eventually made it to Craig’s family in Virginia.
Months later, when Craig returned to the U.S., it was Fred’s turn to save the wounded Marine from Post-Traumatic Stress. Today, Craig and Fred are touching lives nationwide, from a swampy campground in a Louisiana State Park to the streets of Portland, Oregon, and everywhere in between.
A poignant and inspiring tale of hope, resilience, and optimism, with a timeless message at its heart—”it is not what happens to us that matters, but how we respond to it”—Craig & Fred is a shining example of the power of love to transform our hearts and our lives.
Craig & Fred: A Marine, A Stray Dog, and How They Rescued Each Other
The author of the heartwarming Craig and Fred tells the deeply emotional and inspiring story of the next phase of their lives together: working closely with prison inmates in Maine who raise and train puppies to become service dogs.
Paws at Work: A Service Dog and Her Veteran
Short but powerful story for older middle-grade readers about a service dog.
On her second birthday, yellow Labrador retriever Maddie was awarded to Tom Ward, a Marine Corps veteran with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Trained as a service dog since she was 5 weeks old, Maddie spent an additional two weeks training with Tom before they traveled to his home in North Carolina.
The story details the ways Maddie assists Tom-opening the kitchen drawers and refrigerator, picking up things he has dropped, sensing when he is tired or cold, etc.-while also providing guidelines for young children on how to behave around a service dog.
Vets and Pets: Wounded Warriors and the Animals That Help Them Heal
Vets and Pets tell fifteen emotional and entertaining stories of the incredible bonds between wounded warriors, veterans, and other service members and their service and companion animals.
Whether these special relationships are with dogs, cats, horses, pigs, or even birds of prey, readers will discover how these remarkable animals help veterans return to civilian life and live independently while simultaneously bringing joy and confidence into their lives.
In addition to exploring the unique, lifelong bonds that can develop between veterans and their animal companions, Vets and Pets spotlights extraordinary nonprofits that unite wounded warriors with service and companion animals, including Pets for Patriots and Hooves Marching for Mercy.
Reporting for Duty: True Stories of Wounded Veterans and Their Service Dogs
Hundreds of thousands of military veterans seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) each year.
Service dogs have been used for many years in the civilian sector to help their disabled owners perform necessary tasks in daily life; likewise, the organized use of therapy dogs to bring comfort and companionship to hospital and nursing-home patients dates back more than four decades.
Reporting for Duty explores the unique and special bond between wounded warriors—especially those suffering from PTSD—and their service dogs and discusses the vital work of therapy dogs who visit VA hospitals and military rehabilitation facilities.
Author Tracy Libby tells the true stories of disabled veterans who have been touched, assisted, and enriched by the dogs in their lives, and the new lease on life is reciprocal: many of these service and therapy dogs have been rescued from shelters and specially trained for their jobs.
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Last update on 2025-05-14 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API