Meet a golden retriever named Tuesday who is helping an Iraq war veteran with severe post-traumatic stress in a The Wall Street Journal story, ‘Sit! Stay! Snuggle!’: An Iraq Vet Finds His Dog Tuesday .

As a “Seeing Eye dog for the mind,” Tuesday is a psychiatric-service dog trained to help Luis Carlos Montalvan, a retired Army captain who received a Purple Heart for wounds he suffered during an ambush in Iraq, with his unseen injuries. Tuesday, who is with Montalvan 24-7, has been taught to recognize the effects of post-traumatic stress Disorder, such as changes in his breathing, perspiration or scent that can indicate an imminent panic attack.

Tuesday is one of 11 psychiatric-service dogs Puppies Behind Bars Inc. has placed. It hopes to provide 14 more this year. Tuesday was eight weeks old when he and five siblings were turned over to Puppies Behind Bars. He was sent to New York’s Fishkill Correctional Facility.

John Pucci, a 64-year-old convicted killer who served 29 years, who trained Tuesday, taught the pup to respond to 82 commands geared toward helping the physically disabled – turning on lights with his nose, retrieving food from shelves, helping load washing machines. After that,Tuesday received additional training, based on Montalvan’s needs – such as reminding him to take his pills, and serving as a buffer when Montalvan gets stressed out by large crowds.

“Tuesday is just extraordinarily empathetic,” said Montalvan, 36. “In bad moments, he’ll lay his head on my leg, and it’’ll be like he’s saying, ‘You’re OK. You’re not alone.’”

READ THE FULL STORY: ‘Sit! Stay! Snuggle!’: An Iraq Vet Finds His Dog Tuesday

Puppies Behind Bars launched the Dog Tags service dogs program in 2006 to help injured veterans cope with the challenges of their daily lives. The specially trained Golden and Labrador Retrievers can perform tasks such as opening and closing doors, assisting with grocery shopping and retrieving food from the refrigerator. For veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the dogs are trained to remind their companions to take medications and to help them cope with anxiety as they proceed through their daily routines.

During their training:
- The puppies live in prison with their incarcerated trainers.
- The raisers learn what it means to contribute to society, rather than take from it.

Vibram, the leading provider of military footwear for the most conditions on earth has teamed up with FetchDog to create the DogTags Chewy Shoe. With every Chewy Shoe purchase, $2 will be contributed to the DogTags program. The DogTags Chewy Shoe is made of all natural, non-toxic rubber from the same molds used to make the soles of military boots and has a mountaineering rope lanyard to make playing fetch easy.

LEARN MORE ABOUT Puppies Behind Bars and DogTags