University of Denver Autumn 2025

For veterans with PTSD, service dogs offer more than comfort. DU researchers are digging into the science of how these animals change lives. Wounds Healing Invisible

By Nika Anschuetz

For years, the world beyond veteran Ashleigh Williams’ door felt like a war zone—unpredictable, overwhelming, and unsafe, a continuation of the real war she experienced. Williams lived it for four years in the Navy, deployed to Iraq shortly after September 11, 2001. The sights and sounds of the war changed her. As a canine law enforcement officer, Williams walked step by step alongside a specially trained K-9 named Dexter. What was supposed to be a three-month deployment in a U.S. military prison turned into a much longer assignment. Years after returning home, the war was still raging inside her. Invisible wounds like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and addiction had shattered her confidence. They left her barely functioning, stealing pieces of who she was. Simple tasks like going to the grocery store or attending a family gathering felt insurmountable. She isolated herself, sometimes spending days in her house, blinds drawn, dissociating from the world around her. “I was on such high alert. No matter what I did, everything was a struggle,” Williams says. “There were days where I was like, ‘Nope, I’m not doing it.’ It made for a very scared, lost, confused, and messed-up world.”

Williams' first experience with working dogs came in Iraq, with her specially trained K-9, Dexter. 

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UNIVERSITY OF DENVER MAGAZINE | AUTUMN 2025