West Virginia University’s Hearts of Gold service dogs provide support for disabilities.
Written by Taylor Maple
This May, Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re acknowledging several 2025 WV Living magazine and Moodr Health Mental Health Care Heroes who are based in Morgantown.
At Hearts of Gold, veterans with mobility impairments or psychiatric disabilities are paired with dogs that have been expertly trained and raised with service in mind.
Most dogs involved in the program come from a local nonprofit called Human–Animal Bond, says Lindsey Livengood, a behavior analyst with the program, and are bred for the potential to become service animals. By the time they are placed, they’ve been socialized, acclimated to home environments, trained, and sometimes even put through programs at local prisons, where inmates can help train and care for them. “Inmates are getting parenting skills and patience and social interaction skills—plus, they get to give back to veterans, which is rewarding for them,” Livengood says. “We’ve had several inmates that, after release, are out in the community now as dog trainers, which is really cool.”
The dogs help with a variety of issues. Some folks with PTSD request a dog trained to interrupt troubling nightmares they have as they sleep. Other dogs are trained to help their owners be more aware of their surroundings—when out and about, the dog will scan the scene and signal when a person is approaching so the owner isn’t startled or caught off-guard. Many dogs are also equipped to handle general anxiety, noticing warning signs and approaching their owner to help bring them back from a panic attack or ground them in the present.
The program aims for a good match that fits both the dog and the veteran—and the dogs who succeed are truly special. “It takes a lot,” Livengood says. “You’re asking a whole heck of a lot for a dog to be able to handle what we’re asking them to handle, and we really strive to make sure that our dogs are not stressed out, too. We want to make sure that it’s good for the dog as well as the humans.”
Read about the other WV Living and Moodr Health 2025 Mental Health Care Heroes.
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