Sean Payton Donates Service Dog To Iraq Veteran

New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton worked through his foundation to train and donate a service dog to an Army veteran of 16 years who served two tours in Iraq.

When Army veteran Erick Allen was medically discharged from the Army after suffering traumatic brain injury in a tour of duty in Iraq, he might have wondered if he could ever live a normal life again. With the atrocities of war haunting him at home, he needed help sorting out what is called ‘survivor’s guilt’.

Enter a foundation funded in large part by New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, which funded and donated a dog specially trained to deal with those suffering PTSD and other stress disorders as a result of war-related trauma.

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“A lot of it is me coming home alive is what wakes me up scared. I just see some of my guys’ faces,” Allen said per WWLTV in New Orleans. His wife concurred, noting that she would wake up at night with Erick on top of her and ‘in another world’.

Now Erick can have some relief, thanks to a dog named Gumbo, specially trained to sense agitation and provide a distraction. The video in the link shows the dog’s effect in action. Allen discusses his frustration in talking with doctors about his condition with increasingly jilted language until the dog whines and licks him, consoling Allen until he pets Gumbo.

Payton’s Pay it Forward Foundation originally brought the idea to the Saints head coach, and Payton made the requisite donation to make it happen.

“Just that idea of not so much a friend, but a partner, if you will, that dog becomes to recovery. After you hear about it and the you see it and you see the studies, it really makes sense,” Payton said.

Erick Allen confirmed the dog’s been a big help since.” If I’m not anymore agitated or not anymore down or depressed or not anymore emotional than I normally am, knowing that rapport we’ve built, I got to take care of my buddy.”

If this idea warms you as much as it did us, you can donate to Pay It Forward here.

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