Antonio Merriweather, 50, had not gotten out of bed in three months, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety after serving in the Army for 15 years.
He relied heavily on opioids and cocaine to numb the pain.
“I was already going through some treatment, therapy, and I was working and fighting, but I just got to a point where my fight didn’t seem like it was working,” the Ellenwood resident said. “So I just sat in this bed and said, ‘It’s over.’”
It’s a story that is shared among countless other U.S. veterans struggling to assimilate back to everyday life after witnessing or experiencing traumatic events, often in combat. Of the 5.8 million veterans using Veterans Affairs care in fiscal year 2024, about 14% of men and 24% of women were diagnosed with PTSD, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. In 2020, the suicide rate for veterans was 57.3% higher than that of nonveteran adults, according to a 2022 VA report.
So when Merriweather’s wife heard of Top Dogg K9 Foundation, an organization that trains service dogs and pairs them with veterans dealing with mental health issues, she pulled Merriweather out of bed and drove him straight to Lilburn.
Blake Rashad, the co-founder of Top Dogg K9 Foundation, recalled Merriweather dragging his feet into the small, one-floor establishment, unshaven with a hood draped over his head.
“You can’t help me get better,” Merriweather said to him.
Rashad responded, “You’re wrong.”
With the help of a therapist, the organization pairs veterans with available service dogs in training based on their needs. The pair must attend weekly trainings for about eight months as dogs learn skills and veterans learn commands.
Psychiatric service dogs are trained to perform a variety of tasks. They can wake their owners from nightmares, check the house for intruders before entry, locate objects and provide comfort. Veterans with mobility concerns are paired with dogs who also are trained in retrieval and turning lights on and off.
The dogs must then pass final evaluations to become official service dogs.
After getting paired with his service dog, Sarge, in 2019, Merriweather started getting back on his feet.
He had to attend the trainings, feed, walk and play with Sarge. He started socializing with people again. He regained a sense of purpose and responsibility in his everyday life.
“The fact that I had to get out of bed every week meant I had to talk to people, and slowly but surely I just kept taking a bite of that elephant,” Merriweather said.
After Sarge died in October 2023, he met Marley, a 19-month-old Goldendoodle, who will be a part of this year’s cohort of service dogs in training.
The organization currently has the funding to train and pair eight dogs with veterans this year. Some of the dogs came from a minimum-security federal prison in Montgomery, Alabama where inmates raise and train puppies who will later work as service dogs.
Each dog costs $12,000 to $15,000 to house and train at Top Dogg K9 Foundation. Rashad said he hopes to bring in more sponsorships, and subsequently more dogs, into this year’s cohort soon.
“Training these dogs is too expensive to be a pet,” Rashad told a group of veterans receiving care through the Atlanta VA during the program’s orientation Saturday. “The purpose of you getting a service dog is so you can get out and do things and go to your children’s soccer game, bar mitzvahs, recitals or church … not crawl back in bed.”
Another veteran who went through the program, Donald Zackery, called the organization his safe haven.
“This has been a place where I can talk and share,” he said. “That is the key, because we all go through the same issues and problems.”
Zackery, 63, was suffering from depression, anxiety and unstable temperaments when he met his service dog, Diamond.
“She followed me everywhere I go and kept me stable, active, focused on her,” he said.
When Diamond’s health started to decline two years ago, he was introduced to his current service dog, Revi. Diamond recently died of cancer.
Alan Baker, 56, served in the military for about 30 years and was wounded in combat three times. After leaving the military, where he served in the Navy, Air Force and Army, Baker gradually became a recluse.
“I stopped almost living,” said Baker, who is now a board member at Top Dogg. “I didn’t want to be around nobody. We have these enemies in our head because of what we’ve seen or done and don’t want that to go to our children.”
He found himself always looking over his shoulder in a heightened state of anxiety, he added.
But once his service dog, Barrett, started going to work with him everyday, Baker began to feel more calm and reassured. Barrett pumped life back into him more powerful than any drug, he said.
“I don’t take medication,” Baker said. “My dog is my medication.”
___
© 2025 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
