AN EX-soldier from Tidworth with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been given a new lease of life thanks to a homeless hound from Dogs Trust.

Shaun Faulkner now shares his home with spaniel cross Cassie who after nine months of training has graduated as a PTSD assistance dog and is now by Shaun’s side day and night.

Shaun had always wanted to become a soldier and joined the army as a 16-year-old in 2003.

Between 2006 and 2014 he did four tours of Iraq and Afghanistan, becoming a corporal in 2014.

It was after completing those tours that he started to suffer nightmares, flashbacks and panic attacks from the rocket and mortar fire he had experienced.

On returning from Germany to the UK in 2015, Shaun was diagnosed with PTSD.

As well as causing him distress, his symptoms meant he was missing out on family life with his wife, Carmen, and their four young children as he no longer wanted to leave the house.

Then he saw an advert for a new charity, Service Dogs UK.

Shaun said: “My symptoms were affecting me and my family every single day. I’d go to the supermarket and just stand there, forgetting what I was there for. I saw the advert and it really appealed to me as I’ve had dogs all my life.

“I am passionate about rescue dogs. It’s not their fault they are in the situation they are in, and that was the same for me.”

Service Dogs UK provides veterans from the British Armed Forces and emergency services suffering from PTSD, with specially trained assistance dogs.

Rebecca Smith, from Dogs Trust, spotted that Cassie, two, had the qualities required to become an assistance dog.

Rebecca said: “She was very people focused, confident and curious but also very gentle so when Service Dogs UK approached us, we introduced them to her and they agreed she could do really well, so off she went to begin her new adventure.”

Cassie has been trained to respond to a medication alarm reminder and importantly she is there whenever Shaun is having a difficult time, day or night.

Shaun added: “It might sound like a cliché but it really was love at first sight. She jumped on my knee and started licking me. She has transformed my life and I can’t imagine life without her. She makes doing the ordinary, everyday things that were becoming impossible, possible. Without her I would be a recluse.”

To find out more about Dogs Trust, go to dogstrust.org.uk.