What mattered most were relationships–social support from others that provide a sense of belonging, security and being loved. One of Perry’s most important observations is that much of what healed the children he worked with occurred outside of therapy. Dogs and people both are highly social species that is, of course, why we get along so well. Granted, there are times it is needed to keep an individual safe, but being forced is the opposite of being in control (by definition), so we should avoid it whenever we can. This means that the use of force must be avoided whenever possible. Dogs can get back some sense of control too, by teaching them appropriate behaviors that get them what they want, and letting them learn that they have some control over what happens to them. It was up to the child to initiate conversation. Perry’s first sessions with the children he worked with was to give them control over the session. Victims of trauma were subjected to experiences that stripped any feelings they had of autonomy. In my experience, a lot of dogs are pushed too far too fast, without being given time to feel safe and secure. With dogs, that might mean letting it have a “safe house” to go to, without being forced to interact for predictable portions of the day. Without doing all one can to create a sense of security, it’s impossible to go much further. Traumatized individuals have a brain set on constant alert. If we suspect trauma in a dog’s past, then how might we go about trying to help him or her? Again, we can look to what helps people:Ĭreate a sense of safety.
Of course, this list is just a start, but we have to start somewhere. Here are some symptoms we can look for that MIGHT indicate trauma in a dog: Anorexia, won’t eliminate, pacing, inability to sleep, hyper-vigilance, extreme fear, being easily startled, outbursts of aggression or rage that have no predictable pattern, and refusal to play. Rarely had anyone ever asked what had happened in their past that might explain their behavior. To my surprise, this happens commonly with children many of Perry’s cases involved victims who were diagnosed with a range of issues, from ADHD, to just being plain stubborn or manipulative. So often dogs are “diagnosed” as “dominant” or aggressive for some reason that involves what we’d think of in people as character flaws. How do we identify the dogs? We can’t ask them, and they can’t tell us that something horrible happened to them in the past. Photo thanks to the ASPCA Behavioral Rehabilitation Center Here’s the essence, the essential points from what is a very complex topic: Much of what he writes about reinforces what I’ve learned in the past and spoken about at APDT in 2014 in a talk titled People, Dogs and Psychological Trauma. But what CAN we incorporate in working with dogs who behave as if they have been traumatized? All of those things, done the right way at the right time, can help victims heal from all kinds of traumas. Of course, what we can’t do it talk to dogs, ask them what happened, or advise them to start writing in journals or drawing pictures. I’ve believed for years that many of the dogs I’ve worked with had behavioral problems because of some kind of trauma, and I think a lot about what we’ve learned working with human trauma victims can be applied to dogs. The book is flat out brilliant, and anyone who works with an individual who has been traumatized, human or canine, should read it. Perry writes about his experience with Justin, a horribly abused young man, as well as other horrifically abused children, to inform the world about the effect that trauma has on a developing brain, and how he and his team have gone about helping damaged children to heal. Given that I’m traveling around the the country talking about this issue through the very personal lens of Willie and myself, it seemed appropriate to repost this article that I wrote in September of 2015, about how to identify a traumatized dog, and how to help it recover.
One of my motivations for writing the book was to make it clear to the general public that dogs can experience trauma, and that the last thing they need is force or coercion to “behave.” In the book I talk about how all mammals can be psychologically traumatized, and that they share many of the same needs as human survivors for a sense of safety and autonomy. The title of The Education of Will is in part based on his name. In 2006, Willie who came to us as an eight-week old puppy who behaved as if he’d served three tours in Afghanistan, and came back with the canine version of PTSD.