FEATURE
Healing from Trauma Apache had scores of stitches — so many the vet stopped counting . He had a drain tube in for a week and was on a handful of oral and topical medications . And while his flesh was healing , the focal point had to be his emotional and mental recovery , whatever that might look like . Initially , Dr . Overall indicated he ’ d likely have trouble sleeping through the night , and if that were the case , we ’ d address it . He didn ’ t . I was extremely glad , but not all that surprised . Apache ’ s superpower is grit . He wouldn ’ t have survived all the adversity in his life — or this attack — without it .
Apache celebrates his birthday . Despite the trauma , he appears to have recovered both physically and mentally from the attack .
I ’ m so fortunate and grateful they didn ’ t go after Emmie , as she would have suffered a much worse physical fate since she has a compromised femur from unknown macro trauma prior to 8 weeks old . Now 12 years old , she ’ s still thriving having had rehab , platelet-rich plasma ( PRP ) treatments , ongoing therapy and pain management , but she would not have been able to withstand the brute strength of the other two dogs and absolutely would ’ ve been taken down . Most dogs probably would have . But she was still directly involved in the trauma .
In her paper “ Dogs Who Witness Trauma ,” Dr . Teresa Tyler explores whether dogs are empathetic toward other dogs . Citing much research , and her own observations pointing to the affirmative , Dr . Tyler calls for more research into wit-nessing conspecific suffering ( 2022 ). As a witness to Apache ’ s distress , Emmie ’ s emotional health also needs support . Even though she ’ s always clearly been dog selective , she has become reactive to nearly all dogs on some level since the attack . And as a human witness and participant in the trauma , I ’ m still searching to understand its effects on me . I know I feel tremendous remorse for not being able to protect Apache when he needed me .
Trauma compromises the ability to feel safe , and regaining a sense of safety is fundamental to healing . Since safety is such a critical and core need , it ’ s paramount to healing from trauma . Deep safety , as Donaldson defines it , is “ an internal sense the world is safe [ and the dog is ] safe in it and as partners with our dogs it ’ s our responsibility to create and sus-tain an environment where that can happen .” Donaldson believes “[ deep safety is the ] foundation , and everything starts with that . Until the dog can experience this internalized visceral deep safety not much else is going to happen in terms of healing from trauma .”
Healing from trauma is not one-size-fits-all , as Hatfield explains : “ Dogs are like people in that if a person who is natural-ly shy or lacks self-confidence has experienced trauma , recovery may take longer than the person or dog who [ is ] confi-dent [ and ] emotionally balanced … if the dog had a healthy and productive life pre-trauma , he would generally have a greater chance of recovery . Remember though , what might be traumatic to one person or dog may not be anything more than an uncomfortable event that is quickly put behind them for another . Recovery rates depend on temperament , per-sonality , physical health , past experiences , relationship with humans and type of living environment .”
According to Donaldson , four elements are needed to heal from trauma : deep safety , agency , a strong social support network and no coercion , pointing out “ that includes positive reinforcement coercion that includes pressure for the dog to heal before they ’ re ready . For example , instituting a robust counterconditioning desensitization program [ risks ] trau-matizing and overwhelming the dog .”
Healing trauma isn ’ t synonymous with being curable : trauma is permanent . As Donaldson explains , “ I don ’ t use the rhetoric of cure with trauma . That doesn ’ t mean we can ’ t move through it , but trauma is something your body never forgets , but we can see it and not have it overwhelm us . That is the best outcome . Because most people when [ they say cure they mean ] it ’ s gone [ and it ’ s ] never coming back , and that is just not the way trauma works .” Furthermore , the approach to helping a dog heal largely “ depends on the dog in front of you , the level of the emotional overwhelm . Slow-er is better , you cannot force healing from trauma ; that has to come from within the dog .”
I didn ’ t know what to do during the attack , and I certainly didn ’ t know what to do afterward . Normalcy seemed like the “ right ” thing , but it didn ’ t feel right . Instead , I felt compelled to do something to counteract what felt like devastation — to strengthen our bond that felt strained , violated . I followed my gut . And maybe my guilt .
Eight days after the attack we went on our annual trip we ’ d planned five months prior . Our vacations always include our dogs
40 Building Better Trainers Through Education Photo by Ryan Brix .