Over-Threshold - An Inside Look

This is a post about dogs. I suspect, when you start reading you might doubt that assertion, but it is a post about dogs. While humans and dogs are vastly different species and there is much that is not universally applicable between the two species, people tend to find parallels a useful way to learn.

I'm going about my life and despite the fact that we are in a global pandemic, finances are tight for everyone, the fear of disease is prevalent, life is ultimately good. I feel I am balanced and measured in my responses. I'm hiking regularly. Missing work due to illness maybe two times a year.

Then I contract COVID for the second time. It's a milder bout this time thankfully. But a month later I am still struggling. I'm lethargic. Dizzy. My migraines are uncontrolled for the first time in almost a decade.

I struggle through the year. Everything is a blur. When my litter of puppies are five weeks old, I learn that there is a chronic genetic degenerative spinal condition behind them. On both sides of the pedigree. I can't describe the vitriol I've already taken from the community for these puppies' existences (one of their parents failed a health test - never mind no one else in the breed is comprehensively health testing).

By next Spring, things are looking up. My health is stable - no where near what it was - but stable. The dogs are fantastic. And then I get a message saying my co-owners will be picking up my dog on Friday. Thus sparks an eight month dispute where all parties narrowly avoid going to court. This breaks me. I've lost people who I thought were friends. Along the way, I have people who have been good friends for years, ghost me. I navigate conflicts with others and each stressor builds. I'm in a constant state of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I muddle through. It seems like there's a crisis nearly constantly. I consult with trusted confidants who have known me a decade of longer. They can confirm, I seem to be caught in an endless circle of trauma. It's harder to respond. I'm tired, my adrenaline has been working overtime. I catch conversations getting away from me. I am just trying to survive and react to the next trauma.

Slowly, I try to get my life back under control. I take breaks. Distance myself from triggers. Yet triggers keep finding me. Finally, I cut people out completely. I cut off any group that causes drama. And there's a change. Life is still difficult. We have a long running string of car issues stemming from two non-fault accidents with uninsured drivers. Typical life things. But the drama isn't finding me as readily and I'm able to think and recover.

What does this have to do with dogs?

Everything.

When we got Ducky back, she was having marked behavioral issues - confinement anxiety, separation anxiety, and dog to dog interpersonal issues. The confinement anxiety popped up after she was hit by a car after getting out of her yard and running at large for three and a half days. It left her with a broken back and a narrowing between the transition between her thoracic and lumbar vertebrae. The dog to dog issues? Those were brand new.

When she got here, we got her vet records and saw that she had not been on pain management the majority of the preceding months. When she had been on pain management, she had been more manageable. We immediately got her into my vet and got her on a robust pain management protocol. We did follow-up radiographs and found a bone spur growing toward her spine near the junction of thoracic and lumbar vertebra, which could be causing substantially more pain than previously.

On pain management, her dog to dog issues resolved entirely. This remained true until her pain reached an unmanageable level. Her anxiety regarding confinement and separation were far more easily modified. Through pain management were able to reduce the background noise so we could individually address triggers and trauma.

There are countless other examples I could give. Dogs with repeated trauma can take a long time to truly overcome that trauma. Many adults dogs I have taken on - both client and personal - can be challenging because we can build lovely alternative behaviors and decrease problematic behaviors. But to see lasting change, you have to help their nervous system reset and that can be a challenge.

Be them human or dog, stressors, triggers, and trauma that decrease a being's capacity must be addressed in concert with addressing behavior. This includes modifying a conditioned emotional response. If a trigger is sending emotions into the stratosphere - calmly modifying behavior isn't an option. What helps? Distance. From the trigger. From trauma.