What You Need to Know About Dog Trauma and How Holistic Animal Communication Can Help

By Shannon Cutts.

Is your dog experiencing trauma? Trauma is a word we human animals typically assume we understand. But do we really? And even if your understanding is crystal clear, can you spot all the ways trauma disguises itself in your pet’s daily life? That is what we will talk about in this article.

All languages have a word that describes trauma. This also includes animal communication, the universal language of sensation and intuition. As a professional animal intuitive, I spend my days talking with pets who need help with co-occurring issues such as pet anxiety, pet sensitivity and pet trauma. As you might imagine, this has also required me to get very familiar with the differences as well as the similarities between each. So let’s review (and please see my past articles on pet high sensitivity and pet anxiety for a more in-depth discussion on these).

Dog high sensitivity.
Pet high sensitivity refers to a heritable genetic trait that impacts approximately 20 percent of a given species population. Humans, horses, dogs, cats, birds, even reptiles carry the trait. The high sensitivity – what is now being termed sensory processing sensitivity – relates to how the senses process incoming data. Heightened sensitivity can lead to rapid sensory overload. Loud noises, strong odors, bright lights, extreme temperatures and similar experiences can, over time, create lingering pet anxiety and lead to pet trauma.

Dog anxiety.
Pet anxiety refers to a state where the excess adrenaline and cortisol produced in response to normal daily stressors is not properly processed and excreted out of the body. Instead, it begins to build up inside the liver, the lymphatic system and the adrenals as well as elsewhere in the animal’s body. Pet anxiety is not limited to domestic species such as dogs and cats. But it is seen more frequently in domesticated animals because these animals are not always able to get away from repetitively stressful experiences to detox and heal as nature intended.

Dog trauma.
Pet trauma arises when stress and anxiety build up over time to toxic levels. As a word, trauma refers to some type of wound, whether physiological, psychological or cognitive (or all of the above). Anxiety plays a particular role in forming traumatic psychological (emotional) wounds. Unrecognized high sensitivity can play a role here as well and can also create physiological and cognitive or behavioral wounds. Even a single experience of trauma, such as harsh training methods or an erratic daily schedule, and certainly instances of abuse, abandonment or relinquishment, to name a few, can also create pet trauma.

Where trauma ends and healing begins.
Now that you have a deeper awareness and understanding of how dog high sensitivity, dog anxiety and dog trauma can potentially intersect, let’s talk about how you can help your traumatized dog heal.

As I touched on earlier in this article, experiences of trauma get encoded in the body (physiological), heart (psychological) and mind (cognitive or behavioral) in the form of memories. But research has demonstrated that trauma memories are not created and stored like normal memories. Rather, these memories are encoded in fragments, leading researchers to dub trauma memories as “shrapnel.”

The description of trauma memories as shrapnel also points to how a pet’s trauma behaviors can surface in surprising ways and at unexpected times. A common example can be found in how a dog is handled. A short woman with long hair wearing jeans can easily reach down to pat a traumatized pet with no ill effect. However, should a tall man wearing a ballcap attempt to do the same, you might see timidity, aggression or any behavior in between those extremes. This, of course, would only arise if the dog has encoded shrapnel around being mishandled by a tall man wearing a ballcap.

This example highlights exactly why it is so important to follow these steps in order when you are helping your traumatized dog to heal.

1. Identify the shrapnel.
   Evidence of shrapnel is typically hiding in plain sight as pet behaviors. This is vital to recognize because, before you can help your traumatized pet to heal, first you need to understand that trauma is present. And since we have already established that trauma, anxiety and sensory processing sensitivity can co-exist and overlap, you might not even be sure at first which one you are dealing with.

Happily, all three will typically respond well to the same basic healing protocols. In each case, there is a response that is clearly indicative of dis-ease, whether in body, emotion or mind.

One idea I often encourage my pet parent clients to make use of is a daily tracking journal. Here, you aren’t noting down every detail of your dog’s day. Rather, you are simply making note of what I call “outlier” responses along with some accompanying surrounding details.

Using our earlier example, when your dog allows a woman to pat him but shies away when her partner, a tall man in a ballcap, tries to do the same, you would note down the time of day, the environment, the details of the situation, whether your dog was full or hungry, tired or energetic, feeling well or poorly, etc.

This notetaking over a period of time allows you to identify what I like to call “patterns in the chaos.” When you spot a pattern emerging, this allows you to identify the trauma shrapnel.

2. Create a plan to help your dog release the shrapnel of stored trauma.
   As an animal communicator by trade, I always recommend talking with your dog to learn as much as you can about any outlier responses you witness. But here is where things can get dicey.

Unlike with many human animals who seem willing or even eager to retell their past trauma stories over and over again, our pets don’t share this preference. Often, my pet clients will express reluctance to rehash past trauma experiences – that is, unless they know it is part of a bigger plan to help them release that trauma asap.

This is why I often recommend holistic animal communication in these cases. What is holistic animal communication? I describe it as a combination of talk therapy plus emotional release. During a session, we communicate with your dog to find out more about the nature of the stored trauma. I make it very clear that we only want to know specifics so we can immediately turn around and help your pet release the stored shrapnel, or energetic imprint, of past pain and suffering.

3. Pair the appropriate release remedy with the type of trauma.
   Once we gather some context about your dog’s past traumatic experiences, it is time to quickly help your pet release that trauma on an energetic level. However, it is also important to understand that a simple energetic release may not always be enough to help your dog recover fully. Here is why.

Just like with humans, an experience of trauma often sets up an unnatural set of coping mechanisms – reactions and behaviors – that take precedence over the development of more normal coping behaviors that might have otherwise occurred. For instance, a dog who wasn’t able to get away from an abusive tall man in a ballcap might develop the behavior of cowering or biting. That behavior then applies to all tall men in ball caps, not just to the single individual who was causing harm.

So we can absolutely release this dog’s energetic shrapnel during a holistic animal communication session. But your dog will likely still need to add new tools to their socialization and boundaries toolkit to fully overcome the impact of the trauma.

At this point, you might be wondering what types of energetic release tools might accompany a holistic animal communication session? This can differ from one case to the next and there are many effective tools that can assist with energetic trauma release work. My tools of choice typically include pet Reiki, EFT tapping, chakra balancing, non-mechanical scalar wave, aromatherapy, crystal and color therapy. Sometimes I may refer out to a colleague for additional energetic release work or support through training and other modalities.

4. You also need help and support to heal.
   Finally, it is so important to recognize that you and your pet are a package deal. When I asked the pets what the word “pet” means and why we use it to describe their role in our lives, they told me pet means Partner, Empathic friend and Teacher. So when your pet is hurting, you are hurting too. This also means you both need help to heal, recover and restore after your pet experiences trauma.

Many of my clients have shared how isolated they feel when they have a pet in the home who has developed difficult or dangerous coping mechanisms due to past trauma. Some of my clients have even shared that they feel trapped in their home because their pet’s trauma is so severe. It is vital to treat yourself well through these challenging times and to remember you are not alone.

Shannon Cutts is a professional animal sensitive and intuitive, Reiki Master and animal communication teacher with Animal Love Languages. Shannon’s global client base seeks her out for help with pet trauma, pet anxiety, highly sensitive pets, pet grief, pet reincarnation, interspecies family dynamics and more. Request Shannon’s free Pet Trauma Guide: https://www.animallovelanguages.com/pettraumaguide