This went way off topic....

I recently read an article about PTSD and how not only humans but animals can suffer from it as well, dogs are not an exception to this and it has me wondering about Bones. Given his past and how he was raised, he even now has his moments where he gets overwhelmed and has his own form of an anxiety attack.  For the most part i know what upsets him and we avoid those things, such as loud angry voices ,  brooms( if close to him) fly swatters and a raised hand. It took me a while to get to where i could reach out to pet his head without his cowering, now he rarely does that anymore, fly swatters i simply dont keep around and brooms( or that type of thing) i try and use when hes off doing something else which is a rare occasion but if its me with it he tends to freak out less.  The loud angry voices is something that sets us both off...only im way worse with it than he is...hes able to keep composure and deal with me if he needs to and its usually at that point that im headed somewhere quiet anyway.  The loud voices is part of why i prefer to go places at night anyway, less of a chance of running into that type of situation. 

For the first at least year to two years that i had Bones if he was upset he would literally roll over and pee on himself, resulting in many many baths...but its been at least two years since he has done that and we have been through a ton of changes in the past few years so i think thats saying a lot for his recovery. 

Had you met him when i first rescued him you would not only not recognize him physically but also in how he acts.  Hes much more confident in himself, he has no issue "speaking up" if he wants or needs something be it a walk outside or my attention because something is wrong. 

i have shared the pics from the first day i rescued him on facebook but id like to share them here as well. 

i know the pics are small, they were taken with a cell phone camera and i didnt have the regular camera with me. This one shows how skinny he was as well as dirty, thats Sassy in the back ground, another rescue i had for a while that i rehomed to her forever home about a year after that pic was taken. 

His coat was terrible, you can see the mats sticking up and he stunk like he had been in a manure pile. 

This picture of his face saddened me the most. i remember looking into his eyes that day and they were so blank, there really is no other word for it, unless i say soulless because of being so lost, confused and just beaten down for soo long. 

This was later in the day once i had fed and groomed him and you can see he was starting to smile and i was earning his trust in that day, but it took us a LONG time to get to where he is now. 

And this is now...Hes happy, healthy, loved, trained and i couldnt ask for a better temperament. i grew up with pets around. but i have never had an animal that actually changed my life before.  Yes it took a lot of hard work and dedication but id do it all over again if i needed to. 

So, back to my original topic, i am going to be researching this thing about dogs and PTSD as i think Bones may fit into that category, but at the same time i dont care either way. Hes strong, hes overcome soo much and and we are going to keep pushing forward with the same positive reinforcement training ive always used with him.