I learned so much when a dog bit Stella, my beloved doggie. Stella has passed on now, but I will never forget the trauma.

Imagine if a dog bit your dog in front of you!

I was amazed, and not in a good way, at what I felt when I saw the dog bite Stella. We thought the dogs were friends. But we were wrong.

I share this because people tell me that I am a calm, compassionate person. My goal is to be patient and understanding when I communicate with animals and their guardians. I work hard to create a no-judgement zone.

But my reaction was so negative!  My feelings were strong and they lingered. Don’t worry – Stella recovered just fine, both physically and emotionally after days of cuddling and love.

(I recorded this video with Stella a month after she got bit. It’s not the best quality, but because Stella has passed on, I  can’t bear to record a new video. I love seeing her with me!)

First emotion after the dog bit Stella – fear

I was so afraid for Stella. If you know her, you know she’s not a fighter. And she was much smaller than the other dog. I was sure she was going to have serious injuries. So I could not look at her closely after we pulled the dog off her.

Truthfully, I was shaken to the core because I really wanted them to be friends! As it turns out, Stella had cuts around one eye and one ear, but she didn’t need any stitches.

Anger came next

I was so ANGRY at this dog. Forget compassion – I had tossed it out the window! No, I did not think, “It’s OK, we’ll figure this out.” “That ##@@ dog!!,” was closer to the truth.

Self-recrimination

I had failed Stella. The dog bit her right in front of me and I did not protect her. This is not supposed to happen – I’m supposed to protect my beloved animals.

The feeling lingered

My feelings damaged my relationship with the dog’s guardian. I had lost my compassion for the dog at this point.

How did I work through it?

I got advice from a great dog trainer

I talked to Ana Melara of Grace Dog Training & Behavior, to get a perspective on why dogs act aggressively. With her guidance, I saw the incident through the eyes of the attacker.

No growling allowed

This young rescue dog did not growl before she attacked Stella, who was barking at her. Ana explained that the bigger dog may have been severely punished for growling by the people who had her before she was rescued.

You probably know this, but growling is one of the ways dogs tell us they don’t like something and to stop it. Sadly, the growl had been deleted from her “I’m warning you to back off” toolbox.

High stress levels

Ana pointed out that we also don’t know what the dog’s stress level was before the attack. Let’s say stress can be measured from 0 to 100, 0 being “It’s all good, man..” and 100 being “I’m going to attack and maim right now!”

How stressed was the dog before she came to the rescue organization? While in the rescue, she was spayed. This was a good thing, but still a stressor. And then she went to another new place with new people and new animals, increasing her stress.

What if she her stress rate was already 80 that day?? It wouldn’t take much to move the dial up, would it? Then Stella walks over with her “little doggie swagger bark”… Deep sigh. I had found compassion again.

But I was still hostage to my negative feelings

After this incident, I understand that people, as well as their animal companions, may need to release their own trauma. If they’re stuck, that energy holds their animals back from moving on. So I used an  energy healing technique to clear my trauma and help Stella clear hers.

I now use many techniques based on Tina Zion’s teachings to help animal companions AND their people to release trauma. My desire is for all of us to move on – – so we can live our best lives together!

Connecting to the dog

After the energy healing work, I was able to COMPASSIONATELY connect to the dog.

I asked her why she attacked. She said she had to establish dominance over other dogs quickly or she would get hurt/killed.

I told her she could start relaxing and playing. I also did some healing  to release her aggressive energy and strengthen her feeling of safety and being loved.

Do you need to release trauma?

Learn more about how I work with people!