Dogs and domestic abuse

Hello all,

Some of you may have caught a reel that I collaborated on some time ago, with someone very close to my heart. But before I begin, please let me put a little warning out there. This article may be triggering, particularly for those who have experienced what I am about to discuss - and that's domestic abuse. This includes physical, financial, coercive, and controlling behaviors.

Be kind to yourself while reading and feel free to reach out for links to support you.

My experience of domestic abuse is, thankfully, indirect, albeit apart from an unsavoury interlude in my late teens where I was physically threatened, after which followed a year of emotional blackmail and upheaval. Those days, once over with, did not leave me, but neither did they prepare me for a much more sinister period of time spanning six fairly recent years and then some, involving my sister.

She is now thankfully safe and happy, having restarted her life from scratch. Her resilience to abuse and change is a testament to her success, but what has often come up in conversations with her is the impact on dogs. Her dog was brought into the home just prior to her leaving. The dog was just a puppy. So let's dig deep and talk about dogs and domestic abuse.

Domestic abuse, in whatever form, is, in my view, guaranteed to impact our dogs. Dogs respond to a range of different stimuli or triggers, and when these are negative, threatening, or tense in nature, this can be damaging. It's science-based psychology and means they are far from oblivious to what's going on around them, even if the abuse isn't directed at them directly. Dogs can be impacted by raised voices, tension, and verbal altercations, as well as physical abuse.

To understand the impact of abuse on our dogs, we need research. The majority of research-based psychology starts with studies on humans. This is where the big bucks are spent, and so we find the research is most robust and the findings can be trusted. While we cannot always transfer those findings to canine understanding, we can often draw similarities because our systems are not always that different - fight and flight systems are one example. Another way we can draw similarities is when we think about the impact on children in the home.

According to the charity Barnardo's, children witnessing abuse is a form of abuse in itself. Abuse means to treat someone with cruelty or violence, and it causes trauma. Where we find trauma, we often find slightly different brain development. This is similar in both humans and dogs.

Dogs, just the same as children, undergo brain development over their early lives that can affect behavior both at that time and later on in life. The research for both children and now coming through for dogs shows us that they face critical periods during development when they can soak up negative experiences. The wonderful thing is how pliable the brain can be - there is always the potential to reshape the way the brain behaves in ways that can alter previously learned responses which arise from abuse.

But how does abuse impact our older dogs? Any form of abuse can raise stress levels. Where we see raised stress, we see behavior chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline. These behavior chemicals flip our dogs into a more emotional state, which is where they access those fight or flight behaviors more readily. This can cause behavior problems such as excessive barking, aggression, reactivity, and an inability to focus on learning. When stress levels are raised for a period of time, they stay raised, and the body struggles to cope, which can lead to worsening of behaviors and a reduced ability to settle.

So, it is important to know that dogs will struggle within a domestic abuse setting, but they can recover just like you can. While it seems like an uphill road, judging by the outcomes for my own family, it is well worth the slow climb for you and your dogs.

Dogs Trust operates a fantastic dog fostering service called Freedom, to support you if you're thinking of leaving an abusive partner. Take a look at this and see if it might help you or someone you know:

https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/how-we-help/ownership/freedom

If you just want to read about someone else's experience of abuse, my sister writes a blog which sits on her website here: https://www.hopeandmallows.com

References:

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/child-health-development/childhood-trauma-brain-development

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/abuse

https://www.barnardos.org.uk/get-support/support-for-parents-and-carers/child-abuse-and-harm/children-affected-domestic-abuse-violence