My Dog Has Become My Best Friend....

[timetorecover]

Animals do not answer back, they just love you and its so not sad!
We can become attached to our pets more (being PTSD) but that is not sad, its fact.
I understand you and hear what you are saying and hope that you get well soon xxx

 

[kimba]

Pets, especially dogs, give us something to get up for and give our feelings to without judging us or rejecting us. I also was a hermit for a while, but now that I am in therapy and realise what a hermit I have become, it is slowing changing. One outing for lunch once a week with one acquaintence is becoming two with two different ones.

 

[just me here]

My dog, Lady, has become my best friend. I know she understands my grief/anxiety and stress. I don't have to explain anything to her, I can just "be".


My best friend is a dog....how sad is that?

Not at all sad, my Best friend is my wife, but I have been unfaithful and taken my dogs places that she wasn't invited to :)

I have always considered my relationships with my many many dogs to be rich and rewarding, even dogs I have rescued that never really fit in around here but did have stable lives and didn't have to face their previous abuse ever again benifited me by teaching me compassion that I am trying to learn to show myself now. They were my trainers.

When I was a child I spent days on end just walking the woods or fishing with no company but dogs, I had dogs that picked me out as a friend and would show up at the house looking for me, hoping I was available to come out and play.

My labs are my friends, they know when I am sad and show empathy that makes me cry sometimes. And if I hook up a boat trailer to my truck, they are relentless in their efforts to herd me to the front seat and take us all out for an adventure. In fact, I have to park on the opposite side of the place from the boatbarn, they seem to think that proximity leads to inevitability and will jump in the truck and refuse to get out. They are right, I really should hook it up and go.

Love your dogs, it is a natural symbiosis between species that was here long before breeders and therapists were even dreamed of- there is a mutual admiration thing here that is as old as evolution and advanced thought: Dog good- people inconsistant. Dog is better friend, good.

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[citygirlonyou]

My dog is my best friend too, he comes with me everywhere and I just am in love with him. He is a Golden Retriever and he has helped me a lot through my PTSD. I used to stay inside and basically I stopped talking to everyone close. I felt alone and then I got my dog Odin, 8 months now. He is wonderful, stays by my side, trained well and I take him for walks all the time and he loves it. I feel I can think, really think on those walks and I cherish them.

He has made me a better person. I think dog lovers with PTSD should all have a dog. So, no, it is not sad at all and if people think it is, then they don't realize the bond one can have with their animal.

There should be a balance and one shouldn't just have their dog, but I know he is definitely my best friend.

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[just me here]

My dog is my best friend too, he comes with me everywhere and I just am in love with him. He is a Golden Retriever and he has helped me a lot through my PTSD.
There should be a balance and one shouldn't just have their dog, but I know he is definitely my best friend.

My best dogs have been retreivers. The instinct to do work and serve is strong in them and they are always willing to let you be the boss. I think if I only had one dog at a time, it would have to be a retreiver just because of their willingness to do as told, even if it is just sitting at my feet while I catch a movie or read.

My labs survive without going crazy because they can entertain each other, I just can't be here enough for them. A lone Lab would be a great companion, but would need every minute I could give them.

Unless another dog rescue presents itself, I think my next dog may be a retreiver. For me, the differance is that a lab will try to convince me it is a good idea to go for a walk or a boat ride or cook a pizza, where a golden retreiver will wait till it is my idea and then just be glad to go or get some crust. While I am out and about with a dog or two, I notice my retreivers have always gone anywhere or done anything I thought up for them, where my labs are always willing to go somewhere or do something but will often stop short and look at me like "don't you remember what happened the last time we did this?" They fetch the stick in the water or go on a long muddy walk but with the reservation that there will be a warm place to dry off and a good brushing after this, right?

Enjoy your retreiver, they are wonderful animals.

 

[maddog]

Just me here, I liked your comparison between labs and retrievers. I've trained both as working dogs and agree wholeheartedly with your personality assessment of the two breeds.

I have a lab as a pet and working dog and she is just as you describe. She's a gem though, I wouldn't be without her,and the job she officially does sometimes seems a distant secondary priority to her unofficial job as primary supporter and primary grounding object in my world.

Maddog

 

[citygirlonyou]

I definitely do love and enjoy my Golden. :)

He's always by my side. I never have had a lab but I know how intelligent they can be. My Golden knows when I'm not feeling well and he will look at the leash and bark at it. He knows me well and is very intelligent. My Golden doesn't ever really wait til it is my idea, he is intuitive and my Golden is the same way when I walk him.

 

[KP the nut]

One day, when I was feeling really low. I was layed in bed, you know when your mind just isn't doing anything and I was staring into space. Then the thought in my mind suddenly shouted 'what is the point of trying, there is nothing to get up for'.

I then noticed my sprollie pawing at me. I looked into his eyes and I swear I heard him say, 'it's OK, you have me to get up for'. I know it sound completely balmy, but I heard him.

Dogs are so empathic, I couldn't have survived without mine.

 

[Sammy]

I'll add my voice. My dogs have always been my best buddies - the ones I can trust. I recently got a German Shepherd puppy and taking him for walks forced me to communicate with others. Who can resist a puppy? I had people stopping their cars to pet him - tell me that isn't a bit weird! I had to learn to not assume the worst! I have gotten to know neighbors and talked with strangers because of him. He has helped me learn to be OK with people. Well, more OK. I still prefer to hide in my house but he needs walks so, I inevitably end up communicating at least a little with people. I have learned that not everyone is out to hurt me. As he has grown, people are less likely to bother me - a lot of folks are afraid of Shepherds. I am OK with that. But, he still acts so goofy, there is always someone who wants to talk about him. I cannot imagine not having the company of a dog.

 

[just me here]

I cannot imagine not having the company of a dog.

I can, and it is not a pretty place. Right now I am home alone except I have one lab sleeping on her blanket with her feet and tail actually roasting under the woodstove, and a second one behind my chair so he won't miss out if I get up to go outside or better yet to the kitchen, making noises regularly that clearly state his opinion: You can go get food from the fridge, you can drive the truck to fun places, you can even take us all to the river, and you just sit there watching the big box that the people that don't smell are in and clicking on the strange device you put on your lap and click on. I am sure he thinks I am completely stupid. Maybe he is right.

 

[just me here]

Through my daughter I just found out that if you can get a pet registered as a therapy animal, you will not have to pay extra pet deposits for rental properties and can get the licensing fees for the animal decreased or even paid for you. That is second hand info that is probably specific to our state, but I just thought someone out there might be able to benifit from it. I don't even know what having an animal registered as a therapy animal involves.

It seems almost redundant to call a dog a therapy dog, they live their lives to please their provider, therapy just comes with the package.

 

[SJP23]

My best friend is a dog....how sad is that?

To be quite honest, that isn't "sad" whatsoever. After all, canines are humankind's best friend—for the last 30,000 years or so, at least. I absolutely understand what you are saying, here. Over the last two years, I have slowly isolated myself from friends and replaced them with my own dog. In fact, my wife is currently out of the country and it is an odd sigh of relief to know that my dog is the main focus of my "social" interaction for the time being. It's a strange feeling, and often difficult to describe. That being said, it is a calming sensation.

For myself, I'm not sure as to the true reason for my doing this. However, I am slowly beginning to think that it simply has allowed me to not become emotionally attached to others, and thereby prevent exposing myself to becoming vulnerable. It prevents ridicule, judgment, et cetera (regardless of the rationality of such fear). Sure, I enjoy stepping outside to walk my dog, but I feel anxiety over the simple possibility/probability of running into someone while on our walk.

My dog, I have come to realize, is a great source of therapeutic relief for myself.