Never_falter2
MyPTSD Pro
When he barks out responses it's not really yelling, it's more the tone, very abrupt, not very nice but not necessarily loud. And like you said sometimes when I do ask questions he doesn't really know the answer. I
've noticed him pulling away at times, almost like he's on overload (stress cup explanation helped a lot there). I've learned a bit more about his situation in the last week and I think that's he's under an extraordinary amount of stress right now. He's working on getting all his appointments done with the VA for his medical retirement and has been thwarted by this damn pandemic. And of course the start of this relationship is adding to it. I had noticed a change in his communication and mentioned it and he about bit my head off. This was before I realized that the change probably had to do with his PTSD, I of course didn't let him get away with biting my head off, I held my ground and explained why I had questioned him, and it worked out.
Are you under the impression that he is angry when he barks at you or do you think it might be just his way of talking?
What kind of questions is it you ask them? Are they pretty intimate questions? May be if the kind he doesn’t want to answer or do you think it’s questions he actually wants to discuss but is just to stressed by them? Or do you think it has nothing to do with the question but he is generally stressed?
Could you give an example of a question you asked him?
Or he might feel blamed by the question, feel like you imply there is something wrong with him. My vet sometimes does... for example if he cannot eat and you ask him about it he sometimes feels blamed... because it makes him feel a bit guilty if you ask him the wrong way.
For example “Why aren’t you eating?“ is the wrong way to ask.