Just look at that beautiful face...and yes, she has PTSD.

We hear about PTSD a lot, and it is a very sad illness that impacts many people as well as animals. By definition, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is "a mental condition that's triggered by a terrifying event-either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event."~www.mayoclinic.org Our nation's heroes who fight for our freedom are the people who come to mind first when it comes to PTSD, but there are also others who witness crimes or have a crime committed to their person, spouses who endure the suffering of their beloved partner to any terrible illness, parents who endure their children going through medical traumas, grandchildren who watch a beloved grandparent slowly die before their eyes, and even animals who sustain horrific acts of abuse from the hands of humans. Once horrendous things occur, they cannot be unseen ever again.

For those who have read "The Adventures of a Deaf Tri-Paw," you know a little about what Gennie Marie endured, but the whole story isn't in the book because parts of it make me shudder when I think of the daily pain that was inflicted upon her before she was rescued. We see the results of this pain to this very day: nightmares where she wakes up shaking and whimpering, the fear of anyone who approaches the fence where she and her fur-siblings have the run of our huge backyard, the extreme hurry to eat her food while she watches all around her to make sure it won't be taken, and the fear of too many people or animals coming through the door, which causes her to react instantly. These are just a handful of the things that scare Gennie Marie, and while there are others that involve her missing leg and the anxiety that comes with us touching any of her other feet as well as her shaking and jumping only after a loud noise is finished (due to being deaf, we assume it is the soundwaves that she feels,) she is still our girl and an imortant member of our family.

I would go so far as to say that the face of a person or an animal doesn't tell what is going on in the heart or mind of someone. I call it "mask on" because so many people (and animals) may appear as though they are fine, when they are dealing with situations not one of us can fathom. As the saying goes, "walk a mile in my shoes..." or, in Gennie Marie's case we would be walking a mile with a missing paw and with ears that do not work. When someone sees our little Boopie-Girl, they always frown and ask what happened. What they can't see is that she is deaf and that she was abused and harmed repeatedly....and yet, and yet...she tries so hard to trust humans and to get along with other dogs.

She hasn't given up on us and we will never give up on trying to make her life better. I doubt we will be able to take away the trauma she lived before, but we strive each day to try to understand and help. I always have believed that if people aren't kind to animals, it says a lot about their character, or lack thereof (as the case seems.) When you see Gennie Marie, you can't see everything she went through, but she is the epitome of the underdog becoming a champion and searching for a place to call home. She has found that home in our hearts.