Unlived wounds that we keep silent about become quiet alarms in our homes, and this is why dogs are the first to recognize them. What we often mistake for calmness is, in reality, trauma that is afraid of itself. If we do nothing, we will leave our children to face the consequences of our silence and our pretense that everything was fine.
The Illusion of Stability and the Denial of Pain
In my previous column, I wrote about how, in our attempt to protect ourselves from overwhelming pain, we left dogs to be the first to show the consequences of our silence. A comment recently appeared: “There was no panic or chaos. The dog had its routine.”
This sentence is a perfect example of how unlived wounds are created through denial. When collective trauma strikes so deeply, the easiest way to survive is to say that nothing happened. But this denial is not proof of stability; it is a symptom of a wound. No one wants to admit the world stopped, because that would mean admitting what that stoppage did to our internal systems.
A Dangerous Inheritance for Children and Dogs
Adults find ways to survive even when life collapses, but children and dogs do not have the mechanisms to store trauma in internal drawers. They will live out what we do not dare to acknowledge.
The sentence “The dog had a routine” is actually a sentence of fear. It speaks about a person who needed that routine as an anchor to endure an unbearable period. If we continue to close our eyes to who we became during the pandemic, we only close another circle of silence. Silence creates generations that carry the weight of their parents without knowing why.
Emotional Imprints: When Dogs Speak for Us
Dogs are already showing us the results of these unlived wounds. We see it in:
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Severe separation anxiety
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Increased reactivity
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Panic when humans return to work
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Inability to be separated for even five minutes
These are not „problem dogs.“ These are emotional imprints of human pain that was never fully processed. They speak through their behavior because we chose to remain silent.
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The sentence “The dog had a routine” is often not proof of stability, but the deepest scream of fear hidden behind an appearance of normalcy.
Acknowledgment as the Path to Healing
We must not leave our children and dogs an inheritance of silence. The price of silence always comes; it just needs time. It is time to stop defending ourselves with „there was no panic.“
Acknowledging that it was hard and painful is not weakness. Acknowledgment is the only way to ensure that we do not pass our unlived wounds to our children and our dogs as an invisible inheritance. Truth, not silence, is what leads to stability.
At Sasha Riess, we understand that a dog’s peace is tied to the human’s honesty. Facing our unlived wounds is the only way to protect our pets and children, leading us all toward pureloveandharmony. Discover more about our holistic approach: Linktree Sasha Riess
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