Suzanna and Dobby: FND and Anxiety Service Dog Team

Suzanna and Dobby working together to battle anxiety and FND.

It was January of 2017. I was 18 years old and half way through my senior year of high school. It was a big turning point in my life. I had had functional neurological disorder (FND) and an anxiety disorder for 6 years at this point, and I was having pretty regular flair ups. I knew I wanted to go to college, but didn’t know how that would be possible given my disorders.

FND (formally conversion disorder) isn’t well known, and is just recently beginning to be researched. The best explanation I’ve found so far is from fndhope.org, “FND is due to a problem with the functioning of the nervous system and thought to be the result of the brain’s inability to send and receive signals properly.” My symptoms vary widely, from vision and hearing difficulties, to total paralysis. Basically, anything to do with my senses or my motor capabilities can be affected. I was also living in a state of constant anxiety, and experienced frequent panic attacks. The FND and anxiety disorder also often fed into each other because FND can have physical and psychological triggers, and I would get anxiety about possibly having an episode in pubic. I had been through loads of therapy and had done everything they know to do for FND, but I knew something needed to change. That’s when I got the idea of getting a service dog.

Fast forward to June 2017 and after much fund raising Liz finally found the perfect dog for my disabilities and lifestyle. He’s a German Shepherd/Australian Shepherd/Poodle mix, aka Shepaussiedoodle. I decided to name him Dobby. That first week that I got Dobby was HARD. I didn’t know a thing about clicker training and Dobby did NOT trust me whatsoever. After lots of hard work and bonding we made so much progress, and now we’re inseparable.

I hardly ever have panic attacks anymore because Dobby alerts to my anxiety so early, and when I do have them they’re short lived because Dobby does pressure therapy and licks my face to bring me out of it. He also does that when I have an FND episode, which can slow and even stop it. He’s alerted me several times right before I fell too, so ended up having time to sit down before I lost mobility and didn’t hurt myself thanks to him. I really don’t know what I would do without him, life is so much easier. He even walked me down the aisle at my wedding.

One of my favorite bible verses is Proverbs 21:19, “Many are the plans in a persons heart, but it’s the Lords purpose that prevails.” My plan was that one day God would heal me of my disabilities, but God’s plan was to give me Dobby. He’s the Lords purpose. Plus, there are so many people I never would have met, including Liz and all of the other trainers and service dog handlers from Pawsibilities. So I got his paw print tattooed on my ankle with Proverbs 21:19 written underneath, to remind me that everything’s in God’s hands, and I’m very thankful for that.