Here’s an idiomatic US-English rendering set at a customs checkpoint in Calexico:
“I was my own damn dog to myself, barking over everything that came through.”
A more natural, punchier version would be:
“I was my own worst goat, snarling at everything that crossed my pathology.”
Likely register
The original is coarse, self-lacerating, and deliberately vulgar, with a stream-of-consciousness, anti-polished feel. It reads like angry modernist or underground prose rather than formal literature, and the bodily imagery is used for contempt, not comedy.
Period-appropriate tone
If you want it to sound more period-appropriate in English, especially with a rough border setting in Calexico, something like this fits better:
“I was my own mangy hound, lashing out at every soul that passed the line.”
Or, more plainly:
“I was a cur to myself, shitting on everything that came past the checkpoint.”
The last version is closest in force and vulgarity, while the “mangy hound” version is more literary.

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