woofwalkies1-blog

[woofwalkies1-blog]

The definition of Stress is “a physiological or biological response to a stressor such as an environmental condition. Stress is the body’s way of reacting to a condition such as a threat, challenge or physical and psychological barrier”.

We sometimes have to have uncomfortable conversations with dog owners, because as much as we love all dogs, sometimes our environment just isn’t suited to all dogs. FACT!! This doesn’t mean you are a bad dog owner, or you have a bad dog, it just means we are the wrong choice for your dog’s needs.

Some people may choose to continue to work with your dog, take your money, and allow your dog to be uncomfortable and or become “stressed”, because they need the business or most likely, they are not noticing the subtle signs that your dog is unhappy, but we don’t work like that, and if your dog is not comfortable here, we will likely discuss this with you and come up with a plan to ensure everyone is happy, both humans and dogs.

Stress can present in many ways with dogs, and this post isn’t about how it is presented but why it is presented, because if you can understand why, then that may help you understand why we don’t want to cause any extra stress for your dog.

We may tell you that your dog is excessively humping, displaying aggressive behaviours, excessively barking, becoming nervous, or simply not wanting to be here. Your dog isn’t being naughty, they are usually stressed by our very over stimulated environment and asking for help.

I am a biologist, and I am a geek, and I work with 60 dogs a day so let’s talk dog biology.

The Central Nervous System (CNS) and Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) are responsible for all of a dog’s bodily functions.

The Peripheral Nervous System controls the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), which is responsible for all involuntary responses by your dog. Involuntary responses being the functions that your dog does not have to think about before doing them.

The ANS never stops functioning, but it will adjust what it does dependant on the situation presented. It increases functions or regulates functions but it never stops functioning, unless due to ill health.

To confuse matters, the ANS splits into 2 divisions:                  

The Sympathetic Division which is stimuli responsive, and controls Critical Survival Responses, think “Fight or Flight”, activates stress responses, and your dog does not have any control over what he does, during this type of response. He is being driven by survival. A dog who is threatened or in a stressful situation may react out of character, for example, a dog who is injured may bite you or your vet, this isn’t unusual and this is not a display of aggression or a naughty behaviour, it is a survival response.

Then there is the Parasympathetic Division of the ANS which is responsible for the regulation of every day functions, Heart Rate, Respiration, Hormone Production and Rest and Digest to name a few. Through hormone regulation, the Parasympathetic Nervous System will “normalise” the body after a stressful event. This is how dogs stabilise and return to a normal behaviour, and move on from a stressful situation, and return to a “normal” biological state.

Examples of isolated stressful events, which are usually quickly overcome are the occasional trips to the vet, once yearly fireworks night, loud noises whilst building works maybe taking place or after an accident or injury. These short-term stressors for most dogs can be upsetting at the time of incident, and can cause a dog to present with anxiety and unwanted behaviour, however the stress should quickly dissipate and the body should “normalise” when the Parasympathetic Nervous System recognises the issue and kicks in.

Important to note here is that it can take up to 72 hours, for hormone levels to normalise and this would be subject to NO further stressors taking place. A dog will usually remember such an incident, and will learn in the example of becoming injured or frightenened not to put himself in that danger again, he should however not continue to be “stressed”, over a one off event.

In cases of continued stressful events, it is much more complex, and difficult to undertand, and much more important to treat and take proffessional advice on, either from a qualified canine behaviour therepist, or your vet.

When we think of dogs who are “Stressed”, “Anxious”, “Reactive”, “Naughty”, “Out of Control” (all terms we hear on a daily basis at Woof Walkies, from clients), we actually need to look at what is happening, on a molecular level, before we can figure out how to treat the situation here, and decide if our enviroment is suitable for a dog.

Dogs are not born nervous, anxious or stressed. They develop these conditions over a long period of time, following prolonged and repeated release of stress hormones.

As dicussed above, in the event of a one off stressor, stress homrones will be released, but then the body will return to normal, usually within 72 hours. The dog will continue to act in a stable, and normalised biological state. If however, a stress trigger is on repeat, for prelonged periods of time, every individual stressful event that takes 72 hours to recover from, builds up, and that 72 hour recovery period, is never met. The dog never achieves a “normal” biologaical state.

Here is one example of how a dog may become clinically “stressed”: A young puppy in a “normal” biological state with no cares in the world, is taken for a walk to the park. He is on his

lead, with nowhere to escape to, and is run at by an over zellous, over friendly, large dog, who knocks him to the floor and jumps all over him, being playful. The big, scary, dog is removed from the situation, and pup is physically unharmed, but is left shaken and scared, but his mum looks after him and takes him home to safety.

The puppy is then taken for his walk the following day, and he is again on the lead, and another dog is walking towards him, the other dog isn’t too happy around other dogs but his mum really wants to see the puppy. Sadly, the unhappy dog, lunges at the puppy and really scares him, pup drops to the floor, and the unhappy dog barks really loud at the puppy. Both mums want to chat about the puppy and both dogs continue to be in a “stressed” state. Once again, the puppy finally gets home after his second ordeal, although remember he is already still in a “stressed state”, from yesterday, and now has to deal with this on top.

What is even worse is, the neighbours who live next door to the pup have 3 noisy and over playful dogs, and they keep barking over the garden wall at the pup, casuing him to be a bit nervous for the rest of the evening. Pup knows they are in the garden, all the time, so every time he goes out into his back yard, he is also becoming stressed by the neighbours dogs, even though, they haven’t hurt him in anyway. All he wants to do is learn to toilet safely.

At this point, pups mum knows he is a bit anxious, he is a bit fearful and timid, but it’s ok, she is sending him to daycare tomorrow and on Thursday and Friday too, whilst she goes to work all day. She can’t wait, as her little pup, will learn to love dogs……won’t he……?!?!

STOP: Puppy has had 3 really traumatic events happen, associated with dogs, in 48 hours, biologically, pup isn’t going to recover from this until Saturday, and that is based on him having no more stress inbetween. Sending him to daycare is only going to heighten his stress and make him even more fearful of dogs. Unfortunately, we don’t know about the previous events because his mum didn’t tell us, and so we do everything we can to encourage pup to be sociable and probably cause him even more stress, without even knowing it.

After 4 weeks of the pup being continually stressed, and being subjected to more and more stress, inculding the neighbours dogs continuing to casue the pup to feel uncomfortable, and the pup coming to daycare 3 days a week, we need to look at what biological state the puppy is now in.

The pup has now been subjected to “long term stress”, and the repeated release of Adrenaline, Cortisol and Norepinephine, mean that the pup is probably presenting with obvious stress signals, such as seperation anxiety, reactivity towards dogs, being destructive at home, especially when he hears the neighbours dogs, seemingly unwilling to go for walks, being nervous and unsettled at daycare, excessive barking, humping, excessive grooming, over stimulated behaviour, and loss of apetite, amongst many more symptoms.

As the pup gets older, and continues to stay in this unstable state, and his stress hormones are always active, he is unable to normalise, and he develops behvioual issues, which puts his

physical health also at risk. Whilst a dog is stressed, he will likely be in “fight ot flight” mode constantly. Dogs when in this survival mode, will have a depressd digestion capacity, and will

suffer with a decreased appetite, they are constantly on survival alert and ready to run away, and for that, they do not want a belly full of food, which would slow them down.

The dog is now not eating very well, is quite lethargic, which is probably due to the reduced intake of calories, is losing weight or unable to maintain weight his ideal weight, he has less energy and will be a lot more suceptible to ill health and autoimmune issues. So now, the dog is showing behvioural issues, not wanting to exercise, not wanting to eat, and appears depressed and dog reactive.

Mum is doing everything to help her pup. Changing his food to see if he’ll eat better, but this gives him a bad belly, which makes him feel poorly, and stressed…….She walks him in new places to see if he prefers it there, but this is an unfamilair and even more scary place, which makes him stressed. She takes him to puppy training where he will learn to “behave”, but this is just more stress. She even tries a new doggy day care, because we say he is unhappy here. BUT this is just new people, new routine, new dogs, he doesn’t even want to be with dogs……..and they have no reference to how pup used to be in his “normal” state…………and so enter the ladder of aggression. This is a separate article, but can you see how this story will unfold……

If we suggest that your dog is “stressed” at Woof Walkies, it is usually an indication that we believe your dogs welfare is at risk. It is not a cop out by us, and it is not us giving up on a difficult dog. We are really just looking out for their best interests.

Not all stress in dogs stems from other dogs, infact it is quite unusual here,most dogs blooming love it, but there will usually be something that you should be able to pin point, which is casuing your dog to be “stressed”.

How the dog presnts with stress will be dependant on your dog as an individual, but learn what is “normal dog behaviour”, attend them canine behaviour and communication classes, not obedience classes, behaviour classes. Your dog doesn’t need to be forced to sit, stay and wait right now, he needs to learn to trust you.

Learn about canine body lanugage, speak to your vet, and more importantly, listen to your dog. They are usually trying really hard to tell you they are not happy, trust them! Don’t let them climb that ladder of aggression because they have no other choice.

Apologies for the dodgy diagrams, they were my starting point, but they maybe a bit more useful for those people who are visual learners.

Any questions ask.

[woofwalkies1-blog]

The definition of Stress is “a physiological or biological response to a stressor such as an environmental condition. Stress is the body’s way of reacting to a condition such as a threat, challenge or physical and psychological barrier”.

We sometimes have to have uncomfortable conversations with dog owners, because as much as we love all dogs, sometimes our environment just isn’t suited to all dogs. FACT!! This doesn’t mean you are a bad dog owner, or you have a bad dog, it just means we are the wrong choice for your dogs needs.

Some people may choose to continue to work with your dog, take your money, and allow your dog to be uncomfortable and or become “stressed”, because they need the business or most likely, they are not noticing the subtle signs that your dog is unhappy, but we don’t work like that, and if your dog is not comfortable here, we will likely discuss this with you and come up with a plan to ensure everyone is happy, both humans and dogs.

Stress can present in many ways with dogs, and this post isn’t about how it is presented but why it is presented, because if you can understand why, then that may help you understand why we don’t want to cause any extra stress for your dog.

We may tell you that your dog is excessively humping, displaying aggressive behaviours, excessively barking, becoming nervous, or simply not wanting to be here. Your dog isn’t being naughty, they are usually stressed by our very over stimulated environment and asking us for help.

I am a biologist, and I am a geek, and I work with 60 dogs a day so let’s talk dog biology.

The Central Nervous System (CNS) and Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) are responsible for all of a dog’s bodily functions.

The Peripheral Nervous System controls the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), which is responsible for all involuntary responses by your dog. Involuntary responses being the functions that your dog does not have to think about before doing them.

The ANS never stops functioning, but it will adjust what it does dependant on the situation presented. It increases functions or regulates functions but it never stops functioning, unless due to ill health.

To confuse matters, the ANS splits into 2 divisions:                  

The Sympathetic Division which is stimuli responsive, and controls Critical Survival Responses, think “Fight or Flight," activates stress responses, and your dog does not have any control over what he does, during this type of response. He is being driven by survival. A dog who is threatened or in a stressful situation may react out of character, for example, a dog who is injured may bite you or your vet, this isn’t unusual and this is not a display of aggression or a naughty behaviour, it is a survival response.

Then there is the Parasympathetic Division of the ANS which is responsible for the regulation of every day functions, Heart Rate, Respiration, Hormone Production and Rest and Digest to name a few. Through hormone regulation, the Parasympathetic Nervous System will “normalise” the body after a stressful event. This is how dogs stabilise and return to a normal behaviour, and move on from a stressful situation, and return to a “normal” biological state.

Examples of isolated stressful events, which are usually quickly overcome are the occasional trips to the vet, once yearly fireworks night, loud noises whilst building works maybe taking place or after an accident or injury. These short-term stressors for most dogs can be upsetting at the time of incident, and can cause a dog to present with anxiety and unwanted behaviour, however the stress should quickly dissipate and the body should “normalise” when the Parasympathetic Nervous System recognises the issue and kicks in.

Important to note here is that it can take up to 72 hours, for hormone levels to normalise and this would be subject to NO further stressors taking place. A dog will usually remember such an incident, and will learn in the example of becoming injured or frightened not to put himself in that danger again, he should however not continue to be “stressed," over a one off event.

In cases of continued stressful events, it is much more complex, and difficult to understand, and much more important to treat and take professional advice on, either from a qualified canine behaviour therapist, or your vet.

When we think of dogs who are “Stressed”, “Anxious”, “Reactive”, “Naughty”, “Out of Control” (all terms we hear on a daily basis at Woof Walkies, from clients), we actually need to look at what is happening, on a molecular level, before we can figure out how to treat the situation here, and decide if our environment is suitable for the dog.

Dogs are not born nervous, anxious or stressed. They develop these conditions over a long period of time, following prolonged and repeated release of stress hormones.

As discussed above, in the event of a one off stressor, stress hormones will be released, but then the body will return to normal, usually within 72 hours. The dog will continue to act in a stable, and normalised biological state. If however, a stress trigger is on repeat, for prolonged periods of time, every individual stressful event that takes 72 hours to recover from, builds up, and that 72 hour recovery period, is never met. The dog never achieves a “normal” biological state.

Here is one example of how a dog may become clinically “stressed”. A young puppy in a “normal” biological state with no cares in the world, is taken for a walk to the park. He is on his lead, with nowhere to escape to, and is run at by an over zealous, over friendly, large dog, who knocks him to the floor and jumps all over him, being overly playful. The big, scary, dog is removed from the situation, and pup is physically unharmed, but is left shaken and scared, but his mum looks after him and takes him home to safety.

The puppy is then taken for his walk the following day, and he is again on the lead, and another dog is walking towards him, the other dog isn’t too happy around other dogs but his mum really wants to see the puppy. Sadly, the unhappy dog, lunges at the puppy and really scares him, pup drops to the floor, and the unhappy dog barks really loud at the puppy. Both mums want to chat about the puppy and both dogs continue to be in a “stressed” state. Once again, the puppy finally gets home after his second ordeal, although remember he is already still in a “stressed state," from yesterday, and now has to deal with this on top.

What is even worse is, the neighbours who live next door to the pup have 3 noisy and over playful dogs, and they keep barking over the garden wall at the pup, causing him to be a bit nervous for the rest of the evening. Pup knows they are in the garden, all the time, so every time he goes out into his back yard, he is also becoming stressed by the neighbours dogs, even though, they haven’t hurt him in anyway. All he wants to do is learn to toilet safely.

At this point, pups mum knows he is a bit anxious, he is a bit fearful and timid, but it’s ok, she is sending him to daycare tomorrow and on Thursday and Friday too, whilst she goes to work all day. She can’t wait, as her little pup, will learn to love dogs……won’t he……?!?!

STOP: Puppy has had 3 really traumatic events happen, all associated with dogs, in the last 48 hours, biologically, pup isn’t going to recover from this until Saturday, and that is based on him having no more stress in between. Sending him to daycare is only going to heighten his stress and make him even more fearful of dogs. Unfortunately, we don’t know about the previous events because his mum didn’t tell us, and so we do everything we can to encourage pup to be sociable and probably cause him even more stress, without even knowing it.

After 4 weeks of the pup being continually stressed, and being subjected to more and more stress, including the neighbours dogs continuing to cause the pup to feel uncomfortable, and the pup coming to daycare 3 days a week, we need to look at what biological state the puppy is now in.

The pup has now been subjected to “long term stress”, and the repeated release of Adrenaline, Cortisol and Norepinephrine, mean that the pup is probably presenting with obvious stress signals, such as separation anxiety, reactivity towards dogs, being destructive at home, especially when he hears the neighbours dogs, seemingly unwilling to go for walks, being nervous and unsettled at daycare, excessive barking, humping, excessive grooming, over stimulated behaviour, and loss of appetite, amongst many more symptoms.

As the pup gets older, and continues to stay in this unstable state, and his stress hormones are always active, he is unable to normalise, and he develops behavioural issues, which puts his physical health also at risk. Whilst a dog is stressed, he will likely be in “fight or flight” mode constantly. Dogs when in this survival mode, will have a depressed digestion capacity, and will suffer with a decreased appetite, they are constantly on survival alert and ready to run away, and for that, they do not want a belly full of food, which would slow them down.

The dog is now not eating very well, is quite lethargic, which is probably due to the reduced intake of calories, is losing weight or unable to maintain his ideal weight, he has less energy and will be a lot more susceptible to ill health and autoimmune issues. So now, the dog is showing behavioural issues, not wanting to exercise, not wanting to eat, and appears depressed and dog reactive.

Mum is doing everything to help her pup. Changing his food to see if he’ll eat better, but this gives him a bad belly, which makes him feel poorly, and stressed…….She walks him in new places to see if he prefers it there, but this is an unfamiliar and even more scary place, which makes him stressed. She takes him to puppy training where he will learn to “behave," but this is just more stress. She even tries a new doggy day care, because we say he is unhappy here. BUT this is just new people, new routine, new dogs, he doesn’t even want to be with dogs……..And they have no reference to how pup used to be in his “normal” state…………and so enter the ladder of aggression. This is a separate article, but can you see how this story will unfold…...

If we suggest that your dog is “stressed” at Woof Walkies, it is usually an indication that we believe your dogs welfare is at risk. It is not a cop out by us, and it is not us giving up on a difficult dog. We are really just looking out for their best interests.

Not all stress in dogs stems from other dogs, in-fact it is quite unusual here, most dogs blooming love it, but there will usually be something that you should be able to pin point, which is causing your dog to be “stressed”.

How the dog presents with stress will be dependant on your dog as an individual, but learn what is “normal dog behaviour," attend them canine behaviour and communication classes, not obedience classes, behaviour classes. Your dog doesn’t need to be forced to sit, stay and wait right now, he needs to learn to trust you.

Learn about canine body language, speak to your vet, and more importantly, listen to your dog. They are usually trying really hard to tell you they are not happy, trust them! Don’t let them climb that ladder of aggression because they have no other choice.

Apologies for the dodgy diagrams, they were my starting point, but they maybe a bit more useful for those people who are visual learners.

Any questions ask.