Copyright Behavior Vets © 2021 . Do not reproduce without permission .
FEATURE
Stress Response Cycle & HPA Axis
Hypothalamus
Pituitary
Adrenal Gland
Flight
“ The F Response ” Freeze
Fidget
Source : Protopopova 2016
Fight Fawn
Slide from Ferdie Yau ' s presentation at the 2023 APDT / CAPDT conference in Covington , Kentucky .
elderly female California sea lion named Seaweed . “ I had never thought about becoming a professional animal trainer before that experience , but I instantly fell in love with the interactions and contact I had with Seaweed . I continued to shadow and learn from the more experienced trainers at the zoo . Several months later , I was promoted to a full-time zookeeper position ,” he said in a 2022 article for the Chronicle of the Dog . After being hired at CPZ , his next animal was a polar bear named Gus , who gained notoriety in the 1990s due to his incessant back-and-forth swimming for hours in his pool . Ferdie co-developed a polar bear training and enrichment program to reduce Gus ’ obsessive behavior . The success of that program was featured at the 2005 International Conference on Environmental Enrichment .
“ Training to me was never about commands or control over another animal ,” Ferdie said . “ Rather it was about building trust and helping these animals cope with whatever crazy and unnatural situation we are putting them in .” Part of that training was desensitizing Gus to getting poked by a needle during routine veterinary care . Gus was trained to put his rump and flank up again the bars of his pen . As Ferdie “ targeted ” his nose , he used his other hand to simulate the poke . Training went well until Ferdie poked him a bit too hard and Gus let him know with a roar and a right hook to the pen bars . “ I literally poked the bear ,” Ferdie quipped , while adding that was the fastest he ever ended a training session – and the most frightening .
“ We ’ re dealing with things with our dogs and they are having a stressful reaction , and people may say they ’ re being bad ,” Ferdie said . “ I really want people to get the message that there is no bad behavior – these are just dogs being dogs and we have got to help them cope and deal with the real world . We have got to stop looking at them as furry humans with morals and ethics and respect them as canine familiaris – a dog closely related to wolves and coyotes .”
In his talk about resilience , Ferdie explained the stress response cycle in the HPA ( Hypothalamus , Pituitary and Adrenal glands ) axis ( Fig . 1 , above ). “ The increase in HPA activity leads to the release of cortisone and the stress hormone , as well as other hormones ,” Ferdie said . “ It activities the sympathetic nervous system and this is when you start to get the increase in respiration rate , heart rate , more blood goes to the muscles , the pupils dilate and the eyes are primed for improved far vision because they need to get away from predators ,” he said .
The stress response cycle in the HPA axis is responsible for triggering the “ F ” responses -- flight , fight , freeze , fawn or fidget . “ You will typically see this in dogs when they are more stressed . Once that stimulus is successfully dealt with or passes , it helps animals survive danger , but an increase in HPA activity is also needed to perform everyday activities , such as caring for young , foraging for food , for communication and play . The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for rest , relax and digest functions within the body as it turns it back to the HPA axis baseline ,” Ferdie said .
46 Building Better Trainers Through Education