Slide from Ferdie Yau ' s presentation at the 2023 APDT / CAPDT conference in Covington , Kentucky .
When the survival mechanism is constantly activated , it impairs health and leads to alterations in mood , emotionality , and maladaptive behaviors . “ And we all know in a shelter settling that it is virtually impossible to move all the stressors out of that environment . So , for many dogs in the shelter , we know their HBA axis is probably constantly activated , without the sufficient time needed for recovery to return to the HPA baseline . So the cumulative effect of insufficient time to reach a baseline before the next stressor adds to stress-stacking that never ends for these animals . That is why we can see a huge behavior change once the animal is actually out of the shelter because they may be getting REM sleep .”
So why do some dogs adapt to the stresses in a shelter and others don ’ t ? “ That ’ s the question here , right ? Ultimately , how the individual dog responds to the environment is really a result of genetics , epigenetics ( behaviors / environment that cause changes that affect the way genes work ) and learning history ,” Ferdie pointed out ( Fig . 2 , above ).
Both mental arousal and stress are needed to perform activities , Ferdie explained . According to the Yerkes Dodson Law , Zone 1 is sleep , calm , relaxed with low arousal and weak performance ; Zone 2 is engaged and focused with moderate arousal and improved performance as it heads toward peak performance capabilities ; Zone 3 is where high arousal begins to affect performance characterized by frustration , increased anxiety ,
distraction and lack of focus and Zone 4 is the highest arousal point where the dog is overwhelmed and shuts down with little to no performance . “ It ’ s important to understand an animal ’ s optimum arousal level for maximizing their performance . As a practitioner , you want to carefully adjust stimulation and how they ’ re stimulated and you want to monitor the responses so you as a trainer can achieve the right balance , promote motivation and engagement and have more successful training outcomes . The key takeaway of the Yerkes Dodson Law is that achieving the optimal level of arousal is essential for maximizing performance in animal training and behavior modification .”
Once the whys were explained , Ferdie launched into the basics of what resilience conditioning is . “ If we want our animals to be at their best to perform species-appropriate behaviors and to have a positive outlook and have positive outcomes , we are going to be thinking about resilience conditioning . Studies done on both animals and humans suggest that fast activation and efficient termination of the stress response are associated with resilience .” Resilience conditioning can enhance the physiological ability to adapt to stress . “ With behavior modification training , we may look at the degree of behavior change to access effectiveness . But the goal of resilience conditioning is not behavioral change , but rather to enhance their ability to recover from an adapt to stress . So when we talk about resilience conditioning , it ’ s not the same as operant or classical conditioning . Think of it as more a physical conditioning where you go to the gym and you work out . There
The APDT Chronicle of the Dog | Spring 2024 47