02/10/2024
How handsome does this boy look on his Afternoon Hike the other month? He was treated to having a personal photographer capture his hike (I.e. my Husband!), also known as the ‘Human Treat Dispenser’ as we wanted to create all the positive associations with new people from the start.
He’s a very sensitive boy and coped so well with all the new smells, sights and sounds.
On his everyday walks, we’ve been focusing a lot on keeping his stress levels as low as possible so he can cope better with his triggers, and we’ve done this by including some puzzle and snuffle toys at the end of his walks. To put this into the context of humans - after a stressful day, do you like to do something relaxing like reading a book or taking a bath, or making a cup of tea? And does it feel like you are better able to tackle the challenging things after doing these things ? Maybe not all the time, particularly if it’s been a very stressful day, but a lot of the time this stuff works. It’s exactly the same for our dogs 😊
This is to do with our nervous systems. Just like humans, dogs have two divisions to their autonomic nervous systems : the sympathetic division and the parasympathetic division. The sympathetic division is activated when the body is put under stress, whether that’s through exercise or the commonly known concept of “flight or fight”. The parasympathetic division counteracts this, regulating bodily functions and preserving energy by lowering the heart rate. In dogs, the parasympathetic division can be activated through activities that lower their heart rate, such as enrichment activities that encourage sniffing or playing relaxing music. Our dogs are so much more like us than we realise when it comes to stress, so if there are ways I can reduce it for them as part of their walks, you bet you’ll find me doing just that !
