Fight or Flight?
Fight or Flight
Living in partnership with a dog or a cat, one can witness moments of flight as simple as a response to the sound of a plastic cup dropping on a kitchen floor. The origins of the terms fight or flight were first defined by Walter Bradford Cannon (1871-1945), a twentieth century American physiologist. His theory states that animals react to threats with a general discharge of the sympathetic nervous system, preparing the animal for fighting or fleeing. The hormones estrogen, testosterone, and cortisol, as well as the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin, also reflect how organisms react to stress in animals.
These responses are recognized as the first stage of the general adaptation syndrome which regulates stress responses among vertebrates and other organisms. The phrase fight or flight has been part of our culture in the way that we describe canine stress behaviors. I’d like to take the liberty to add a third word – balance- to this description. Why? Because the daily survival of animal life includes seeking a balanced state within their environment. The term allostasis describes the ability of an animal to adapt to an environmental change by regulating its physiological state. The concept of allostasis was proposed by the neurophysiologists, Peter Sterling and Joseph Eyer in 1988 as being essential in order to maintain internal viability amid changing conditions. In the wild and in our homes, animals seek balanced states of being through a combination of activity, rest and play. Lions, as an example, are crepuscular hunters but spend their day seeking a balance state (allostasis) by resting sixteen to twenty hours of the day. It’s not always about fight or flight.
As crepuscular hunters, our domesticated canines look forward to an early breakfast from our kitchens and a dog walk, with various rest times up to ten to fourteen hours a day. Seeking rest is also a response to stress. Muscles relax, energies reboot, and the pleasure of finding the sunny square on the floor to bathe in makes for a healthier and less stressed dog. That’s good self-regulating.
Providing your dog with his or her own comfort zone, like a pet bed or a special blanket on a couch with calming music playing is as essential to their health and wellbeing as providing nutritious food, exercise and love. Sensory balance with minimal fight-or-flight stress will lead to a longer lifespan for your canine.
Excerpt from What Dogs Hear by Janet Marlow, Sound Behaviorist