[nagdu] stress, how much is too much?
Sarah
coastergirl92 at gmail.com
Tue Nov 13 21:44:16 UTC 2012
wizard has been turning ! head away from the harness as well and
going to his bed when I put the harness on. Should I be worried?
I've been working him every day for at least like 30 minutes at a
time except on Sundays.
Sarah and Wizard
----- Original Message -----
From: Ramona Davidson <ramonadavidson88 at gmail.com
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog
Users" <nagdu at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 12 Nov 2012 17:28:07 -0600
Subject: Re: [nagdu] stress, how much is too much?
i'm so gladd I stumbled across this particular thred.
for the last week, ishmael has been showing odd behaivier. he
hasn't
been paying attention when we're walking which has caused me to
run in
to something, stumble or almost fall. when i correct him he has
started pulling or lunging away from me like he's trying to run
away
from me. it hurts my back when he does this and throws me off
ballence. a few times he's whipped me around corners at
breakneck
spead and I know he's doing this because he's mad at me. he only
does
it right after i've corrected him. recently i've had to move up
to
harsher corrections because the lighter vurble corrections and
one
handed corrections stopped working. he's stressed, he has to be,
but I
don't know what to do about it. some days i get the feeling he
just
doesn't even want to work for me. everyone talks about how there
dogs
are so excited to be able to work they practicly jump on to there
harnesses, ishmael has never done that and more often than not
turns
his head away from the harness, someone help me. i'm at my whits
end.
On 11/12/12, Julie J. <julielj at neb.rr.com> wrote:
Robert,
That's it exactly. a bit of stress is a good thing. If Monty
didn't
dance around in circles with anticipation when I picked up his
harness
I'd be worried. I also like him to be a bit wary of cars, drop
offs and
construction sites. It keeps him alert, on his toes and ready
to do
what he needs to do. If he had zero stress when working he'd be
bored
and falling asleep on the street corner. Okay the falling
asleep is a
bit of an exaggeration. I view it like the stress a person
might feel
before the take the field for the football playoffs or
something. Your
pumped up, ready to go, but with just a touch of anxiety.
that's normal.
The line between that normal, healthy anticipation variety of
stress and
the other variety of anxious, nervous unhealthy stress is a fine
one.
I'm hoping folks here have some insight into defining just where
that
line is. and maybe more importantly what to do when your on the
wrong
side of it.
Thoughts?
Julie
On 11/12/2012 2:14 PM, Robert Hooper wrote:
Hello Julie:
I will first speak to your inquiry regarding "how much stress is
too much
stress".
I, like most everyone on this list, view the human-dog team as
exactly
that--a team. Of course, there is a pack hierarchy, but when
the dog is in
harness, the two are much closer to being equal members of the
same team.
I say "almost" because I don't want to portray an unrealistic
and maudlin
view of what a guide team is. Because we humans have the
greater skill in
leadership and decision making, we will always (or should
always) assume
the role of leader, even when working the dog. However, think
of yourself
as a teacher, and remember that the dog is a dynamic, living
creature that
can feel stress, pain, joy, etc. Julie, I know that you know
this, and
thinking of a relationship in this way can help answer your
question.
Because we don't view dogs as tools, we therefore know we have
an ethical
obligation to their well-being. Thus, I wouldn't ask my dog to
work when
doing so causes him unhealthy stress. Of course, some level of
stress is
necessary and healthy for learning and work, but there is a
definite
curve--that is, the benefits of stress increase with stress only
so far,
and then they start going the other way.
We want our dogs to be happy and to enjoy their work; we don't
want to
make them think that they are being forced to do anything
against their
wills. They aren't slaves, they are companions, partners, and
family
members--and if they aren't enjoying or taking pleasure from
their work,
then I don't think one should continue pressing them to do it.
Julie: as you know Monty best, you can best determine what is
making him
happy and what is making him anxious or stressed. If he loves
his normal
work, or seems to respond to it in a manner normal for him, then
I would
guess that he still enjoys it. If you are noticing that this
abnormal
behavior is only occurring when you participate in these
conventions,
meetings, etc., then you could probably conclude that this
amount of work
is too stressful to be enjoyable to him. Therefore, you can
make other
arrangements for him when you need to travel.
I want Bailey to enjoy his work--I know that there are probably
days when
he doesn't enjoy it as much, or when he isn't as sharp as usual,
but so
long as he enjoys it, and it isn't causing him undue stress, I
will gladly
give him work to do. I know you will make the best decision, as
you have
far more experience with dogs than I do. I do hope that Monty
continues to
work well and happily for many more years.
Sincerely,
Robert Hooper
Hooper.90 at buckeyemail.osu.edu
The Ohio State University, Department of Psychology; Department
of
Neuroscience
572 Stinchcomb Drive #3
Columbus, Ohio 43202
(740) 856-8195
-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Julie
J.
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 2:26 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog
Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] stress, how much is too much?
Thanks! Those are reactions to stress that I wouldn't have
thought of.
It makes sense though. I like to go to bed early when I've had
a rough
day.
I think it's important, especially for the new handlers, to
recognize
stress/anxiety at it's first signs. then the situation can be
managed or
extra encouragement provided to the dog before the problem
escalates into
a huge ordeal. I think knowing when your dog has had enough and
what to
do about it is very important stuff.
Do the schools provide a seminar or something on noticing stress
signals
from you dog? What about how to calm a stressed dog?
Julie
On 11/12/2012 11:35 AM, Tracy Carcione wrote:
Sometimes, if we're away at a festival or convention, and Ben
has
worked from morning to night for a couple days, I can tell that
he's
wants a break. If we're out late, he starts looking toward the
door,
or turning forcefully towards our room.
During class at TSE, on the weekend before the third week, he
just
shut down. He wouldn't get up when I called him. He tried to
crawl
under the bed and hide when I picked up his leash. It was very
upsetting. But I learned then that his reaction to stress is to
sleep. If I let him rest, leave him in peace for a while, he's
back to
his usual self.
Tracy
I'm wondering how your dog's show that they are stressed and how
much
is too much?
a bit of background...a few months ago I went to an all day
meeting
out of town. This involved about 8 hours of car travel there,
an
overnight hotel stay, the all day meeting, another hotel stay
and the
car ride home. Monty has done all of these sorts of things
before and
since.
Before this weekend he showed few signs of stress and they were
minor.
However for some reason still unknown to me Monty had a tough
time
this particular weekend. His signs of stress included: looking
at
everything incessantly, startling at noises, lip licking,
difficulty
relaxing at relief breaks, shaking and pulling like a crazed
maniac in
harness.
For me his signs of stress were pretty high. If he had
continued at
that level I would have stopped working him. We have struggled
off
and on for the past few months with smaller episodes of
stress/anxiety.
Overall things have improved dramatically. Occasionally he will
do
the lip licking and the looking at everything, but he's not at a
level that I feel is risky to his or my health or safety.
Recent messages to the list and my own situation caused me to
think
about and ask the questions: How much is too much? What would
cause
you to quit working a dog completely? What would cause you to
quit
working a dog in a particular situation?
Julie
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