I haven't blogged for a while, I have been busy and I never seemed quite motivated enough to do it. My life doesn't seem interesting enough to write about a lot of the time nor do I seem to have the time.
I went on an interesting course at Dogs Trust a couple of weeks ago, it was taken by Nick Thompson, a holistic vet and was all about PNEI (psycho-neuro-endocrino-immunology!!!) I hope I got that right. Basically it means every system in the body is linked...not rocket science but it's a relatively 'new' idea. I stupidly thought that medics and vets and the science bods already thought this but apparently not and the 'proof' (which of course all scientists love), is only just emerging.
The course/seminar was exceptionally interesting, some engaging tales were told about animal behaviour and I learned a lot. I was particularly interested in the discussion about the effect of stress on the body, as well as over immunisation and a poor diet. My thoughts immediately turned to assistance dogs and how much the organisations that train them ensure that the dogs that are out working are not living a life of constant stress. Stress+over vaccination+poor diet=allergies and tumours.
My first Guide Dog puppy died on Boxing Day morning at the grand old age of 6. He had a tumour on his heart and had been showing signs of illness for 3 months. He had a huge fit and a distressing death,his owner is devestated as are we. I am not saying that the cause of his tumour was stress...or a poor diet...or over vaccination, but I am wondering how much the stress dogs are under in our society impacts upon their general health and well being and how much assistance dog organisations and police/armed forces take this into account. We hear constantly of dogs being trained as dual purpose dogs,of dogs being trained as seizure alert dogs...all great stuff, don't get me wrong, but what about the dog...when does it get down time, time to just 'be'...when is the dog allowed to sniff and play and how often? How much time off do working dogs get and how much guidance are owners given about how long the dog should work for in a day...a morning...an hour???
I think current research into how detrimental chronic stress is in humans, let alone animals,has to impact upon what we expect of our dogs when we ask them to work for us surely? Whilst most assistance dog organisations are hot on environmental enrichment and giving the dogs a free run a couple of times a week, how much I wonder, is chronic stress monitored in the dogs? I would love Turid Rugaas or Nick Thompson to go in and work with them all.....
As for my dogs? Stress? I am sure they get stressed, particularly Tango, but we are aware of it and we have coping mechanisms in place for her. Lucky girl :-)
A good story to finish on (sorry I can't find the reference to where it was from). There was an experiment done with a wolf. A known human was put in a room and a high value 'treat' was put in a locked cage/box next to the human. The wolf came in and tore into the container, trying to get the treat. The same experiment was done with a dog. The dog came in, had a quick try to open it, then went to the human and sat down. Brilliant!!!
