So, here's another article-based blog post from me! These aren't my ideas - they concepts belong to Brenda Aloff and Kay Laurence - but I've seen enough dogs to know this model holds true, and the first time it was explained to me it was like a light bulb going on, so I'm hoping your might find the ideas contained within this equally inspiring and useful...
Before anyone (dog or human!) can learn anything, they need to be in a ‘ready to learn’ state. To know whether your dog is in this state and so is receptive to learning, it helps to have a basic understanding of how the brain works. Once you have this basic understanding, you will find yourself looking at your dog and his behaviour in a much more analytical way with better understanding of ‘where he’s coming from’!
So, the brain basically works in two sections, the Hindbrain and the Frontbrain. The Hindbrain is the reactive part of the brain that incorporates instinctive behaviours and survival mechanisms. The Frontbrain is the responsive, thinking part of the brain in charge of cognitive processes. Only one of these can be in charge at any one time. This is as true for us as it is our dogs! So let’s explore how these two sides of the brain work in a little more depth…
The Hindbrain
Hindbrain behaviour is reactive and reflexive and incorporates emotional responses. When you or your dog is in a Hindbrain state you can’t do anything logical. Hindbrain behaviours that you might observe in your dog include difficult-to-interrupt behaviour or fixating on things, blank staring or a failure to respond to known cues, hectic, agitated or over-active behaviour, frustration, an emotionally overwhelmed animal, over arousal, dangerous behaviour, lunging and snarling etc. The Hindbrain is fuelled by Adrenaline which stops the dog from being sensitive to pain and makes it supersensitive to fear, and promotes the ‘fight or flight’ survival mechanism. Dogs who primarily function in their Hindbrain might be described as ‘spooky’ or ‘drivey’. The most important thing to know about the Hindbrain is that when it’s in charge LEARNING CANNOT HAPPEN! You do not think when this part of your brain is in charge – thinking becomes of secondary importance, and reacting is far more useful for survival.
The Frontbrain
Frontbrain behaviour is responsive behaviour, with the cognitive thinking part of the brain in charge. Frontbrain behaviour demonstrates thoughtful and deliberate action, can be redirected and managed, is responsive to known cues, and the animal can concentrate and problem solve. Serotonin and Dopamine are in charge.
So which is in charge?!
As previously stated, only one of the brains can be in charge at once. In an ideal world the Frontbrain would always be in charge, but many dogs are in a Hindbrain state far more than we may even realise. And once the dog has crossed over into that Hindbrain state, responding to cues goes out the window and we need to help our dogs find their way back to a Frontbrain state. And it is imperative that we make sure we stay in a Frontbrain state when working with our dogs – if we also cross over into our Hindbrain state (perhaps through panic or stress) things start to go wrong quite quickly!
Just because the Hindbrain side is linked to the ‘fight or flight’ mechanism, this doesn’t mean that your dog’s life needs to be threatened in order for the Hindbrain to take charge. Some dogs have a natural tendency to be primarily Hindbrain and are easily stimulated and impulsive (we all know some people who are like this too!). Also dogs that do not get enough mental stimulation to work their Frontbrains will default into a Hindbrain state. Hindbrain states can be triggered by certain activities such as chasing or running where the Frontbrain is not utilised and instinctive behaviours kick in. We actually overlook a lot of Hindbrain behaviour on a daily basis – your dog slamming against the window or barking at passers by, going off at passing dogs when in the back of the car, rushing out the back door to chase the cat or the rabbits, lunging and barking on lead at other dogs. Dogs who are frustrated and have no way to reduce this frustration are very Hindbrain – this can often be seen in dogs kept in kennels, on a chain, or left alone for very long periods of time without Frontbrain stimulation. People involved in dog sports often mistake a Hindbrain state for that of a dog being ‘driven’ or ‘intense’ and try to encourage this state of arousal in the hope of channelling it, but there is no ‘channelling’ of this as once the Hindbrain kicks in all cognition and response to cues disappears– the ideal performance dog is still in the Frontbrain state but with the intensity of the Hindbrain, and this is a very delicate balance to maintain.
Switching between the two brains
There is an avenue between the Hindbrain and the Frontbrain, but you need to work to keep it open and learn how to ‘flip that switch’ between the two brain states. When your dog becomes aroused or stimulated and switches to Hindbrain then reactivity rules. Once the arousal subsides the switch flips back to Frontbrain and responsive thoughtful behaviour results. The most important thing to remember when trying to get a Hindbrain dog back into a Frontbrain state is that at that particular moment your dog cannot think, so asking for behaviours from your dog that involve thought and consideration is pointless! So before you can start to ask your dog to do any behaviours for you or begin to teach it anything new, you need to move it away from whatever it was that triggered the Hindbrain switch to flip so that the arousal levels can reduce and the Frontbrain can take charge again. Once you’ve worked out any specific triggers for Hindbrain state, you can then begin to learn to anticipate the moments where your dog might switch from one brain state to another and begin to manipulate the thresholds. And more importantly, if you can learn to recognise which brain state your dog is in, at least you might understand his behaviour a bit more and become slightly less frustrated with him when he switches into Hindbrain mode and seems unable to do anything you ask of him!
The ‘Frontbrain/Hindbrain’ model used here was first described in Brenda Aloff’s 2007 book ‘Get Connected With Your Dog’ and by Kay Laurence during a Border Collie Rehab workshop at Learning About Dogs in 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment