How do you handle stress?

"Those who tune in under duress can, by the very act of attending so
carefully, unwittingly amplify the magnitude of their own
reactions-especially if their tuning is devoid of the equanimity of
self-awareness. The result is that their emotions seem all the more
intense. Those who tune out, who distract themselves, notice less about
their own reactions, and so minimize the experience of their emotional
response, if not the size of the response itself."(p.49)

Animals might try to distract themselves from their anxiety by
compulsive chewing or licking and this may seem, to them, soothing, but
this type of 'distraction' is still a sign of anxiety. So it is our
jobs as their guardians to provide them with the proper distraction. To
take their minds off the anxious (or aggressive) thoughts and also to
praise, praise, praise, bringing them back to a calm, happy state of
mind. And I know I don't want to distract with food and praise with
food, I want to be able to trust that my dogs happiness to be directed
to me whether or not I have a treat.

"Neuroscientists use the term "working memory" for the capacity
of attention that holds in mind the facts essential for completing a
given task or problem, whether it be the ideal features one seeks in a
house while touring several prospects or the elements of a reasoning
problem on a test. The prefrontal cortex is the brain region
responsible for working memory. But circuits form the limbic brain to
the prefrontal lobes mean that the signals of strong emotion-anxiety,
anger, and the like --- and create neural static, sabotaging the
ability of the prefrontal lobe to maintain working memory. That is why
when we are emotionally upset we say we "just cant think
straight"-and why continual emotional distress can create deficits
in a child's intellectual abilities, crippling the capacity to
learn."(p. 27)

"Among the main biological changes in HAPPINESS in an increased
activity in the brain center that inhibits negative feelings and
fosters an increase in available energy, and a quieting of those that
generate worrisome thought. But there is no particular shift in
physiology save a quiescence, which makes the body recover more quickly
from the biological arousal of upsetting emotions. This configuration
offers the body a general rest, as well as readiness and enthusiasm for
whatever task is at hand and for striving toward a great variety of
goals."(p.6)

It is obvious that animals learn positive things better and faster when
they are happy, just like any of us. That means anyone who wants to
work in behavior should want to know how their emotions and thoughts
work so we can do the best to keep them upbeat and not fearful or
intimidated. Negative actions from a handler create negative responses
in the dogs. Sometimes it's not that apparent that an animal is
feeling anxious and so it seems that the outdated techniques still used
today work well. But, again, as their guardians it is our job to know
what they need in all respects. Otherwise things may escalate to where
the dog is chewing himself up or biting his handler or peeing every
time you come close out of intimidation. Yes it could get to that
point.

"...............when the body is already in a state of
edginess......and something triggers an emotional hijacking , the
subsequent emotion, whether anger or anxiety, is of especially great
intensity. This dynamic is at work when someone becomes
enraged..........escalating anger as "a sequence of provocations,
each triggering an excitatory reaction that dissipates slowly." In
this sequence every successive anger-provoking thought or perception
becomes a minitrigger for the amygdale-driven surges of the
catecholamines, each building on the hormonal momentum of those that
went before, A second comes before the first has subsided, and a third
on top of those, an so on; each wave rides the tails of those before,
quickly escalating the body's level of physiological
arousal."(p.61)

Say you are walking a dog , he sees a bunny but doesn't move, just
stands alert. You tense up and get ready to hold him back so the collar
becomes tight on his neck, his alertness/stress is now stronger with
the tension, a friend (and dog's friend) comes up beside you,
startling the dog so that he starts baking and growling at your friend.
What happened? Emotional hijacking as mentioned in the above quote?

Ok this one really happened at the kennel where I volunteer;
A lady is walking a calm mastiff nicely on lead. This dog is friendly
and calm with everyone. As they walk back towards the other dogs
another lady steps out of a trailer. The dog looks up at the lady for a
second before the other dogs in the kennel saw the mastiff out walking
and started barking at him. Now this calm sweet dog starts barking
defensively at the lady who stepped out of the building. The other dogs
continued barking at the mastiff and he continued to act very cautious
about that particular lady.
The dog connected the other dogs barking at him and the lady stepping
out. Unfortunately this had happened before (not the barking dogs, some
other trigger) resulting in a bit and a dead dog.

"With fear blood goes to the large skeletal muscles, such as in the
legs, making it easier to flee-and making the face blanch as blood is
shunted away from it (creating the feeling that the blood "runs
cold"). At the same time, the body freezes, if only for a moment,
perhaps allowing time to gauge whether hiding might be a better
reaction. Circuits in the brain's emotional centers trigger a flood
of hormones that put the body in general alert, making it edgy and
ready for action, the attention fixates on the threat at hand, the
better to evaluate what response to make." (p.6)
Something to think about.

All the quoted sections are from Daniel Goleman, PH.D, Emotional
Intelligence.