Optimising emotional health

Question 1

Define emotional stability

Answer 1

An individual’s ability to remain emotionally stable and balanced

Question 2

Define emotional capacity

Answer 2

The level of emotional arousal that an individual can tolerate without significant or long lasting negative outcome

Question 3

Define emotional valence

Answer 3

The extent to which an emotion is positive or negative

Question 4

Define emotional arousal

Answer 4

The intensity of the emotional motivation

Question 5

Define emotional resilience

Answer 5

The ability to adapt to stressful situations and cope with life’s ups and downs - allows the animal to tackle or accept problems, live through adversity and move on with life

Question 6

What are the responsibilities of breeders when it comes to an animals emotional stability?

Answer 6

Selection of breeding stock
Caring for pregnant bitches
Early rearing of puppies

Question 7

What are the responsibilities of guardians when it comes to emotional stability?

Answer 7

• Providing an optimal physical and social environment according to species specific needs
• Providing the opportunity for beneficial learning
• Socialisation and habituation
• Training
• Rewarding appropriate decision making in terms of selecting behavioural responses

Question 8

What is the emotional capacity (size of sink) of an animal decided by?

Answer 8

• Genetics of parents / relatives and emotional health of parents
• Experiences of the bitch whilst pregnant
• Experiences < 7-8 weeks old
• Experiences during the first year or so of life

Question 9

In the sink model, what is represented by the hot and cold taps?

Answer 9

Cold = Positive emotions e.g. desire seeking, social play, lust, care
Hot = Negative emotions e.g. fear-anxiety, pain, frustration, panic-grief

Question 10

Emotional resilience represents which part of the sink model?

Answer 10

Outlet pipe of the sink -stops overflowing

Question 11

How does emotional resilience change the interaction with a trigger?

Answer 11

Results in optimal emotional drainage after a trigger has been encountered

Question 12

Give 3 examples of drainage behaviours

Answer 12

Sleeping
Chewing
Grooming

Question 13

What is the importance of drainage behviours?

Answer 13

Important for releasing emotional arousal – if these behaviours are seen by a care giver as ‘bad’ you can end up with an animal in a heightened state of arousal over a prolonged period of time

Question 14

What is displacement represented by in the sink model?

Answer 14

Flow of water through the overflow hole in the top of the sink

Question 15

What is displacement always associated with?

Answer 15

High level of emotional arousal - a full sink

Question 16

When is the risk of emotional overflow most likely?

Answer 16

• Low emotional capacity (small sink)
• Emotional disorder (Tap is hot when it’s not justified)
• Inappropriate physical or social environment (hot tap is justified)
• Poor emotional resilience (high level of residue water)

Question 17

How can emotional overflow be prevented?

Answer 17

• Create an adequate emotional capacity (breeding and rearing)
• Establish good socialisation and habituation (reduce flow rate, positive associations)
• Create optimal emotional resilience: encourage drainage behaviours

Question 18

What is emotional intelligence?

Answer 18

The capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions

Question 19

How do you teach emotional intelligence?

Answer 19

• Involves exposing young mammals to a variety of contexts and establishing suitable emotional associations
• Rewarding appropriate decision making in terms of selecting behavioural responses to negative emotions when they arise

Question 20

What is the aim of repulsion (fight)?

Answer 20

Increase distance from and decrease interaction with the trigger - influencing the trigger to take action

Question 21

Give some examples of repulsion behaviours

Answer 21

Growling/snarling
Hissing
Air snapping, swiping
Biting

Question 22

What is the aim of avoidance (flight)?

Answer 22

Increase distance from and decrease interaction with the trigger - achieved by the individual taking action

Question 23

Give some examples of avoidance behaviours

Answer 23

• Bolting on walks if there are loud sounds such as gunshots
• Moving away from people who want to engage with the pet
• Taking a wide berth around other dogs in the park
• Hiding from visitors

Question 24

What is appeasement?

Answer 24

Actively gathering information - increase availability of information about the trigger

Question 25

Give some examples of appeasement behaviours

Answer 25

• Jumping up at people
• Attention seeking
• Urination on greeting

Question 26

How are inhibition and appeasement often misinterpreted?

Answer 26

• Inhibition can be misinterpreted as the animal being relaxed
• Appeasement is often misinterpreted as affection & trust

Question 27

What is behavioural inhibition?

Answer 27

Passive gathering of information - state of behavioural shut down where the animal does not interact with the threat in any way but continues to gather information about it

Question 28

When does behavioural inhibition occur?

Answer 28

If a potential threat is overwhelming in terms of:

• Perceived magnitude of threat
• Speed of its approach
• Proximity of stimulus

Question 29

What are the benefits of inhibition and appeasement behaviours?

Answer 29

Allow the dog to gather information while maintaining the potential for positive social interaction

Question 30

Which behaviours are indicative of a negative emotional state but are often overlooked or encouraged?

Answer 30

Low intensity avoidance (averting eyes), repulsion (grumbling and curling lip), inhibition (looking intently) and appeasement (licking faces)