Buried in Books
We're still here, I promise. I have been devoting a lot of my time to end of semester exams. By May 26, I will be able to breathe again, just a little bit (until, that is, my summer session begins and I am held hostage in my Honors advisor's lab, all the while trying to learn a second semester of Anatomy and Physiology)..
Seriously, it will get better. Please just promise that you won't forget about Marge and me while I work through all of this busyness.
In the meantime, I want to leave you a short passage from the reading material from my Physiological Psychology class..
"One hypothesized source of individual variability in stress responses is called stress immunization, the possibility that early experiences with stressful situations result in decreased susceptibility to stressful situations in adulthood. In rats, such early experiences with stressful situations (for instance, being handled by humans) led to decreased secretion of corticosteroids in adults in response to widely varying stressors."
Seems like it ties in to what would be considered good or bad early life experiences for puppies, doesn't it?
15 comments:
Good lucks for the exams! You know that we're always here and we'll wait for you to come back.
Our paws crossed and well-wishes are sent on your way!
Tough time of year for students! I'm sure you will do well on your exams.
Lots of luck with the exams - we will cross our paws for you to get through them without too much stress. Great passage - and yes, so true about pups.
Woos ~ Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara
Tis the season! I know you'll ace those exams.
And Marge, by the way, is unforgettable!
Interesting observation! Old Girl is in summer school, too. We feel your pain!
It is getting close to you having a little breathing time!!! good luck on your exams!!!
Hang in there, Sam! A&P are especially demanding. You'll get through them and I'm sure your hard work will show.
Your physiological psych class sounds like a lot of fun! I remember recent(ish) studies about stress levels in pregnant women and how that impacted their children's development. The results sounded the same as the test from your reading...moderate levels of in untero stress made kids more adapt to handling stress. Results suggested that too much stress was bad, just as too little stress wasn't good either. (What a way to make pregnant women stress about obtaining optimal stress levels, right? =)
good luck on all that school work
Benny & Lily
Sure you have been busy!
Good luck on your exams!
Take care
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza
It's absolutely what they do with puppies. In fact, they tested this on military working puppies and proved long ago that it does make them more resilient and mentally / emotionally strong.
Some breeders have gotten away from the formal early neuro stimulation used because at the time of the study, breeders weren't really doing much puppy handling. These days they do, and they say such formal handling measures aren't needed.
There are many, however, who still use a very specific protocol for this.
For example, these puppies on this live streaming video
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/whaussies
The video caption says, "Early Neurological Stimulation exercises done between days 3-16 most the time around 4:30pm central time."'
If you want to try and catch the process for yourself.
It sounds like that quote relates to the need for puppies to have lots of experiences when very young - being handled a lot by different people, moving through a variety of environments with different kinds of terrain, etc, etc.
I often think that my K didn't get enough variety of experiences (stressors) when she was very young, and that's why new stuff scares her so much. I'm sure that there's a genetic component that dictates how much a dog will be affected by not having those experiences as a young pup... but people should assume that every dog will be very adversely affected if they're not "stressed" enough when young.
We promise not to forget you if you promise not to forget us! ;)
We've been out of the loop lately ourselves, so we're finally catching up now.
I hope your exams are going well!
Have a nice long weekend and I hope you get to rest!
xxoo
Deborah
Would never forget you and Marge! Though we don't get over to visit you very often. You should be done with exams by now...enjoy the weekend study - free! I'm sure Marge is grateful school is over for the moment too!
Good luck on your exams! I just spent 3 hours on Saturday petting little kitties (under 2 months old) at our shelter, so they get used to being around people. I don't know who destressed more, them or me!
Kirby's mom
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