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We pride ourselves on raising calm, tolerant puppies ready for all the chaos and noises homes and life brings. Puppies will be micro chipped, AKC registered, and vetted by 8 weeks old. Puppy are assigned to buyers by the breeder based on temperament and personality testing. All puppies will carry "Gods Glory" in their AKC name.
- The Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test (PAT) is commonly used. There are 10 items that test for social attraction, following, restraint, social dominance, elevation dominance, retrieving, touch sensitivity, sound sensitivity, sight sensitivity, and stability.
- Puppies are raised in a climate controlled home air conditioned, heated, spoiled in our king size bed, large fenced outdoor yard to explore, play and exercise beginning at 5 weeks old (or earlier as weather permits), kennel/crate training beginning at early age.
- Vaccinated: Neopar at 4, 5 and 7 weeks old Then 5-in-1 vaccine includes protection against canine distemper virus (indicated by the letter D), two types of adenovirus, aka hepatitis and kennel cough (named A, A2, or H), parainfluenza (P), and parvovirus (P). at age 8 and 10 weeks old
- Micro chipped and Registered with AKC Reunite
- AKC registered with 30 days plus 30 days free AKC pet insurance
- LIFETIME breeder support
- LIFETIME congenital and genetic guarantee
- 5 year health guarantee head to tail
- State-of-the-art socialization techniques beginning at birth
- Latest whelping and rearing methods to ensure stable, healthy, confident puppies
- Early Neurological Stimulation (ENS)
- Aptitude testing for temperament (Volhard's Temperament Test) at 5 weeks old
- Modified CARAT test at 7 weeks old
- Early exposure to audio sounds such as thunder, fireworks, gunfire, alarms, etc.
- Early exposure to textures, heights, and visual stimulus
- Confidence building foundations
- Early Scent Introduction (ESI)
- Early collar and leash experiences
- Eating a balanced, traditional hard kibble independently
- Nails trimmed bi- weekly
- De wormed biweekly beginning at 4 weeks old
- Soft Crating exposure beginning at 4 weeks old
- Socialization with kids, adults, and other dogs, and a tortoise.
- Practice tolerating taking medications such as liquids, pills, and chewable s
- Practice having body manipulations for vet exams including having mouth touched and opened, paws touched, ears touched, tail touched, genitals examined, stomach touched and gently squeezed, eyes examined, etc.
- Puppies go home with a take-home bag including vet and medical records, toy, blanket with mom's scent, baggie of kibble, treats, tooth brush and more!
We pride ourselves on raising calm, tolerant puppies ready for all the chaos and noises homes and life brings. Puppies will be micro chipped, AKC registered, and vetted by 8 weeks old. Puppy are assigned to buyers by the breeder based on temperament and personality testing. All puppies will carry "Gods Glory" in their AKC name.
Neuroscience & Brain Mechanisms Of Critical Periods In Puppy Development. This is Started Before You Get Him Home.
The most critical period for puppy development is the age six to eight weeks (everything that happens prior to this is to do with setting the foundations of the animal & why it is essential that you have chosen a good breeder).
Most puppies leave their litter around 7-12 weeks to go to their new home (in the UK this is sometimes 6-7 weeks). This first week is absolutely crucial and is the week before they get their second lot of shots. In this first week our window of opportunity (neuroplasticity, axonal formation, synaptic plasticity) is starting to close, so it is essential that we are quick to set up this young brain to succeed. This article looks at what is going on from a neurobiological (neuroscience, genetic, microbiological, chemical, biological) perspective and why timing and getting it right are so important.
Why is this so important?
When a puppy (any animal) is born, the brain is changing in accordance with the sensory experiences that the animal gains. By sensory we mean sight, hearing, touch, licking, grooming, affection etc. Before the eyes even open, the pups use their sense of touch and smell to detect where Mum is for feeding, warmth etc. This critical bonding-nurturing stage is an essential foundation for the emotional set-point of the animal.
During the critical stages, the functional and structural connections of neurons in the cortex of the brain are particularly susceptible to alterations. The time course, for experience mediated sensory development, is very much dependent on which system we are considering. Studies of rats reared outside, compared with those in a cage have shown that they have much larger brains and higher levels of cognitive function.
If you deprive an animal of sensory experiences, the brain rewires, allowing the deprived cortex to process inputs, from less deprived senses in a process of cross modal plasticity. This helps the animal to increase performance in the remaining senses when one is deprived.
What does this mean?
Basically, the brain will compensate in some way for the lack of appropriate wiring to adapt with the skills that it does have. What are the implications behaviorally for this?
Environmental Experiences involving experience around touch, handling, sound, movement, light, dark, texture, motor activity and play help the brain grow connections to help the organism to interact with his environment. The brain literally grows each time the organism adapts.
What happens if we do not adapt our puppy?
Failure to adapt your puppy to sounds, surfaces, noises, people and novel objects means that he will be less able to cope emotionally and physiologically with the world. These early experiences will enable him to become more resilient.
Puppies who do not have these early experiences in these critical stages, have a less developed axonal, dendritic and synaptic connection pattern in their neural circuitry. i.e. his brain will have less connected wires, which represent the different functional networks (connectomes) of his brain.
Without these early experiences, he will be less able to deal with the experience that mediates the tuning of his sensory system surrounding excitation and inhibition (he will be easily excited and aroused which means he is less able to deal with variations in his daily activity). The hormone response elements (HRE’s) actually inhibit the ability for the animal to learn new things. This is because they inhibit the transcription factors that are fundamental to DNA replication processes and the formation of new learning experiences. This lack of environmental adaptation renders him incapable of dealing with environmental stressors. If learning happens in this critical stage, when we have neuroplasticity, it is far more likely to help him deal with novel situations when he is older. Please note: any exposure to a new object has to be paired with a positive experience in some way. If the experience is traumatic, you might just be setting him up in this stage to generalize fear. This is why you need a solid habituation schedule and enrichment learning activities.
A map of each sensory function is set out in the somatic sensory cortex (an area in the brain cortical region) and it will have a topographic representation in the way the cortex is organized (each experience is physically represented as a group of interconnected neurons). This map is established in the critical period. So, for example, animals with whiskers will have a topographical map representing each whisker and each map will contain the tactile information necessary for this function. This starts to form in the first week post-birth and it precedes the visual & auditory critical periods.
Studies show that the effects of odor and auditory development share similar organizational constructs as the somatic sensory systems and that, deprivation of olfaction reduces the organization of the brain’s networks (astroglial networks).
There are many studies showing the effects that environmental enrichment (EE) has on animals. Some of these studies date back as far as 1947. For example, Donald Hebb took rats home and cared for them as pets. He found they performed much better on problem-solving tests than those raised in cages. This spurred further research into how we can enrich the life of caged animals because, by adding bigger cages, toys, colors, shapes, tunnels, materials, nests, shelters, ladders, wheels, social interaction (a greater number of other animals to interact with), larger cages (more space) and exercise opportunities. These all have the function to induce brain changes from a cellular, molecular and genetic level. The brain actually gets heavier and bigger. The buck does not stop here, by making these changes and helping the animals adapt in this way to their environment we are actually altering their DNA and these small changes each time will be passed down generations. You only have to look at the studies being carried out on Foxes to gain some insight to the effects of domestication on animals. Particularly our dogs,
Not only does the brain get heavier, there is an increase in hippocampal neurogenesis. The hippocampus is the area of the brain associated with learning. The term for learning is neurogenesis. Basically, when there is enrichment, there are more connections between neurons, more branching of dendrites and synaptic size increases in the brain. This is particularly relevant in the visual cortex.
Below schematic of a typical axon, nerve cell, dendrite
Raising an animal in an EE (enriching environment) not only improves memory and cognitive processes, it increases exploratory activity (a sign of a more securely attached animal, emotionally) When there is secure attachment there is less anxiety and an ability to deal with novel stimuli. There is also less neophobia and an increased ability to deal with traumatic insults later in life. It shapes the brain and gives the animal more tools to cope to survive.
The critical time course during experience-mediated brain development is a unique event. The closure of this critical period is complete when the anatomical and functional phenomena are established. There are special nets that form around the neurons and then myelin related proteins inhibit axonal sprouting (the critical period of neuroplasticity ceases). This end of critical period is modulated by the functional changes in the activity of the neurotransmitter GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) and its specific receptors in the cortex.
What are Neurotransmitters?
They are chemical molecules that are used by the brain to allow nerve cells to communicate with each other. They convey chemical messages which give rise to behavior and physiological outputs depending on intrinsic, genetic and learned factors pertaining to the perceived environment, both internally and externally. Their growth, action and specificity are very much shaped by early enriching experiences during this critical period. This is a complex area of neurochemistry and some of the specifics in terms of cell signalling are still very much at the discovery stage.
There are many neurotransmitters that each have differing effects. The main ones that you will come across are: Dopamine, Serotonin, Noradrenaline and for the purposes of neuroplasticity and critical periods, it seemed pertinent to mention the neurotransmitter- GABA.
Common neurotransmitters and their functions in animals:
Dopamine, Noradrenaline & Serotonin are all Neurotransmitters responsible for specific behaviours relating to an excitatory, inhibitory and neuromodulatory perspective. We go into this in a lot more detail in the seminars.
The neurotransimitter we are interested in when discussing neuroplasticity (neural growth and development) is GABA (gamma amino butyric acid). This is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. When it docks at a receptor site, it reduces the activity of that neuron and makes it less likely to fire (termed action potential). This happens because GABA controls the admission of negative chloride ions into the neurons and potassium ions out of them. This influx of negative charge increases positive charge outside the neuron and then it is difficult for the action potential to have its effect on the adjoining neurons (so the electrical and chemical message does not travel). This is particularly useful when it is involved in processes that reduce neural activity such as anxiety, calming and releasing tension/stress.
So, what?
Anyone who watched the recent lecture, on the introduction to the neuroscience of behaviour have understood the role that the vagus nerve has in neurogenesis due to its relationship with the parasympathetic nervous system.
When the sympathetic nervous system is engaged (the system that gives us the stress type responses when we perceive threat) it inhibits a number of factors, one of which is neurogenesis (no learning when you are stressed). Basically, when the vagus nerve is tense, so are you. It is only when this is relaxed that you have parasympathetic control and a relaxed body that is primed for learning.
The cardiac vagal neurons (CVNs) moderate and slow heart rate & keep it from becoming too rapid. GABA has an inhibitory effect upon these neurons. It keeps the body alert, in rhythm, reduces anxiety and it primes the body for learning. It is synthesised from Glutamate (an amino acid and also a neurotransmitter), vitamin B6 and other amino acids. Researchers have shown that GABA is responsible for the onset of critical periods. Suppressing this production in a visual cortex of a mouse leads to complete blindness if it done at the critical stage.
I hope this article helps to show how our early experiences can affect the brain from a scientific point of view. It is important to note, that whilst genetic factors determine the initial sequence/levels of genetic neuronal activity, this information can be modified as a result of experience that takes place during the critical developmental periods. This is huge, because it governs behavior, physiology, susceptibility to disease and many other factors. Using applied techniques we can work to modify behavior by considering their functions and providing preferable more reinforced desirable behavior outcomes for animals.
The most important primary foundation, in this process, is maternal care. This helps to shape the animals emotional set-point, priming him neurobiologically to be more resilient experientially to neuroendocrine stress responses, depression and anxiety related situations.
The area of the brain that we frequently measure when considering the emotional set-point is called the HPA (hypothalamic pituitary axis). This brain area that is measured to gauge responses to fearful or threatening situations. It is how the HPA engages with the pre-frontal cortex (the executive function part of the brain) that will determine the way the animal will engage with his environment. Without this type of early experience/habituation you are more likely to have amygdala hijacking (primitive responses). We want to prime the animal to consult his pre-frontal cortex and make more measured and considered behaviors without engaging his primitive hindbrain This can be mentally, physiologically and emotionally expensive for the animal. We do not want him living in fear basically!
Exposure to potential stressors such as cold and separation leads to an enhanced HPA activity and when this is experienced in the critical period, animals are far more likely to be resilient to the stressful effects of this. The knock on effect of handling, early separation and maternal care leads to an increased cognitive and emotional health throughout life. Plasma cortisol levels have been found to be lower in rats handled early in life, compared to those not handled. Dogs handled in infancy seem to be endowed with improved differential responses to varying intensities of stressful stimuli. They perceive and respond to mild challenging stimuli that are associated with improved cognitive function, yet recover more rapidly, from strong stressors that might have adverse effects on neuronal function. it is also found that animals suffering from depression have an enhanced activation of the HPA axis and this is expressed in the cortisol, mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid- this is copied from DNA when proteins are about to be made in the cell) and protein level within the animal.
Adequate licking and nursing care in pups causes gene expression, that reflects in adequate concentrations of hormones and neurochemicals to enable more resilience to stressors later in life (licking and nurturing turns on the hormones in glucocorticoid system). Genes and the environment converge powerfully during early sensitive windows of brain development to form the neural circuits underlying behavior.
During these early periods, the developing nervous system must obtain certain critical experiences, fulfilling their sensory, physical, or emotional obligations. This enables the animal to mature properly. During these periods the internal environment is such that, the animal is optimally primed for high rates of learning, as well as the ideal consequences available for neuronal connectivity.
After the critical period, connections diminish in number and are less subject to change, but the ones that remain are stronger, more reliable, and more precise. These turn into the unique variety of sensory, motor, or cognitive “maps” that best reflect our world. It is important to note, that there are multiple critical periods throughout an organism’s life. These are organized sequentially, as individual brain functions are established. Thus, even the brain of an adolescent is not completely mature.
Injury or deprivation of environmental input occurring at specific stages of postnatal life, dramatically reshape the underlying circuit development, which becomes increasingly more difficult to alter later in life. The term often used is: “use it or lose it.” So, in order to make sure you are giving your pup everything he needs, to be primed, for this complex world (that we are imposing on him) you need to make sure you fulfill your obligation to him straight away. Work through the habituation schedule. Complete our 7 day survival guides, buy him the best toys, products, give him the best experiences and above and beyond anything, touch, handle and love him in a positive way.
Attachment, Development and Emotion- A Neurobiological Perspective
Exposure to bad experiences early in life, will affect the way that animals anticipate and process sensory input. Traumatic experiences induce a complex series of (neurological and physiological) alterations in what the animal will perceive as a threat. This will be expressed in how they think, feel, behave and regulate their biologic systems. You will often hear us talk about something called emotional set-point. This article is quite the essence of what this means.
Look at the biology of bad experiences during development, studies have shown, that isolated bad incidents tend to produce discrete conditioned behavior and biologic responses to things that remind them of the trauma. Chronic maltreatment or unavoidable trauma tends to permeate the entire neurological system, particularly in the developmental stages. The most important factors we need to consider, when looking at how bad experiences effect our animals, is the age at which they occur, the frequency and the degree to which the attachment figures contribute to the event being traumatic. To gain a more thorough understanding of the neuromechanisms that come into play when considering behavior of puppies
So, what does this mean? Well, if an animal does not get the right sort of foundations, feedback and experience in his critical stages, this expresses as problems with self regulation, aggression against self and others, problems with attention, physical problems & social problems. The basis for the right experience, comes from the relationship that the animal has with his attachment figures. In your household this could be another dog, you, your cat or any other animal that the dog is attached to. It is ideally all of you!!! You will often hear people talk about the value of consistency. To a certain extent, if everyone knows what is expected of them and the rules are the rules, then the foundations for a secure being is partially in place. They do not have to be set in stone and the skill here comes down to the way these things are communicated. You are far more likely to succeed, if you set the environment up with praise, rewards and positive outcomes for the things the animal does well (an antecedent arrangement that the animal has no choice but to succeed positively in). Rather than just punishing them for the things they do not. What we do in our relationship with our families, animals, other people etc is a reflection on how we feel inside and if those foundations are brittle and the attachment is not safe, then the outcome can be slightly disproportionate, in terms of what we might define as the normal distribution of output behavior (basically, over the top reactions!!)
Bad experiences effect development pathways in several ways: 1) The maturation of brain structures at the particular ages, 2) Physiological and neuroendocrinological responses (hormones, neurotransmitters etc) 3) The capacity to coordinate cognition, emotional regulation and behaviour. Ornitz has categorised about 4 critical periods in development.
Developmental stages were previously outlined by Piaget (one of the founding fathers in psychology separation is the foundation of the term object permanence, which we will be explaining further in our course on 7 day separation anxiety survival guide). A lot of his work was done, trying to understand stages of human child development. As we can not progress a dogs understanding of external danger, cognition & perception etc past that of a 2 year old child. Any studies beyond this point, are interesting but less applicable. However, the foundations of critical development are fundamental for ANY animal.
The amygdala (region of the brain responsible for our basic emotions such as fear and aggression) is the part of the brain that starts functioning almost immediately after birth, so the animal is primed to assess fear and danger. The hippocampus (the area of the brain associated with types of memory) puts danger in a spatial context and matures gradually as approach to adolescence occurs. Early experiences significantly affect the maturation of the hippocampus and if the right foundations are not put into play, then the animal is left vulnerable to misinterpret sensory input towards the direction of danger and threat!!!!
Prolonged alarm reactions, by any animal, will alter the limbic, mid brain and brain stem functions through modifications, that come about through use (this is reflected in DNA replication and the way that neurotransmitters travel and keep the synapses “alive”, for want of a better term). Chronic exposure to threat is apparent in the way the hippocampus, left cerebral cortex, and how the cerebellar vermis alters the capacity to integrate sensory stimuli. All these things combined will alter the way in which the the animal will modulate limbic, mid-brain and brain responses to danger and fear. A severely traumatized animal will have problems with cognition, impulse control, aggression, emotional regulation etc…
So, what you might ask, is the relevance of this to attachment? Why is this important? Well, studies have shown, that if animals are raised in supportive, secure environments, they are less affected by traumas that might occur. They are more resilient. Why? Animals quite frankly, will mimic their environment. If the trauma affects the safety of attachment, then the ability to integrate the sensory, emotional world is disturbed. This is one of the reasons why it is imperative to allow a safe attachment without the risk of OVER attachment. The latter being the foundation for a separation distress reaction. Quite simply, over attachment will also set the stage for unfocused and irrelevant responses to subsequent stress. I think this is one of the things that we are limited on when we use the quadrants, they are great at helping behavior people work out what the antecedent, behavior and conditioners are and breaking these down to their finite ABC’s are what any good behavior person should be doing (according to Dr Susan Friedman). This is a given. We all use it. However, we can also, consider the emotional set point of the animal. This will help us to understand whether or not he has a tank full of cortisol (cortisol=bad)! Also,the dominance pack type theories are limited in their explanation and there is no consideration here to individuality. According to Dr Daniel Mills Lincoln University- you get more differences between the same breeds than you do across them- think about that! Basically, all animals are totally individual. Not very useful when you want a quick answer and a quick fix, is it? I guess that is why, the research and the general theories are a good start point and the lack of one size fits all, is a much debated topic among trainers and behavior people. Even neuroscientists disagree on their various disciplines and quite a few of them do not take into consideration that there is a body attached to the organisms brain that they are analysing :-). This is why Jaaks Panksepps work on the opiod receptors as a method to treat depression, particularly in animals, (human ones) with early attachment deprivation, is very exciting right now. More on this topic another time, but it really does consider the whole organism, rather than just one part. Touch, is huge for attachment, learning, emotions and development!!!!!!!
We digress, we really want to get the message across, that secure emotional attachments provide the foundations for good learning experiences and decisions. Being able to deal with environments which might increase arousal, but not to the point where the animals response is disproportionate, is the definition of a stable organism. One of the fundamental ways of helping to reduce anxiety, is to make sure that every day, your dog has significant down time (to recharge his cortisol supplies, if you like), in his crate or safe area, where it is quiet, he can relax and be safe by himself. This will help set him up to not become overly trigger stacked and will help him not to develop separation problems too (assuming you have taught him to be independent of you from an early age, or he is happy to do so, otherwise, do not do this without the help of a professional).
Attachment figures are imperative to help an animals develop normal play and exploratory activities. The balance between stimulation and soothing is paramount here. This has been reflected in studies of heart rates in mothers and children playing. The heart rates are in parallel when they interact. This reflects the capacity of a care person to modulate physical arousal, it reinforces attachment to you and the movement between exploring and coming back to caregiver has been referred to as (by Stern) “affect attunement”. This is fundamental to effective communication between a care person and an animal and involves complex mirroring and echoing, in either a similar, or different mode. To provide a stable framework of soothing and appropriate feedback, in the event of stressful situations, plays a critical role. It will help him to regulate his psychoneurobiological factors and the biological structures will be in place. This enables him to deal more effectively with future stressful events. These controllable stress reactions, in infancy, are essential for nervous system development. The connections that are made, in the early stages, will enable subsequent exposure to stressors to be less of a big deal.
Bowlby & Stern talk about the inner map of the world and how secure attachment creates this. It is fundamental to the emotional set point of any animal. This determines his perception of the way the world works.
Just one last thing. Total stimulus deprivation is far more extreme. This is more detrimental to development than abuse. This was mentioned in the Hubel and Wiesel studies of kittens and eye development, but there have been many animal studies on attachment. They have given us enough evidence to show that deprivation, is far more damaging to development, than anything else. Studies by Widom have shown, that these experiences are far more likely to lead to aggression and dysfunction. Over the course of development, structural and neurochemical changes in the brain develop. This allows for more complex, cognitive, organizational structures, which are used to interpret sensory information in a more USE dependent way. The genome will provide the framework of what could potentially occur, the mother alters how the genes are expressed and the quality of this affects the development of the hippocampus, synapses and endocrine responses to stress.
There appears to be some evidence to suggest valency and volume of the hippocampus and how that relates to stress. The left hippocampus, in prolonged stress cases, is smaller than healthy controls, with the right side being normal. As were other brain regions, including the amygdala, caudate nucleus & temporal lobe. The valency issue is still under much debate among scientists. Greg Burns recently conducted a wonderful experiment using FMRI and found that dogs have a caudate nucleus. This is an area of the brain that we feel represents the presence of emotional feelings. There is a great article entitled “Dogs are people too” This research, we hope, will help many too.
So, the next time Fido (or Stanley) lunges forward to bark at something that he has not seen before, or he starts to react to something that he has not been bothered by before, consider that he might be in a stress state (so does he need a break from triggers), what are he current suit of triggers? and consider what technique you are going to use to try and understand him better! Remember, if you condition/pair with an aversive outcome, the animal will also learn to associate the context in which the learning occurs, with the aversion outcome (damage to the hippocampus). This will also, increase glucocorticoid receptor density in the hippocampus and large amounts of this, impair explicit memory (whereas moderate amounts will facilitate it). This is exactly, the reason why, we won’t get the best out of him, when he is in a stressed state and having a cortisol holiday is the best idea for everyone. Remember it takes about 72 hours for the cortisol levels to subside after a reaction to a trigger.
Handling: Critical Period For Somatosensory Development & The Psychobiological Substrates Of Attachment
It is very important that dogs are appropriately conditioned to being handled. Not just by you, but by other people as well. Puppy parties at the vets are a great opportunity to get handling those puppies. If this is done early enough, the dog should enjoy being touched. Touch is a very important. Why is this?
Ultimately, we want to set it up so the puppy has the right foundations to be resilient to varying factors in his environment.
Some dogs do not like having their feet handled and will bite if you touch them. Interestingly, the reason for this is often attributed to them having ticklish feet. Handling of feet is probably the single most important thing anyone can train their dog. You do not want to only handle him when things go wrong. Also, training your dog to like wearing his equipment is important part of his sensory learning experience.
If you enjoy this page please let us know! We are huge geeks and nerds for the creation of the perfect lifetime friend. We love sharing info and this is just a small sample of the hundreds of resources we have studied and combed thru to come up with the foundation of what we are doing here. When we say we are making for you the best in the world, we mean it! No amount of time is to much to continue to develop our knowledge set to improve to the foremost standard for mini dachshunds. Our/your baby is worth every effort.
The most critical period for puppy development is the age six to eight weeks (everything that happens prior to this is to do with setting the foundations of the animal & why it is essential that you have chosen a good breeder).
Most puppies leave their litter around 7-12 weeks to go to their new home (in the UK this is sometimes 6-7 weeks). This first week is absolutely crucial and is the week before they get their second lot of shots. In this first week our window of opportunity (neuroplasticity, axonal formation, synaptic plasticity) is starting to close, so it is essential that we are quick to set up this young brain to succeed. This article looks at what is going on from a neurobiological (neuroscience, genetic, microbiological, chemical, biological) perspective and why timing and getting it right are so important.
Why is this so important?
When a puppy (any animal) is born, the brain is changing in accordance with the sensory experiences that the animal gains. By sensory we mean sight, hearing, touch, licking, grooming, affection etc. Before the eyes even open, the pups use their sense of touch and smell to detect where Mum is for feeding, warmth etc. This critical bonding-nurturing stage is an essential foundation for the emotional set-point of the animal.
During the critical stages, the functional and structural connections of neurons in the cortex of the brain are particularly susceptible to alterations. The time course, for experience mediated sensory development, is very much dependent on which system we are considering. Studies of rats reared outside, compared with those in a cage have shown that they have much larger brains and higher levels of cognitive function.
If you deprive an animal of sensory experiences, the brain rewires, allowing the deprived cortex to process inputs, from less deprived senses in a process of cross modal plasticity. This helps the animal to increase performance in the remaining senses when one is deprived.
What does this mean?
Basically, the brain will compensate in some way for the lack of appropriate wiring to adapt with the skills that it does have. What are the implications behaviorally for this?
Environmental Experiences involving experience around touch, handling, sound, movement, light, dark, texture, motor activity and play help the brain grow connections to help the organism to interact with his environment. The brain literally grows each time the organism adapts.
What happens if we do not adapt our puppy?
Failure to adapt your puppy to sounds, surfaces, noises, people and novel objects means that he will be less able to cope emotionally and physiologically with the world. These early experiences will enable him to become more resilient.
Puppies who do not have these early experiences in these critical stages, have a less developed axonal, dendritic and synaptic connection pattern in their neural circuitry. i.e. his brain will have less connected wires, which represent the different functional networks (connectomes) of his brain.
Without these early experiences, he will be less able to deal with the experience that mediates the tuning of his sensory system surrounding excitation and inhibition (he will be easily excited and aroused which means he is less able to deal with variations in his daily activity). The hormone response elements (HRE’s) actually inhibit the ability for the animal to learn new things. This is because they inhibit the transcription factors that are fundamental to DNA replication processes and the formation of new learning experiences. This lack of environmental adaptation renders him incapable of dealing with environmental stressors. If learning happens in this critical stage, when we have neuroplasticity, it is far more likely to help him deal with novel situations when he is older. Please note: any exposure to a new object has to be paired with a positive experience in some way. If the experience is traumatic, you might just be setting him up in this stage to generalize fear. This is why you need a solid habituation schedule and enrichment learning activities.
A map of each sensory function is set out in the somatic sensory cortex (an area in the brain cortical region) and it will have a topographic representation in the way the cortex is organized (each experience is physically represented as a group of interconnected neurons). This map is established in the critical period. So, for example, animals with whiskers will have a topographical map representing each whisker and each map will contain the tactile information necessary for this function. This starts to form in the first week post-birth and it precedes the visual & auditory critical periods.
Studies show that the effects of odor and auditory development share similar organizational constructs as the somatic sensory systems and that, deprivation of olfaction reduces the organization of the brain’s networks (astroglial networks).
There are many studies showing the effects that environmental enrichment (EE) has on animals. Some of these studies date back as far as 1947. For example, Donald Hebb took rats home and cared for them as pets. He found they performed much better on problem-solving tests than those raised in cages. This spurred further research into how we can enrich the life of caged animals because, by adding bigger cages, toys, colors, shapes, tunnels, materials, nests, shelters, ladders, wheels, social interaction (a greater number of other animals to interact with), larger cages (more space) and exercise opportunities. These all have the function to induce brain changes from a cellular, molecular and genetic level. The brain actually gets heavier and bigger. The buck does not stop here, by making these changes and helping the animals adapt in this way to their environment we are actually altering their DNA and these small changes each time will be passed down generations. You only have to look at the studies being carried out on Foxes to gain some insight to the effects of domestication on animals. Particularly our dogs,
Not only does the brain get heavier, there is an increase in hippocampal neurogenesis. The hippocampus is the area of the brain associated with learning. The term for learning is neurogenesis. Basically, when there is enrichment, there are more connections between neurons, more branching of dendrites and synaptic size increases in the brain. This is particularly relevant in the visual cortex.
Below schematic of a typical axon, nerve cell, dendrite
Raising an animal in an EE (enriching environment) not only improves memory and cognitive processes, it increases exploratory activity (a sign of a more securely attached animal, emotionally) When there is secure attachment there is less anxiety and an ability to deal with novel stimuli. There is also less neophobia and an increased ability to deal with traumatic insults later in life. It shapes the brain and gives the animal more tools to cope to survive.
The critical time course during experience-mediated brain development is a unique event. The closure of this critical period is complete when the anatomical and functional phenomena are established. There are special nets that form around the neurons and then myelin related proteins inhibit axonal sprouting (the critical period of neuroplasticity ceases). This end of critical period is modulated by the functional changes in the activity of the neurotransmitter GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) and its specific receptors in the cortex.
What are Neurotransmitters?
They are chemical molecules that are used by the brain to allow nerve cells to communicate with each other. They convey chemical messages which give rise to behavior and physiological outputs depending on intrinsic, genetic and learned factors pertaining to the perceived environment, both internally and externally. Their growth, action and specificity are very much shaped by early enriching experiences during this critical period. This is a complex area of neurochemistry and some of the specifics in terms of cell signalling are still very much at the discovery stage.
There are many neurotransmitters that each have differing effects. The main ones that you will come across are: Dopamine, Serotonin, Noradrenaline and for the purposes of neuroplasticity and critical periods, it seemed pertinent to mention the neurotransmitter- GABA.
Common neurotransmitters and their functions in animals:
Dopamine, Noradrenaline & Serotonin are all Neurotransmitters responsible for specific behaviours relating to an excitatory, inhibitory and neuromodulatory perspective. We go into this in a lot more detail in the seminars.
The neurotransimitter we are interested in when discussing neuroplasticity (neural growth and development) is GABA (gamma amino butyric acid). This is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. When it docks at a receptor site, it reduces the activity of that neuron and makes it less likely to fire (termed action potential). This happens because GABA controls the admission of negative chloride ions into the neurons and potassium ions out of them. This influx of negative charge increases positive charge outside the neuron and then it is difficult for the action potential to have its effect on the adjoining neurons (so the electrical and chemical message does not travel). This is particularly useful when it is involved in processes that reduce neural activity such as anxiety, calming and releasing tension/stress.
So, what?
Anyone who watched the recent lecture, on the introduction to the neuroscience of behaviour have understood the role that the vagus nerve has in neurogenesis due to its relationship with the parasympathetic nervous system.
When the sympathetic nervous system is engaged (the system that gives us the stress type responses when we perceive threat) it inhibits a number of factors, one of which is neurogenesis (no learning when you are stressed). Basically, when the vagus nerve is tense, so are you. It is only when this is relaxed that you have parasympathetic control and a relaxed body that is primed for learning.
The cardiac vagal neurons (CVNs) moderate and slow heart rate & keep it from becoming too rapid. GABA has an inhibitory effect upon these neurons. It keeps the body alert, in rhythm, reduces anxiety and it primes the body for learning. It is synthesised from Glutamate (an amino acid and also a neurotransmitter), vitamin B6 and other amino acids. Researchers have shown that GABA is responsible for the onset of critical periods. Suppressing this production in a visual cortex of a mouse leads to complete blindness if it done at the critical stage.
I hope this article helps to show how our early experiences can affect the brain from a scientific point of view. It is important to note, that whilst genetic factors determine the initial sequence/levels of genetic neuronal activity, this information can be modified as a result of experience that takes place during the critical developmental periods. This is huge, because it governs behavior, physiology, susceptibility to disease and many other factors. Using applied techniques we can work to modify behavior by considering their functions and providing preferable more reinforced desirable behavior outcomes for animals.
The most important primary foundation, in this process, is maternal care. This helps to shape the animals emotional set-point, priming him neurobiologically to be more resilient experientially to neuroendocrine stress responses, depression and anxiety related situations.
The area of the brain that we frequently measure when considering the emotional set-point is called the HPA (hypothalamic pituitary axis). This brain area that is measured to gauge responses to fearful or threatening situations. It is how the HPA engages with the pre-frontal cortex (the executive function part of the brain) that will determine the way the animal will engage with his environment. Without this type of early experience/habituation you are more likely to have amygdala hijacking (primitive responses). We want to prime the animal to consult his pre-frontal cortex and make more measured and considered behaviors without engaging his primitive hindbrain This can be mentally, physiologically and emotionally expensive for the animal. We do not want him living in fear basically!
Exposure to potential stressors such as cold and separation leads to an enhanced HPA activity and when this is experienced in the critical period, animals are far more likely to be resilient to the stressful effects of this. The knock on effect of handling, early separation and maternal care leads to an increased cognitive and emotional health throughout life. Plasma cortisol levels have been found to be lower in rats handled early in life, compared to those not handled. Dogs handled in infancy seem to be endowed with improved differential responses to varying intensities of stressful stimuli. They perceive and respond to mild challenging stimuli that are associated with improved cognitive function, yet recover more rapidly, from strong stressors that might have adverse effects on neuronal function. it is also found that animals suffering from depression have an enhanced activation of the HPA axis and this is expressed in the cortisol, mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid- this is copied from DNA when proteins are about to be made in the cell) and protein level within the animal.
Adequate licking and nursing care in pups causes gene expression, that reflects in adequate concentrations of hormones and neurochemicals to enable more resilience to stressors later in life (licking and nurturing turns on the hormones in glucocorticoid system). Genes and the environment converge powerfully during early sensitive windows of brain development to form the neural circuits underlying behavior.
During these early periods, the developing nervous system must obtain certain critical experiences, fulfilling their sensory, physical, or emotional obligations. This enables the animal to mature properly. During these periods the internal environment is such that, the animal is optimally primed for high rates of learning, as well as the ideal consequences available for neuronal connectivity.
After the critical period, connections diminish in number and are less subject to change, but the ones that remain are stronger, more reliable, and more precise. These turn into the unique variety of sensory, motor, or cognitive “maps” that best reflect our world. It is important to note, that there are multiple critical periods throughout an organism’s life. These are organized sequentially, as individual brain functions are established. Thus, even the brain of an adolescent is not completely mature.
Injury or deprivation of environmental input occurring at specific stages of postnatal life, dramatically reshape the underlying circuit development, which becomes increasingly more difficult to alter later in life. The term often used is: “use it or lose it.” So, in order to make sure you are giving your pup everything he needs, to be primed, for this complex world (that we are imposing on him) you need to make sure you fulfill your obligation to him straight away. Work through the habituation schedule. Complete our 7 day survival guides, buy him the best toys, products, give him the best experiences and above and beyond anything, touch, handle and love him in a positive way.
Attachment, Development and Emotion- A Neurobiological Perspective
Exposure to bad experiences early in life, will affect the way that animals anticipate and process sensory input. Traumatic experiences induce a complex series of (neurological and physiological) alterations in what the animal will perceive as a threat. This will be expressed in how they think, feel, behave and regulate their biologic systems. You will often hear us talk about something called emotional set-point. This article is quite the essence of what this means.
Look at the biology of bad experiences during development, studies have shown, that isolated bad incidents tend to produce discrete conditioned behavior and biologic responses to things that remind them of the trauma. Chronic maltreatment or unavoidable trauma tends to permeate the entire neurological system, particularly in the developmental stages. The most important factors we need to consider, when looking at how bad experiences effect our animals, is the age at which they occur, the frequency and the degree to which the attachment figures contribute to the event being traumatic. To gain a more thorough understanding of the neuromechanisms that come into play when considering behavior of puppies
So, what does this mean? Well, if an animal does not get the right sort of foundations, feedback and experience in his critical stages, this expresses as problems with self regulation, aggression against self and others, problems with attention, physical problems & social problems. The basis for the right experience, comes from the relationship that the animal has with his attachment figures. In your household this could be another dog, you, your cat or any other animal that the dog is attached to. It is ideally all of you!!! You will often hear people talk about the value of consistency. To a certain extent, if everyone knows what is expected of them and the rules are the rules, then the foundations for a secure being is partially in place. They do not have to be set in stone and the skill here comes down to the way these things are communicated. You are far more likely to succeed, if you set the environment up with praise, rewards and positive outcomes for the things the animal does well (an antecedent arrangement that the animal has no choice but to succeed positively in). Rather than just punishing them for the things they do not. What we do in our relationship with our families, animals, other people etc is a reflection on how we feel inside and if those foundations are brittle and the attachment is not safe, then the outcome can be slightly disproportionate, in terms of what we might define as the normal distribution of output behavior (basically, over the top reactions!!)
Bad experiences effect development pathways in several ways: 1) The maturation of brain structures at the particular ages, 2) Physiological and neuroendocrinological responses (hormones, neurotransmitters etc) 3) The capacity to coordinate cognition, emotional regulation and behaviour. Ornitz has categorised about 4 critical periods in development.
Developmental stages were previously outlined by Piaget (one of the founding fathers in psychology separation is the foundation of the term object permanence, which we will be explaining further in our course on 7 day separation anxiety survival guide). A lot of his work was done, trying to understand stages of human child development. As we can not progress a dogs understanding of external danger, cognition & perception etc past that of a 2 year old child. Any studies beyond this point, are interesting but less applicable. However, the foundations of critical development are fundamental for ANY animal.
The amygdala (region of the brain responsible for our basic emotions such as fear and aggression) is the part of the brain that starts functioning almost immediately after birth, so the animal is primed to assess fear and danger. The hippocampus (the area of the brain associated with types of memory) puts danger in a spatial context and matures gradually as approach to adolescence occurs. Early experiences significantly affect the maturation of the hippocampus and if the right foundations are not put into play, then the animal is left vulnerable to misinterpret sensory input towards the direction of danger and threat!!!!
Prolonged alarm reactions, by any animal, will alter the limbic, mid brain and brain stem functions through modifications, that come about through use (this is reflected in DNA replication and the way that neurotransmitters travel and keep the synapses “alive”, for want of a better term). Chronic exposure to threat is apparent in the way the hippocampus, left cerebral cortex, and how the cerebellar vermis alters the capacity to integrate sensory stimuli. All these things combined will alter the way in which the the animal will modulate limbic, mid-brain and brain responses to danger and fear. A severely traumatized animal will have problems with cognition, impulse control, aggression, emotional regulation etc…
So, what you might ask, is the relevance of this to attachment? Why is this important? Well, studies have shown, that if animals are raised in supportive, secure environments, they are less affected by traumas that might occur. They are more resilient. Why? Animals quite frankly, will mimic their environment. If the trauma affects the safety of attachment, then the ability to integrate the sensory, emotional world is disturbed. This is one of the reasons why it is imperative to allow a safe attachment without the risk of OVER attachment. The latter being the foundation for a separation distress reaction. Quite simply, over attachment will also set the stage for unfocused and irrelevant responses to subsequent stress. I think this is one of the things that we are limited on when we use the quadrants, they are great at helping behavior people work out what the antecedent, behavior and conditioners are and breaking these down to their finite ABC’s are what any good behavior person should be doing (according to Dr Susan Friedman). This is a given. We all use it. However, we can also, consider the emotional set point of the animal. This will help us to understand whether or not he has a tank full of cortisol (cortisol=bad)! Also,the dominance pack type theories are limited in their explanation and there is no consideration here to individuality. According to Dr Daniel Mills Lincoln University- you get more differences between the same breeds than you do across them- think about that! Basically, all animals are totally individual. Not very useful when you want a quick answer and a quick fix, is it? I guess that is why, the research and the general theories are a good start point and the lack of one size fits all, is a much debated topic among trainers and behavior people. Even neuroscientists disagree on their various disciplines and quite a few of them do not take into consideration that there is a body attached to the organisms brain that they are analysing :-). This is why Jaaks Panksepps work on the opiod receptors as a method to treat depression, particularly in animals, (human ones) with early attachment deprivation, is very exciting right now. More on this topic another time, but it really does consider the whole organism, rather than just one part. Touch, is huge for attachment, learning, emotions and development!!!!!!!
We digress, we really want to get the message across, that secure emotional attachments provide the foundations for good learning experiences and decisions. Being able to deal with environments which might increase arousal, but not to the point where the animals response is disproportionate, is the definition of a stable organism. One of the fundamental ways of helping to reduce anxiety, is to make sure that every day, your dog has significant down time (to recharge his cortisol supplies, if you like), in his crate or safe area, where it is quiet, he can relax and be safe by himself. This will help set him up to not become overly trigger stacked and will help him not to develop separation problems too (assuming you have taught him to be independent of you from an early age, or he is happy to do so, otherwise, do not do this without the help of a professional).
Attachment figures are imperative to help an animals develop normal play and exploratory activities. The balance between stimulation and soothing is paramount here. This has been reflected in studies of heart rates in mothers and children playing. The heart rates are in parallel when they interact. This reflects the capacity of a care person to modulate physical arousal, it reinforces attachment to you and the movement between exploring and coming back to caregiver has been referred to as (by Stern) “affect attunement”. This is fundamental to effective communication between a care person and an animal and involves complex mirroring and echoing, in either a similar, or different mode. To provide a stable framework of soothing and appropriate feedback, in the event of stressful situations, plays a critical role. It will help him to regulate his psychoneurobiological factors and the biological structures will be in place. This enables him to deal more effectively with future stressful events. These controllable stress reactions, in infancy, are essential for nervous system development. The connections that are made, in the early stages, will enable subsequent exposure to stressors to be less of a big deal.
Bowlby & Stern talk about the inner map of the world and how secure attachment creates this. It is fundamental to the emotional set point of any animal. This determines his perception of the way the world works.
Just one last thing. Total stimulus deprivation is far more extreme. This is more detrimental to development than abuse. This was mentioned in the Hubel and Wiesel studies of kittens and eye development, but there have been many animal studies on attachment. They have given us enough evidence to show that deprivation, is far more damaging to development, than anything else. Studies by Widom have shown, that these experiences are far more likely to lead to aggression and dysfunction. Over the course of development, structural and neurochemical changes in the brain develop. This allows for more complex, cognitive, organizational structures, which are used to interpret sensory information in a more USE dependent way. The genome will provide the framework of what could potentially occur, the mother alters how the genes are expressed and the quality of this affects the development of the hippocampus, synapses and endocrine responses to stress.
There appears to be some evidence to suggest valency and volume of the hippocampus and how that relates to stress. The left hippocampus, in prolonged stress cases, is smaller than healthy controls, with the right side being normal. As were other brain regions, including the amygdala, caudate nucleus & temporal lobe. The valency issue is still under much debate among scientists. Greg Burns recently conducted a wonderful experiment using FMRI and found that dogs have a caudate nucleus. This is an area of the brain that we feel represents the presence of emotional feelings. There is a great article entitled “Dogs are people too” This research, we hope, will help many too.
So, the next time Fido (or Stanley) lunges forward to bark at something that he has not seen before, or he starts to react to something that he has not been bothered by before, consider that he might be in a stress state (so does he need a break from triggers), what are he current suit of triggers? and consider what technique you are going to use to try and understand him better! Remember, if you condition/pair with an aversive outcome, the animal will also learn to associate the context in which the learning occurs, with the aversion outcome (damage to the hippocampus). This will also, increase glucocorticoid receptor density in the hippocampus and large amounts of this, impair explicit memory (whereas moderate amounts will facilitate it). This is exactly, the reason why, we won’t get the best out of him, when he is in a stressed state and having a cortisol holiday is the best idea for everyone. Remember it takes about 72 hours for the cortisol levels to subside after a reaction to a trigger.
Handling: Critical Period For Somatosensory Development & The Psychobiological Substrates Of Attachment
It is very important that dogs are appropriately conditioned to being handled. Not just by you, but by other people as well. Puppy parties at the vets are a great opportunity to get handling those puppies. If this is done early enough, the dog should enjoy being touched. Touch is a very important. Why is this?
- Touch is part of the somatosensory system (his perception of touch, warmth, cold, pain)
- Touch is linked with the neural mechanisms of bonding
- Acclimating to touch in the early stages will prevent him from having a panic response later when he is handled.
- Touch increases neural development of the brain (neuroplasticity is the term used) and this helps wire his neural architecture and helps brain development.
- Touch & Proprioception are part of the stimulus modality (how the body perceives sensory input) and helps him learn to regulate his responses. If this is carried out in the critical period when there is no glucocorticoid response (although the experience MUST NOT be harmful, or stressful). This will help him to become more resilient later in life.
- The main psychobiological substrates that are involved in social and maternal bonding (according to Panksepp) are endogenous opioids (they are peptides produced in the body, such as morphine) and oxytocin (hormone released from pituitary and is responsible for feelings associated with love). The circuitry of social motivation is highly conserved among all mammals. This recipe is believed to be responsible for the way attachment bonding occurs. Failure to make this attachment, particularly in these critical stages of development can lead to dysregulation of behavior.
- This social bonding system is maintained by a feedback mechanism. The sender and receiver maintain bonding by reinforcement and use of this circuitry. The behavior shapes and maintains the circuitry. This is carried out through touching, handling, nurturing and maternal care. This maternal care helps turn on the genes that are responsible for helping mammals regulate his stress responses. All of the sensory modalities work together to heighten stimulus sensation. We do not want the body to be in a state of constant heightened activation. This is why it is important that we get our dogs used to these experiences as soon as possible.
- Touch is a great tool to help animals become more aware of their sensory environment. It helps the brain learn to be more spatially mindful.. Proprioception stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system which keeps the body moderated and in a state of calm, it relaxes the Vagal nerve (cranial nerve 10) which feeds back from the gut to the brain and tunes the body for learning. Also, metabolic functions can take place. This inhibits the sympathetic nervous system (opposite to parasympathetic), which is responsible for the fight or flight response and the glucocorticoid system (molecules such as adrenaline and cortisol) which works to help prepare for physical responses to a perceived threat.
- The idea of getting these early learning experiences banked is so that sensory input can stimulate neuroplasticity and neuronal activity. Keeping the neurons firing!!!!!
- The more brain areas that are able to associate the better a response to a stimulus there will be. The brain fires in networks and studies are currently being performed to understand the wiring map of the brain. This is called Connectome.
Ultimately, we want to set it up so the puppy has the right foundations to be resilient to varying factors in his environment.
Some dogs do not like having their feet handled and will bite if you touch them. Interestingly, the reason for this is often attributed to them having ticklish feet. Handling of feet is probably the single most important thing anyone can train their dog. You do not want to only handle him when things go wrong. Also, training your dog to like wearing his equipment is important part of his sensory learning experience.
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