9: How to Recognize Fight, Flight, Freeze, and Fawn in Humans and Pets
How well do you know the signs of fight, flight, freeze, and fawn in your pet? How about in yourself?
In this episode, I am talking about the sympathetic nervous system which is part of the autonomic nervous system. Don’t worry, we’re not getting into anatomy, but I want you to understand the stress responses that these systems control.
Does your pet lurch towards you when they are stressed or run away? This could be the difference between fight or flight. Do they go stiff as a board or act overly affectionate? There’s your freeze or fawn. Sometimes you might see your pet go through all four of these, and we do that too as humans!
We’re looking at this from both a pet perspective and a human perspective because we often have exactly the same responses as them, and recognizing the signs in ourselves can make it easier to recognize them in our animals.
We want to know when our pets are trying to communicate that they are stressed, so let’s learn the signs.
What We Cover in Today’s Episode
How your sympathetic nervous system works
How this system affects your focus
Understanding fight, flight, freeze, and fawn from a human perspective
Examples of what fight, flight, freeze, and fawn can look like
Why these responses occur
Understanding fight, flight, freeze, and fawn from a pet perspective
Why it’s important to recognize these signs
Sometimes we wish our pets could talk to us and tell us what’s wrong, but learning how they communicate is the next best thing.
Keep an eye on your pet in more stressful situations, and you’ll start to notice what behaviors they exhibit. Remember, sometimes it might be something unexpected like showing their belly or licking your face, but it could still be a stress response. These are all important to notice!
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