#he is also very reactive. and intimidating. and bad at handling emotions.

[beatcroc]

you ever think about how gerome and fake pep are the only two guys who really only ever knew the tower as their home? i do

lots of fp text in this one so full un-ciphered script is going under cut below. [mostly just a bunch of headcanon nonsense about his whole Situation in the tower :p] [there is also a second bonus after because i am insufferable] anyway,

bonus:

hey! it's a series! fake peppino world tour: [noise] [noisette] [peppino] [gustavo] [gerome]<- u are here [noisette again]

gerome: i say there monstrosity! do you know the times? fp: …? gerome: haha! just an old joke, lad. gerome: but seriously, i never saw you around the tower much. what's your deal? fp: ... fp: 👈 ?? gerome: yes you! you never struck me as just some hired goon like the rest. fp: i… i don't really know. gerome: oh come now, you needn't be modest. fp: i'm not! i- [fp takes a seat] fp: they…. didn't tell me much. the…the lab. you know it? gerome: i'd pass though, now and again. fp: i was there for awhile, with lots of other copies gerome: oh, you knew the other clones? what were they like? fp: nutritious. gerome: ah. fp: they-the tall one- moved me to….「bruno's」 later. gerome: tall one… you mean pizzahead? fp: uh….right.「pizzahead」 …started changing it. kept changing it. i think i was waiting for something. waiting… to open? but he told me to keep-stay in there. to guard it. was there…longer than the labs but we never got to finish…. but i think we were close. But then「pep- pep: woah. never seen him this chatty gerome: just have to ask the right questions, i suppose pep: I mean, sure but-- wait, you can understand him??? gerome: it's only natural, after all, he is at least in part- part of the tower; made from its power and resources, and so connected with my brother...and to some extent, myself. his speech resonates with the old echoes through its chambers, and while i may not be as omniscient, it has no secrets that would fully elude me. pep: ...uh. ok, sure. what's he saying? fp: ..! fp: XXX! gerome: ah…. seems he's a bit embarrassed. pep: aw. er…look, it may not be my business, but whatever happened in the tower is behind us now, yeah? i know i sure try to forget it too fp: 😬 fp: ...😓👍 [fp turns back to gerome] fp: ............i wasn’t done gerome: he wasn't done. fp: yeah. then 「peppino」 came through. you probably know. hard to miss him. gerome: heh, I'll say. fp: We fought, I stayed…. didn't know anything else until 「pizzahead」grabbed me. fighting more on the roof... fp: You know the rest? you ran out with us... gerome: mhm fp: And… now we’re here. gerome: now we’re here… fp: ...that's all i had. so..... i still don't really know. sorry... gerome: ah, don't be. that's just how it goes, i guess. not much that can be done now... gerome: i suppose we both left some things behind in that tower. i certainly know it can be daunting to leave the fold of familiarity. gerome: but, for what it's worth...i think it’s for the better things worked out for us as they did. fp: yeah…

bonus! 2!!

#pizza tower #peppino spaghetti #fake peppino #gerome #pillar john #pizzaposting #man. there was a lot of really specific shit i wanted to say in this one that i dont think i communicated very clearly at all #its fine though i dont think the ambiguity is necessarily a bad thing. he sure is feeling something and its on you to figure out what #i was picking up on a couple different reads as i went and i don't think any of them are really 'wrong' per se #but also there Is technically a 'correct' one which i will certainly ramble abt if someone asks <:3c #anyway i kinda scrapped that longer angsty comic with the bros so this is my main pillar bros propaganda post now i guess #begging and crying people to care abt & include them etc #now to be clear i dont think gerome has like. never been anywhere else or anything #i think he and john could p much travel freely before the whole pizzahead takeover #but after that happened john was confined to the tower and gerome just wound up staying in there all the time to help take care of him #so it's been a bit since gerome truly Ventured:tm: #fake pep on the other hand i straight up do not think had ever set foot outside the tower until postgame #so. yeah the tower was a pretty big and fundamental deal for these guys' sense of security. #and now that it's gone i think they should be friends about it #and also more generally i think gerome is a great confidant for fp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [!!!] #besides the whole 'can actually understand him' thing gerome is just a cool & chill lil dude to talk to #no shade to peppino ofc he's a decent enough role model and tries his best to understand despite the barriers. but like. yknow. #he is also very reactive. and intimidating. and bad at handling emotions. #and you knooooowwww he is not going to want to talk about tower shit specifically for a variety of reasons #i think gerome enjoys fp's perspective on tower stuff though. #rem and i were bouncing off eachother wrt the tower and cloning and all the natural john duplicates/bodies #fp is not the natural 'subject' for the tower's processes but he a product of its nature just as much as any john #so i am thinking. maybe gerome also considers fp family. i think that would be nice. #aahhhhh...something about bridges. something about liminality. #you can take the beast out of the tower but you can't take the tower out of the beast

[carnifcrous]

i’m going to type this out because this is one of the coolest thing i learned getting my psych degree and i want to know this off the back of my hand. this all has to do with jim coan’s research about attachment and emotional regulation which i’m going to put into my own words but also link to here

so you have the prefrontal cortex

and you have the amygdala

the prefrontal cortex (pfc for short) is part of the frontal cortex, which does a bunch of higher brain functions like planning, reasoning, executive function, producing speech (broca’s area), and personality. the amygdala handles emotions and mood.

in infancy, your amygdala is highly reactive. being able to detect danger is key to an infants safety, because you don’t know anything about the world and trusting or not reacting to the wrong thing could prove absolutely fatal. babies are wired to detect danger and cry and scream over nothing

as you grow older, a bridge forms between your pfc and the amygdala. the pfc helps inhibit and dampen the response of the amygdala. it judges your environment and tells the amygdala “all clear no danger here we’ll scream and cry another time.” so then when that bridge is formed, your pfc plays a major role in helping regulate your emotions. different neural pathways may either activate for conscious or unconscious emotional regulation.

but what about when you grow up with chronic stress? what if more often than not, you’re affirming that the danger your amygdala is detecting is very real? and say that in the face of that real danger, the person(s) meant to be your primary caregivers, who are supposed to bring safety and comfort when you cry for help, cannot/do not provide that safety and comfort?

the bridge develops much faster than it otherwise would, aka the “grew up too fast” crowd. the suggestion is a demand to adapt to survive by reversing parent-child roles (”parentification”). this isn’t really written in my notes, but i took this as the bridge not developing as strong as it’s meant to. if it develops too fast then it kind of “freezes” in this state of mind you develop as a child, so your ability to regulate stress is even worse than normal (which, a lot of the stress triggers that we commonly encounter in modern society, the human brain is just Not Wired to deal with that, so we’re already piss-poor stress regulators but that’s a whole other lecture from a whole other class)

so regarding jim coan’s research & his hand-holding paradigm: the experiment was one person would be in an fmri machine aka one of these bad boys

meant to map brain activity. while they were in there, they’d be presented with a series of symbols. some of those symbols would signify “threat,” and the person in the fmri machine may get shocked when that appears

the experiment had 3 hand-holding conditions while this was happening: the person in the machine would either be 1. alone, 2. holding hands with a strangers, or 3. holding hands with a friend/relationship partner.

what they found was that your neural signatures for emotional regulation are most alive when you feel connected to others. when the person was alone, regulating their emotions was the hardest. that is to say, it’s intimidating having to process your emotions all on your own. this isn’t written in my notes, but if i recall correctly, the stranger’s hand-holding probably just helped marginally, if at all

but when holding hands with a friend or partner, the changes in neural activity were SIGNIFICANT. the activity of the right anterior insula decreased (aka the anticipated pain was perceived as less intense), amygdala activity decreased (aka less threat detection), and the right fusiform gyrus activity decreased (so less avoidance behavior). in other words, when someone you love and trust is with you in the face of a threat, you’re less anxious about the threat and you can handle the pain of that threat much better.

this experiment has been duplicated and redone and blah blah over various conditions with various people, but HERE’S the really juicy bit. he does ANOTHER experiment where it’s not just you getting threats of being shocked, but now it’s the stranger and the friend/partner whose hand you’re holding that’s also getting shocked.

they monitored different regions of the brain, but THE MOST significant result was in comparing the left insula of when you are being threatened and when your friend is being threatened. for this, r = .9 AKA ALMOST A 100% CORRELATION. and a BIG function of your left insula is basically diagramming your body. it’s the mental representation of your body in your mind. so when you’re anticipating/receiving pain in your arm, the SAME PART OF YOUR BRAIN that registers this as something impacting YOUR BODY, your brain is almost having the EXACT SAME RECOGNITION of the pain that’s being afflicted on your FRIENDS BODY. your body isn’t being shocked, but in your left insula you FEEL THE SHOCK ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE IT WAS YOUR OWN.

so when you’re in your most vulnerable developmental stage, and your judgment center (pfc) is connecting with your emotions (amygdala), you’re (very likely) literally feeling & internalizing all the pain and emotions of the people you’re surrounded by. in early development, this is very likely to be your primary caregiver, most likely your parents. so when you’re a grown adult and you find yourself alone without a trusted friend/partner to hold your hand, your default, gut reaction (without putting in work to change this, like through therapy) is going to mirror your parents’ own gut reactions.

but if you’re like me that isn’t the good news part of this

the good news part and what excites ME the most about this is that shit with the left insula. it makes me just APESHIT how cool the bond is we can have with other people. the fact that your internal map of yourself literally overlaps with the internal map you have of your loved ones. in jim coan’s words, “i am you, and you are me.”

think about how your brain, an organ of your body, gets fired up by the proximity of your loved ones. think about how the people your surround yourself with literally shape how you think. most importantly, THINK ABOUT YOUR LOVED ONES LEAVING A PHYSICAL MARK ON YOUR BODY. YOU CARRY IN YOU THAT WRINKLE OF YOUR BRAIN THAT’S EVERY ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS, AND ONLY THEY HAVE THAT POWER TO COMFORT YOU AND SHARE IN A LITERAL, NEURAL PATHWAY YOUR SORROW, YOUR FEAR, YOUR JOY. THINK ABOUT HOW A PART OF YOU WILL ALWAYS AND FOREVER CARRY THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE WITH YOU.

#like maybe i'm jumping a little bit to conclusions #but this is what screamed in my head when i was in lecture #please watch the video if you want to watch someone who's 100% more sure about what they're talking about than i am #because i'm just trying to reorganize my thoughts because it's been years since that lecture/i took down these notes/watched the video #and the video's pretty cool anyway right #but god just the idea of all of it and how much i love my friends is just...... chef kiss #psych shit #long post #pine speaks

[azworkingdogs]

How Positive Reinforcement and Ignorance Can Make Dog Aggression WORSE

How Positive Reinforcement and Ignorance Can Make Dog Aggression WORSE

Ugh!  I recently experienced the whole “doing positive reinforcement training, WRONG”.

I used to think that the only real problem that positive reinforcement could create was a fat dog, that may not understand things fully.

But recently I saw how an owner was actually creating more aggression, confusion and fear than needed to be there for the dog.

Interestingly

It is interesting to note that I was not performing my duties as a dog trainer when I witnessed this horrible miscommunication.

I was actually working as a vet tech.

The dog was known for having aggression issues, hence the reason I (the dog trainer) got the job of checking the dog in for his exam.

It has been common in the past for no one to be able to touch the dog, and for the dog to lunge at staff, techs and doctors.

The Owner is Oblivious.

Although the owner recognizes the dog has issues, he doesn’t completely understand the depth of aggression that is being displayed and how he in fact is making the aggression worse.

If you are looking for a better way to handle a dog like this, you should look into my Emotional Re-calibration Training Class that I teach twice a year, specifically for Fearful, Reactive and aggressive dogs.

The Situation

So I want to paint a picture of the scenario for you, so that you can understand how detrimental misusing treats in an aggressive dog can be for the whole situation.

The dog doesn’t like people.

In fact, the dog is terrified of people.

So the owner totes around large bags of treats for himself, and other people to feed to the dog.

*** The idea is for other people the dog doesn’t to reward the dog with treats for being appropriate and social.  The hope being that the dog then associates new people with treats and happy feelings and stops being aggressive, nervous, or fearful.***

The problem is that it often just doesn’t work.

Honestly, I think this only works really well on very young dogs and puppies.

In my opinion, adult dogs have already formed their opinions on most of these things when they were in puppy fear stages.  There is a chance that a dog with little to no experience or socialization with certain things can make big changes but it is rare.

The Problem

The dog, often, doesn’t want to get close enough to the human to take the food.

So the dog rushes in, ears pinned, tail tucked, eyes wild and snatches the treat out of the person’s hand.

At this point, he is feeling a lot of conflict and a bit trapped by the situation.

He is often unsure whether to back away from the person he feels intimidated by or turn tail and run.

It is at this point a very defensive dog barks, snaps and lunges at the innocent person who is simply trying to help dog and person.

Now everyone is worked up; the dog is scared, the human is scared and the dog is actually being rewarded for this behavior and feeling this way.

The next time the dog rushes in the human is much more likely to flinch and the dog is much more likely to bite.

I Met This Dog in the Exam Room that Day

I actually kept the second door open so that I would have an exit route if the dog attacked.

The owner was totally oblivious to the danger or the signals his dog was sending.

At one point I even pleaded with the owner to shorten the leash so the dog couldn’t rush my body, yet my pleas were ignored.

I told the owner I would be happy to toss the dog treats for good, appropriate and non-aggressive behavior.

You see, tossing the treats takes the fear of me (the human) out of the equation for the dog.  The dog doesn’t have to get in my space or then worry about getting out of my space.

And, I was not about to reward a dog for rushing me and then barking, growling and lunging at my face.

My best guess is this dog was not a confident puppy, maybe had a bad experience or whatever may have happened but the owner is doing nothing to deal with the problem at hand.

If anything, his ignorance and lack of training are invigorating this dog’s aggression; which could probably be pretty simply controlled in most situations.

Which is why I recommend this for working on dog aggression.

Don’t Get Me Wrong

Don’t misunderstand me, putting a training collar on this dog and using force and corrections IS NOT THE WAY!

But the owner should understand how this behavior is furthering the aggression in some way he is trying to avoid.

I suppose he thinks if the dog doesn’t actually attack the person they are making some kind of progress.

Instead…

Instead this owner needs to totally alleviate the conflict, by insuring that no one gets near, touches or even talks to his dog; unless the dog wants interaction (at this point he doesn’t).

The owner needs to carry THE BEST treats like liver or boiled chicken breast and reward the dog for completely ignoring people and complying to obedience commands.

A basket muzzle can make the dog, the owner, and everyone else involved even more comfortable.  Ironically, it will also keep noisy people from wanting to talk to or touch the dog (funny how a muzzle alone gives you 10x the space) for more on that click here: http://ift.tt/1WjFwBQ

Muzzles are wonderful tools, and also very effective!

Dogs, such as these, need to have impeccable obedience skills!  They should be well trained on leash and know basic, intermediate and advanced obedience skills.

Instead of relying on treats to override the fear or panic, the owner should be relying on a trusting relationship and positive obedience.

I Had a Dog Like This

Ironically, I had a dog that probably would have been a lot like this…

He learned, when he was a puppy, that if a human talked to him that they would then want to pet him.  Or if they gave him a treat, they would then try to pet him.

He was afraid of people (he had no bad experiences and I had him and socialized him since he was 9 weeks old, we both worked in a mall at the time).

No coercing or rewarding was going to change his mind.

So, I had to stop letting people give him treats, because it was rewarding all the wrong behaviors.

I even stopped people from leaning over and talking to him.

It was MY JOB to make sure he trusted me to keep him safe.

All of his behaviors told me that he didn’t want people in his space and he didn’t want to get in anyone else’s space.

I took him at his word.

I stopped trying to change him into a “Golden Retriever”, and I accepted that he needed different ownership or parenting.

It totally changed our relationship.

He went from fearing people coming up to us (because he was so cute and they wanted to touch him) to knowing and understanding that I would protect him and keep that from happening if he listened to my commands.

I rewarded him for good behavior.

And, I taught him coping mechanisms (like you can’t panic about people walking up if you are spinning in a circle or giving me a high five).

Obedience became his solace, and mine!

And, it was sooooo much better than living in a world where his life was filled with conflict, and fear, and his bad behavior was rewarded.

He learned how to relax, and in most circumstances no one else could see his fears.

One Last Note

I do understand that a veterinary clinic is different because the dog has to be touched and it can’t always be positive.

Muzzle training and obedience would still alleviate a lot of stress for this dog.

However, this is not a behavior this dog only shows at the vet, this is this dog’s lifestyle.

Be very careful that you are not rewarding your dog’s aggression.

Or ignoring it when these behaviors need to be taken so seriously.

Want The BETTER Way To Eradicate Nearly ALL Your Dog’s Aggressive Behaviors?

Enroll in our twice a year LIVE 8 week MASTER-CLASS on Emotional Re-calibration Training (ERT) specifically for Over-reactive, Fearful and Aggressive dogs.

Click here to enroll in the MASTER-CLASS

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