Ms Nanci Creedon:

Exactly. From a scientific point of view, other dogs are doing something, it is exciting and is getting the dog's adrenaline going. Pippa joins in on whatever the other dogs are doing and chases them. When Pippa is in her parasympathetic nervous system-dominant state – her rest-and-digest or normal, calm state of mind, behaviour, personality and so on – she is using the prefrontal cortex of her brain, which contains her memory, logic and intelligence. Your dog is your dog when they are calm. As soon as the adrenaline kicks in, though, their body will flip into a sympathetic nervous system-dominant state, which means they will start using the back part of their brain, from which impulsive, reactive and emotional behaviours are derived. It would be similar to us saying we were out of our minds with worry or were so cross that we could not think straight enough to remember the number for 999. When we are in panic mode, we are not thinking logically. Panic mode does not necessarily mean that something bad is happening. It can be a group of kids meeting Justin Bieber. It is the same thing – they are crying, hysterical and not thinking straight.

When dogs are in hindbrain mode, they are dangerous. When a pet dog is extremely wound up and other dogs are chasing sheep, that dog will also chase the sheep. It may not have bitten anything in its life, but it will be so wound up and not thinking straight it will be reactive, emotional and impulsive. Its threat interpretation is reduced and its motor control is inhibited. All of these things lead to every dog becoming dangerous when it is hindbrain mode, in the sympathetic nervous system dominance stage.