This page is a component of the Glossary of the Dog Science, CBC
Dog Training Workshop, and an element of the Dog Science Network
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The Autonomic Nervous System
The term autonomic nervous system (the ANS), refers to a network of cells that connect the brain to most of the major organs of the body.
In both dogs and humans, it is through the neural pathways of the ANS that our brains regulate our breathing, heart rate, digestion, and other processes that take place below our level of conscious awareness.
The ANS merits the attention of anyone who seeks to control his dog by managing the animal's emotions, because the ANS and the endocrine system, to which it is closely related, comprise the central mechanism that serves to determine the emotional state of your dog at any given moment. Hence, whether you set out to upset your dog or to fill him with a sense of well being, it is the autonomic nervous system and its closely linked sister, the endocrine system, that are the true targets of your intervention.
For more on the autonomic nervous system, we refer you to our sister site, barkingdogs.net, where you will find a description of how the human ANS is impacted when the sound of a barking dog is force-fed into someone's home. Also on BD.N, you will find a more in depth discussion of how the ANS serves to mediate systemic noise trauma.