Reactive Dog, Training Thoughts, and "Trigger Stacking"

The last time I posted something about dog training/working with a reactive dog, I got absolutely ripped to shreds. Not only did someone disagree with me, a trainer took my post and reshared it multiple times on their business page, listing day by day (for five days, I think), all the things I'd said that were wrong or incorrect in their eyes. That's okay; we are not all going to agree all the time, however I would not have gone that far to tear someone else down, but I post about training dogs because I realize other people struggle with their animals too. Not all are as challenging as ours, but when I came across this graphic on Pinterest, I found it particularly interesting as it addresses the cumulative effect of various "triggers" - and how one thing can be okay, two perhaps still manageable, but add in the THIRD stressor and suddenly you have a dog that is overloaded with anxiety or fear.

  

Example: Ray reacts strongly to things that are different, as little as cars parked at a vacation home which only has guests three times a year.....that's new and exciting to him and can easily derail his focus on me and following simple commands. I've learned that if we pause, sit down calmly, and look carefully at the situation, he can adapt and move on.....but say next, we have the school bus coming up behind us. We've worked to have him sit, stay, and focus on us intently while the big noisy thing goes by, and he barely reacts to a bus now, but added on top of the cars at a home he isn't used to seeing, now we have two things that are different. Graphic available from ABC Dogs NZ.

Third could be workers at the new house being built, maybe a loud generator or music, or even a motorcycle or noisy golf cart; all things we can normally manage just fine, but added it on TOP of the first two, might just be his tipping point. Often at this stage I will back up from the stimulus overload, maybe pick a back street to walk down where I know we won't encounter anything else, or perhaps just head home and work on his tricks in the yard instead. I think the balance is about finding what a dog can handle - especially a possibly brain damaged one like Ray - who tends to have very extreme reactions to little things. This concept of "trigger stacking" may not resonate with everyone, but if it helps anyone to understand the levels of a reactive or challenging dog, it may be helpful. 🙏💛🐾🐾 

P.S. Although I posted the watermarked image here to share the information with you, this is the site listed to purchase the unmarked image - https://abcdogs.co.nz/

#trainingis247
#reactivedog
#WhateverItTakes


P.S. Here is a Facebook post from the creator about this graphic which you may find useful to read.

Here is a link to some of my posts about training and our journey with an abused, reactive dog we adopted at six months old.

Thanks for stopping by my blog ~ 😊

community first • marketing consultant • advocate for small business • lover

of classic cars • beach girl • believer that "together we accomplish more"