Stressed Dog? How Trigger Stacking Might Be Putting Your Dog Over Threshold

Has your dog ever done something suddenly and without warning? A growl, snap, bite, or behaving in a way that is of character? Sudden behavior change could be the result of trigger stacking. Stacking triggers is your dog accumulating stress. All the small stressors become a big thing, and that last trigger in the stack is the equivalent of the straw that broke the camel’s back. We’re looking at stress reduction and trigger stacking prevention to help dogs have a long and happy life.

🐾 Key Moments:
00:00 Why dogs ‘suddenly’ become reactive or aggressive.
00:34 Trigger stacking is a dog’s stress accumulation.
01:26 Triggers don’t have equal intensity.
01:53 Trigger stacking in humans.
02:47 Example of my dog’s stacked triggers.
04:37 How stress hormones accumulate in dogs.
05:34 A stressed dog’s body language.
09:55 Common stress triggers for some dogs.
10:40 Dogs internalize household emotions.
12:46 Interrupt potentially stressful scenarios.
14:23 Tips to decrease a dog’s stress hormones.
16:05 Train using positive conditioned emotional responses.
16:45 Take notes on your dog’s stress scenarios.
17:54 Desensitize and counter-condition your dog’s triggers.
19:10 Chronic stress is as harmful to dogs as it is to humans.

In the episode you'll hear:
• How different triggers have different intensities for dogs.
• That we also experience trigger stacking.
• The way dogs can express trigger stacking.
• Examples of triggers getting stacked for your dog.
• About adrenaline, cortisol and over threshold dogs.
• What to look for in your dog’s body language.
• The things that could create trigger stacking.
• How our dogs take on our emotions.
• What to do when you see your dog is stressed.
• About stress recovery and your dog’s cortisol level.
• How the way we train reduces stress in dogs.
• About generalizing positive conditioned emotional responses.
• Why to counter condition and desensitize to remove triggers.
• That stress reduction helps dogs have a long and happy life.

Resources:
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Dogs That is brought to you by Susan Garrett and the Say Yes Dog Training Team.

Susan Garrett’s interest in animal behaviour started at the University of Guelph where she earned a Bachelor of Science majoring in Animal Science. Since then she has developed into a preeminent dog trainer and canine sports instructor and competitor. Susan is one of the most successful agility competitors of the last three decades. She has won multiple Gold Medals at National or World Championship events with every dog she has ever owned over the past 30 years.

A natural teacher and an entertaining speaker, Susan is world renowned as a leading educator of dog trainers. Her understanding of how to apply science-based learning principles to both competitive and family pet dog training has been pivotal in changing how dogs are trained.

Susan is now helping many thousands of dog owners in 132 countries have the best relationship possible with their dogs. The real joy for her comes from bringing confidence to dogs and their owner through playful interactions and relationship building games that are grounded firmly in the science of how animals learn.
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