Trigger Stacking
“Trigger Stacking” what in the world does that even mean?
This is a term that gets brought up a lot when talking about dog reactivity, but honestly, I think it deserves a LOT more credit. Not just for reactivity, but for everyday life for our dogs and ourselves.
Let’s go on an imagination journey, shall we? You wake up on a Monday morning, you’ve somehow snoozed your alarm a couple of times, how? You’re not sure. You get up, already feeling frustrated and frazzled because now your routine is going to be cut short. You go downstairs and pull your favorite coffee mug from the cupboard. You take a moment to smile at the inspirational saying on it and think “I can turn this day around”. You pour your coffee and get ready for the day, just a little more rushed than normal.
On the way to work, you hit Every Last Red Light Possible and then someone sits at the stop sign for what feels like forever, even though there are several traffic breaks they could have utilized.
You finally get into the parking lot, your favorite spot is open, nobody is crowding the lines, and you park. You go into the building and your favorite coworker greets you with your breakfast order from that place you love, just because.
At your desk, you open your computer to see an email from Passive-Aggressive Percy a couple of departments over complaining about not receiving a follow-up on a project you are still getting details about. You manage to reply with civility and move on with your day.
The work day goes well. On your way home, your best friend calls you because the two of you always like to chat on your commute home. They tell you about an amazing opportunity they’ve been given at work, you encourage them to go for it and discuss some of the fun things they can do if they are selected for the opportunity. The drive home flies by in no time.
You walk in the door, set your stuff down, and here come your kids off the school bus. They greet you enthusiastically and it looks like you’re going to have a great night relaxing together. Until… your seventh grader tells you he has a project due tomorrow, he just remembered.
And… you lose it. How could he be so irresponsible? When was he given the assignment? He had HOW LONG? … It goes on and on.
Now, to your kid, it may seem like you just blew up out of nowhere. But what caused you to go off the deep end with him? Was it the assignment? Does he do it regularly? Or was it just because you had a bad day? … But wait a second, you didn’t really have a bad day, did you? There was just a lot that went on and it all got to be too much.
That, my friend, is trigger stacking. Now take some deep breaths, because that day didn’t really happen to you (or at least, I hope not).
Trigger stacking is real. It affects your dog in very real ways. You may not have any idea what they are upset about, but that doesn’t make their upset feelings less valid. Trigger stacking is also real and valid for you. So, the next time you enter a training session with your dog, and you find yourself getting frustrated with them take a second and think… are they trigger stacked right now? Are you? And use that to inform how you proceed. I promise your relationship with your dog and yourself will be all the better for it.
A graph depicting stress levels rising over time with various “triggers” or events acting as pillars with cartoon dogs on top showing a dog going from laying down, standing and wagging their tail, running away in fear, and finally barking with their tail and hackles up.
