We all have a threshold! It’s essentially the point at which we stop being able to cope with stress.

Imagine our ability to cope as a bucket, and stress being water that’s gradually being added to the bucket. If we keep adding water to the bucket that water is going to end up spilling out all over the place and make a mess. The top of the bucket is our threshold.

This links very closely with trigger stacking. Trigger stacking occurs where there are multiple triggers for stress that add up over time and eventually are unmanageable.

As a human example; you’ve had a terrible day, stuck in traffic, forgot your lunch, shouted at by your boss. Then you go home and your partner complains about something. On this stressful day this comment from your partner is the last bit of water that causes the spill. You shout at them and storm out. You’ve reached your threshold.

If you’d had a lovely calm day, then this comment from your partner may simply have left you rolling your eyes (OK maybe this is a slight trickle of a spill!) or talking it through calmly. Your threshold had not been reached and you can respond calmly.

As an example, they’ve been walked through a noisy and stimulating environment. Then they had a scary trip in the car (eek, is it going to be the vets this time?!). They were also run at by a big dog on their walk. When you tried to leave them home alone they started pacing and whining. Or you take them to be groomed and they refuse to go inside or growl at the groomer.

Usually they might tolerate being left alone, or going to the groomer. Because they are so stressed from earlier experiences, they now cannot manage this as well. Depending on your dog’s breed, background and previous experience they might show different strategies. For example hiding, running away, shutting down, vocalising or even some level of aggression depending on the context.

Everybody’s bucket, every dog’s bucket, is a different size.

Some dogs have a bucket like a fragile teacup that fills and spills quite quickly.

Some dogs have a bucket like a barrel that just never seems to get to top.

There are all sorts of reasons why our dog’s bucket might be bigger or smaller than others. Genetics, breed predispositions, chronic illnesses, previous trauma.

Plus, different triggers will put different amounts of water into different dog’s buckets. Some dogs will love meeting strangers, so no water gets poured in when someone stops to say hello in the park. However, for another dog this is an entire bucket load all by itself.

Check out the post on trigger stacking for more examples of how this accumulation of triggers works here.

During behaviour modification for anxious or stressed dogs we are often going to come at the issue from three main directions:

One is increasing the capacity of the bucket. We look at reducing the dog’s overall stress, building their confidence and resilience in general. We make sure their needs are met. This includes things like managing exposure to stress, food and feeding behaviour, quality and quantity of sleep, providing bodily autonomy and choice.

The second is to release water in an appropriate, clean and tidy manner. This can be done by providing stress reduction techniques. Exercises if things are becoming stressful to help the water appropriately reduce. This might be sniffing activities, chewing, brain games or play for example.

The third is to reduce the amount of water that gets put into the bucket by triggers. The aim is generally that we help the dog to cope better with experiencing those triggers in the first place so that they aren’t contributing so much water to the bucket.

During training, the third step above, you want to always be aware of your dog’s threshold.

If your dog is anxious about being left alone, for example, when you are introducing absences the amount of time must be an amount that they can cope with. So after 5 minutes your dog is lying calmy on the sofa. However once you’ve been out of the house for 6 minutes they raise their head, start watching the door and pin their ears back. Their stress levels are approaching threshold. If you stay out of the house then at some point your dog will jump off the sofa and do their separation anxiety behaviour. They are now over threshold. You want to focus on building around 6 minutes before pushing on so that you aren’t pushing your dog “over threshold”.

Another good example is with co-operative care, such as teaching your dog to feel comfortable having their nails trimmed. Your dog is be perfectly happy with giving you their paw. When you pick up the nail clippers they start to lick their lips, show the whites of their eyes and turn their head away. They’re feeling stressed and are at the top of their bucket. They are at threshold.

Or perhaps you are more confused about thresholds now than you were before the bucket analogy!? Why not get in touch and we can talk more about your dog and how thresholds apply to them.

If you have an anxious dog then you don’t have to avoid their triggers forever. Get in touch to see how I can help you and your dog with their worries.

– Call on 07834604549

– Email on hello@weteachpets.com

• “How to create a safe space for dogs”
• “How to calm an anxious dog”
• “PTSD in dogs”