Behaviour & training
Trigger stacking
Stress that has not been given time to clear adds up, so a small final trigger produces a reaction wildly out of proportion to it.
Each stressful event raises arousal, and arousal comes down slowly — over hours, not minutes. A dog that met a rude dog in the morning, had a delivery driver at noon and a nail trim after lunch is not starting the evening walk from zero. The child who reaches for it at six o'clock gets the reaction the whole day earned.
It explains the incidents owners describe as coming from nowhere, and it is the argument for boring days after difficult ones. If you can only do one thing with the idea, do this: after a bad event, cancel the rest of the day's plans rather than pushing through them.
Related
More in Behaviour & training
Positive reinforcementAdding something the animal wants immediately after a behaviour, so the behaviour happens more often — the R+ of training, and a technical term rather than a synonym for kindness.Socialization windowThe early period when a puppy or kitten accepts new things readily, and after which the same things start to be treated as threats.Resource guardingDefending food, a toy, a spot or a person from someone approaching — normal animal behaviour that becomes a problem when it escalates in a living room.Redirected aggressionAn animal worked up by something it cannot reach turns on whoever is nearest — the classic cat-at-the-window incident.Counter-conditioningChanging what something predicts, so the animal's feeling about it changes — the nail clippers stop meaning restraint and start meaning chicken.DesensitisationExposing an animal to a trigger at an intensity low enough to stay calm, then raising it in steps small enough that calm never breaks.