Threshold Management

Dogs need boundaries and have them, too!

This week I'm working with a sweet, insecure Dog who has spent most of his life being pushed past his threshold. He doesn't have a lot of decompression time or space and when the family is home hides under the bed. But he was smiling with a confident gait on our walk after just one day of a little training!

Here's the TLDR: a triggered Dog cannot learn, period. Working below the line of activation is vital, and giving them choices while respecting their agency rather than making demands or applying pressure will increase their confidence over time. Working within a Dog's threshold is counterintuitive because people usually respond to behaviors they don't want rather than setting their Dog up for success when they are already in a receptive state. If and when your Dog reaches threshold, both of you will have tools to respond from a more resourced place.

Yelling at your Dog when they are barking, holding a small Dog when they are lunging or biting... these are backwards approaches that reinforce the behaviors you probably don't want. No shame: I have done some of these things before because that is what I learned until I unlearned everything. That's why I wanted to share some info so that we can all better support the Dogs we love.

Similar to humans: if you have tools to cope when you are calm, you can turn to those tools when you are activated. Respect your Dog's boundaries and agency, set them up for confident pathways in the world, and you'll both be better for it.

One more thing, I love a behavior stack. If you train "find it!" and "touch!", (inside and outside), you can use them in succession before your Dog hits threshold. If your Dog is leash reactive and you spot a Dog across the street, keep it moving and use your tools rather than stopping/staring/waiting for the reaction.

You can't know if your Dog is approaching threshold if you can't read their cues, and some Dogs are more subtle than others. Learn your Dog's specific signals. Pair this with a body language chart, and you'll be in great shape.

This pretty pup is Kara. We did a lot of threshold management together (Husky in a city :)