Trigger Stacking
Have you ever had one of those days where every little thing keeps happening, and soon enough you just lose it... often over somethign quite trivial. Well, that in a nutshell is trigger stacking - and our dogs experience it too!
Trigger stacking can explain why your dog is fine one day and then reactive or unpredictable the next - it is likely that during their difficult day they had experienced lots of small stressful things that just added up and eventually pushed them past their limit.
It is important to be aware of all the little things that may cause your dog to feel a bit stressed - such as loud noises, unfamiliar dogs, unfamiliar people, traffic, funny smells, being shouted at or told something sternly, physical handling, restraint... anything your dog doesn't like very much!
Try to avoid trigger stacking where you can so that you can keep your dog in a better frame of mind to deal with the challenges life brings. And if you can try to provide stress relieving outlets where you are able, to help them to cope (i.e. opportunities to sniff, play time in the garden, opportunities to dig, time to chew, things to destroy etc).
