Outside Factors That Affect Separation Anxiety Training

There are many outside factors which might affect your dog and their separation anxiety training progress. The first thing you should do it to keep track of what factors or events impact your pup. Different things affect different dogs so you should take note of what things affect your dog.

For example, your dog might have had a scary experience at the vet and then a truck made a loud noise when driving by on your walk. You might recognize that both things are triggers for your dog. If your dog has experienced these things on the same day, your dog might be extra sensitive to additional stressors. This is called trigger stacking.

Trigger stacking happens when a dog experiences multiple stressful events within a short period of time. After exposure to multiple stressors, the dog might have an abnormal or extreme reaction to something that might not bother them normally.

It is very important to keep this in mind when working on separation anxiety training! If your dog experiences multiple stressful events in a short time frame, this can affect their separation anxiety training session. They might not be able to handle as long of a departure or their departure cues may be more triggering, to name a few.

What should we do if we think our dog is experiencing trigger stacking? You should make adjustments to your training plan! You could do a super easy training session that day or skip the training session altogether. Set your dog up for success by realizing that they are having a hard time and make adjustments accordingly.  Separation anxiety training is all about being flexible!