Does you dog go from 0-100 in a blink of an eye?

You know what it’s like, one moment your dog seems to be lazing about then the doorbell goes, and they go up like a rocket barking and jumping because they want to get involved.

Or you’re out on a walk and everything is going swimmingly then they see another dog and instantly they are barking, lunging, and spinning on the end of the lead.

Or a car door slams, and the dogs are up at the window barking like aliens have landed on the lawn.

Reticular Activating System

Reactions to stimulus for humans and dogs is controlled by the Reticular Activating System (RAS) which is a bunch of neurons located at the base of the brain stem. This system regulates behaviour, and how our dogs react. For a small event we should get a small reaction and for a large event you would expect an increase in arousal and thus a larger reaction.

The problem for dogs that go from 0 – 100 on the extreme dog behaviour scale is this system is hypersensitive or tight. It’s incapable of in-between setting of 10, 50 or whatever the appropriate arousal level for the situation is.

Calm, or crazy.

It is operating like a light switch, it’s either on or off. Calm, or crazy.

This hypersensitive RAS creates behaviour struggles for our dogs. Other dogs find these over aroused dogs difficult to deal with and will defend themselves against them. They can be hard to walk as they bounce about unable to take direction or make good decisions about the environment. They can be difficult to manage at home as they are jumping up at every noise, overreacting for visitors and find it difficult to settle. You may also find they suffer with separation anxiety issues as their emotions run high when you leave. They may also be more prone to biting, overreacting to movement.

It can look a bit like this across the day, with multiple times your dog jumps from a relatively calm state to inappropriately over aroused. It a bit like a light switch going from off to on.

What we want is a smoother line, interest but not crazy. Of course, if there is a big, scary event then we want our dogs to be able to get themselves out of a situation by reacting fast, but what we don’t want is this hypervigilant reaction to normal things going on around them.

Dimmer switch

To help our dogs overcome this light switch effect and have more controlled dog behaviour we need to teach our dogs a dimmer switch, a smoother transition between emotions and more self-control. So, they have a range of setting in-between 0 -100.

Play figure 8s

One simple game for this is figure of 8’s or shape walking with pace changes.

Walk you dog in a figure of 8, calmly without food if you can. Think of it as a meditation. Keep chat and interactions down to the minimum. This can take a few sessions to achieve.

Once you have a calm figure of 8 happening, you start to alter you pace. When a dog moves faster, their arousal level goes up, when it’s slower it comes down. So gentle pace changes move your dog through a arrange of arousal levels, helping them build that all important dimmer switch. Stretching out the RAS so your dog has a better selection of levels to pick from.

Like any dog training, this is only part of the picture, but building a dimmer switch is an important part of dealing with hypervigilant barking and crazy behaviour. Giving your dog the skills to make better decisions themselves.

About the author

Louise Kirby is a Pro Dog Trainer and Behaviour Coach and works 1-2-1 with owners at home. If you would like more information about games based training and how this can benefit your dog, please send a message.