#27: What My Dog Taught Me About Limits

On trigger-stacking, how overwhelm is different than stress, and when everything starts to feel like the straw that breaks the camel's back.

A couple months into our time as California residents, J and I were out on a morning walk with Benny through the neighborhood path we had developed since moving. On the way back home, Benny suddenly kept flinching and ducking his head, rearing back on the leash, as he shut his eyes like something was about to hit him. Initially thinking that a rogue leaf had fallen on his head we didn’t see, we tried to continue walking, but he kept doing this every couple steps. Panic flooded my system, as I started thinking he hit his head and might be having some kind of seizure.

J carried him the rest of the way home, as I frantically messaged our vet practice to get an appointment. As we monitored him at home, he started cowering and skirting us when we got close to him— if you know Benny, he is a magnetic velcro pup who will inevitably trip you, because he likes to stay so close to you at all times, so this was highly concerning.

I went on to film a video for work, and then caught him doing the same thing on camera when I swung my jacket around my shoulders— reacting to my jacket flung around my shoulders as if it was something terrifying. He flinched like someone was about to seriously harm him. This all was baffling to us, until we started connecting the dots with a trainer we were working with, who explained the concept of trigger-stacking to us.

What is trigger stacking?