On-Leash Aggression: What is Over Threshold?

This morning I was running late. It was one of those things that, if you show up late, you run a good chance of being told by a bureaucrat you’ll have to start over from scratch and wait another four months for chance to be on time.

I was stuck in traffic and not pleased. Why was the guy in front of me going so slow? Why was the guy behind me in such a hurry? Who programs these stupid traffic lights? Do they even pave these roads? Why does the Takeaway bother to book interviews if Hockenberry is never going to let them get a word in?

Of course, none of this made sense. None of the people or things I was raging at really deserved it. (Except maybe Hockenberry.) My anxiety and fear about being late had developed into an angry response. This was a pretty trivial situation. If I had been late it might have lead to a major inconvenience, but it was no life and death situation. However I somehow still ended up angry and not thinking clearly.

This happens to us humans a lot, we read and hear about (and probably witness) aggressive driving very often. Most often perpetrated by people that are not thinking clearly over pretty trivial things: late for work, late for an “important” appointment, late for a late movie.

And we’re supposed to be the smart species.

So picture what’s going on inside a dog that is responding aggressively to a situation on leash. Fearful and anxious feelings eventually becoming frustrated and angry feelings. A dog that, if one allows that dogs “think,” is not thinking clearly. We’ve learned a lot about the cognitive abilities of dogs the past few years, but introspection and self-awareness are not on the feature list yet. Why should we expect them to be able to deal with a situation that so many of us fail to handle?

We call this “over threshold.” An emotional state that is intense and overwhelming enough that learning just isn’t going to happen. When someone is stuck in traffic, angry and frustrated, a passenger explaining to them that it’s not worth getting so upset over probably doesn’t help. When a dog is in a full aggressive display during an on-leash encounter, a human offering food or delivering a reprimand doesn’t help either.

It’s probably possible to cause enough discomfort for both individuals that the aggressive display stops, and it may even be possible to cause enough discomfort that they will be afraid to enter that state in that situation again — but I am assuming that you don’t want to do that.

Last week I referred to the systematic counter-conditioning and desensitization process that is used to address leash aggression. When we gradually introduce other dogs at a distance, and then close that distance, we are making sure that the dog never reaches this over-threshold state. The goal, and it’s not always easy, is to find a level where the dog is aware of the other dog(s), but is still in an emotional state where learning can take place.

Happy motoring.