Learning to Handle Arousal and Understanding Thresholds

I often talk with my clients about their dog's emotional state and varying levels of arousal - whether this arousal is in response to excitement, stress, fear or a myriad of other emotions.  In understanding and working through this arousal, we discuss setting a dog up for success by recognizing that dog's emotional threshold and staying on the safe side of it most frequently.  We will gently "flirt" with the threshold when we are ready to proceed, but it's critically important to respect this threshold so you don't set your dog up to fail.  The Whole Dog Journal has featured a great article on thresholds - check it out HERE.