If you're caring for an anxious dog, you're probably familiar with trigger-stacking.
For your dog, that is.
But the same applies to us caregivers.
I’m sometimes surprised that I still get upset when George has a reaction. You’d think I’d be used to it by now. And yet, the other day, it didn’t really bother me in the same way.
It adds up for us too. Just like dogs have a stress bucket that can overflow, so do humans.
When I’ve had a stressful day at work and go to collect George from daycare, and he reacts strongly to a man in the car park, my tolerance and resilience levels are already pretty low. I’m tired, and I just want to get home.
If I’ve had a really good day at work, after a great night’s sleep and a lovely weekend, I’m going to feel that situation differently.
I find the mental load hard at times — even without caring for an anxious dog.
Everything is on me. If I don’t do it, it doesn’t get done.
So let’s add up some human triggers for me right now: not sleeping enough, long commute, busy period at work (plus a restructure), job insecurity, isolation, a long list of chores, financial worries…
Hmm… I wonder why it feels hard on some days.
We need to apply the same kindness and understanding we (hopefully) apply to our dogs — and allow the humans some grace too. Caregiver burden is real.
I’d love it if people recognised trigger-stacking in humans.
"I’m sorry if I was blunt — I was trigger-stacked."