I recently heard that research suggests caring for a reactive dog can fundamentally change your view of the world.
That felt confronting, so I decided to dig a little deeper.
Constantly scanning the environment for triggers is exhausting. Constantly planning routes and timings to minimise risk. Managing the physiological stress response every time we leave the house.
On the rare occasions when George isn’t even with me and I see another dog, I feel an immediate anxious lurch in my chest and my stomach flips. If a neighbour is talking outside, I’m instantly on edge. My nervous system has been rewired to associate George’s triggers with stress. His triggers are now my triggers.
It’s not surprising that I experience increased stress, vigilance, and worry, but I hadn’t considered the broader psychological impact.
There is strong psychological research showing that repeated exposure to stress can create an attentional bias towards threat (quicker to notice potential danger and slower to disengage from it), faster detection of negative stimuli, and a greater tendency to interpret ambiguous situations as risky. This shift isn't conscious; it's a learned pattern of adaptation based on situational stress.
Psychological research also suggests that our core beliefs about whether the world is safe and how much we feel in control can shape how we respond to ongoing stress.
The world doesn’t feel as safe to me anymore, and I don’t always feel in control. It scares me that my core beliefs could be shaken through this experience, rather than “just” having to deal with the stressors in the moment. But perhaps it’s helpful to remind myself that the stress response is real. And that increased vigilance and fear are normal human responses to chronic stress.
There is also a growing body of research exploring the link between a caregiver’s emotional state and their dog’s emotional state. Acknowledging my own nervous system feels important. I’ve been learning more about co-regulation and working on my own stress responses.
It’s a work in progress. But I can’t help George without also helping myself.
On the positive side, research also shows that this can be reshaped. Brains are elastic. Nervous systems (both canine and human) can be rewired. Through the gradual accumulation of safe, positive experiences, change is possible.
It will just take time and effort.