How dog training is helping me cope with the stress of Covid 19
My musings around dog training and Covid 19 - There's lessons to be learnt.
I can feel stress bubbling through society and zapping my energy. But lessons from dog training are helping me re-energise and they could help you too.
At last months Poocha-Kucha Manchester, I shared the importance of knowing your threshold and the concept of ‘The Stress Bucket’. I feel these are relevant to managing stress in the face of Covid 19.
Alongside being Head of Creative at People Activation, I am a dog trainer. When I start working with any dog, the first thing I do is identify their threshold; the amount of external stimuli they can cope with before showing signs of frustration or stress.
For this I use the stress bucket. Imagine each day brings an empty bucket with small holes in it. During the day it fills with good stress and bad stress. If the bucket is full, the dog can no longer cope and needs space and time to decompress, allowing the bucket to empty. People as well as dogs have stress buckets but I have learned most about them from my ginger ninja, Viktor the 3-year-old Vizsla.
Viktor’s bucket fills within a couple of hours through:
- Waiting patiently for me to feed him.
- Waiting for his lead to be put on and me to tie my shoes, when all he wants to do is burst out the door.
- Seeing another dog on a lead.
- A cat running out in front of us.
- Arriving at the park.
- Watching another dog play with a ball that is not, and never will be, his.
Then, as we leave the park, a motorbike zooms past. In normal circumstances, this would be fine but just now his stress bucket is filled to the brim. This motorbike is one thing too much; he lunges and barks.
I have a stress bucket too.
My stress bucket fills from:
- A poor night's sleep.
- An over-packed commuter train, where I spent my time with my head in someone's armpit (short person problems).
- A delay resulting in my meetings for the day being back to back with no space to decompress.
So, at past midday when I finally get a moment to make my first brew only to find the milk has gone off...BOOM! I explode. Anyone who sees me at this moment could reasonably decide that I'm an irrational human being, because they haven't seen the build-up.
For me and for Viktor, the things that fill our stress buckets are external factors which we can't control. Covid-19 has inflicted a similar effect in terms of stress; it has pissed big time in our stress buckets. Many will have had sleepless nights making plans b, c and d. Maybe you've noticed you’re a tad snappier than usual, but not understood why.
That's okay, we're all constantly learning. Acknowledging stress levels is the first stage in managing them and your energy. It is the same in dog training. Once I understand what the dog finds stressful, I work with the dog (and owner) on life skills. These help the stress bucket to empty faster. We can do the same for ourselves.
Take a moment to identify your stress bucket, sketch it out and take time to identify the things that are filling it. Now, highlight things that can be removed and things that need to be managed. This exercise alone can positively impact your stress levels.
Looking at the things that fill my stress bucket and noticing what I can and can't control has made a huge difference to me. As a result I have minimized my sedentary time and time on social media.
For the stress that I can't eliminate, I have found ways of managing, for example; rest time. I’ve discovered my brain can recover super quickly from stress, if I give it time; three minutes of breathwork rather than staring frantically into my phone instantly re-energises me.
The way we react to the environment around us is completely individually both for dogs and humans. We enter dangerous territory if we try to place judgement on or belittle the fear and stress of others. For example, if big butch Bruno the Great Dane finds feathers scary, I am not going to be able to convince him that they are not. What I can do is give him the tools to deal with feeling scared and manage his emotions in a positive way.
Similarly, in our current climate, I feel we need to be less judgemental of other people's fears and stress triggers and become more aware of our own. Maybe by being a little more aware of our stress buckets we can recognise other people’s, and be kinder, avoid unnecessary triggers, step away from invaluable confrontation and ease tensions.