Stress hormones

How it works

They clear faster than training folklore suggests. Acute salivary cortisol in dogs peaks within roughly fifteen to twenty minutes and returns toward baseline within about an hour for a mild stressor. What persists is not the chemistry but sensitization: each surge leaves the system quicker to fire next time. That is why one difficult moment can shape a whole day, and it is a lowered threshold rather than a slow drain.

What it looks like

A dog is startled badly on a morning walk. By lunchtime the hormones themselves are long back to baseline, and yet the dog reacts to a passing cyclist they would normally have ignored, because the system is now quicker to respond.

Commonly confused with

Trigger stacking

Trigger stacking is the pattern owners observe across a day, where small events add up. Sensitization is the mechanism underneath it. The hormones are the thing most often blamed, and they are not what lasts.

Related terms

Where this comes up