Part 2: The First Evening
Behaviour spotlight: Trigger Stacking
A dog can only process so much at once. When several stressful experiences happen close together without enough time to recover, their stress levels can build until even small things become overwhelming. This is known as trigger stacking, which is why we kept Lily's first evening calm and uncomplicated.
We got home around 6pm that evening, unloaded the dogs and brought Lily inside still attached to her lead, just in case we needed to gently guide her away from anything unsafe without having to reach directly towards her. She cautiously explored the house at her own pace while we quietly supervised from a distance, knowing this was something she needed to do for herself.
Once Lily seemed more comfortable, we took her for her first walk. We deliberately kept the walk short to avoid "trigger stacking". To our surprise, she walked beautifully on the lead. She naturally stayed just ahead of us with very little pulling, and we gently encouraged loose lead walking by stopping and inviting her back whenever the lead became tight.
She wasn't interested in sniffing every blade of grass or investigating every smell like many dogs would. Instead, she spent most of the walk quietly watching the world around her, taking everything in. Every passing car made her stop, freeze and rear up to watch it disappear into the distance.
When we got home, we decided it was time to remove Lily's harness so she could relax for the evening. As soon as we reached towards it, she let out a low growl.
Rather than rushing, we paused, spoke to her calmly, and praised her throughout, allowing her time to process what was happening. We unclipped the harness slowly, giving her plenty of space.
The moment it came off, Lily immediately grabbed it in her mouth while continuing to growl. Neither of us knew how to respond.
At the time, we weren't sure whether she was trying to play, guard it or communicate that she was uncomfortable.
A few weeks later, we learned that Lily had reportedly worn the harness continuously for around a week in her previous home. Suddenly, her reaction made much more sense.
Although we tried to stay calm for Lily's sake, we'd be lying if we said we weren't nervous ourselves. We wanted to do everything right, but with a dog we'd only known for a few hours, every decision felt significant.
As the evening approached, we hoped bedtime would finally give Lily the chance to relax after such an overwhelming day.
We couldn't have been more wrong.
That first night taught us one of the biggest lessons of Lily's entire foster journey...