08/13/2025
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Old School Kennels
The Dog’s Crisis Point: When Conditioned Behaviors Collapse and Instinct Takes Over
In high-stress or overwhelming situations—such as intense environmental conflict, physical threat, or emotional overload—dogs can hit what trainers call a “crisis point.” This is the moment when conditioned responses vanish, and the dog defaults to innate, unconditioned behaviors rooted in survival.
This phenomenon is best understood through the lens of Jerzy Konorski’s theory of reflexes, which divides behavior into:
Primary Reflexes: Genetically encoded, automatic survival responses (e.g., fight, flight, freeze, startle).
Secondary Reflexes: Conditioned behaviors developed through training, reinforcement, or habit (e.g., sit on command, passive alert, tactical heel).
At a dog’s crisis point, secondary reflexes go extinct—temporarily or permanently—because the nervous system shifts its energy to primary reflex circuits. The trained “shell” collapses, revealing the dog's baseline temperament and genetic code.
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What Happens at the Crisis Point?
When a dog is overwhelmed:
Stress hormones flood the brain (cortisol, adrenaline).
The limbic system overrides the neocortex.
Secondary reflexes (learned behaviors) are no longer accessible.
Primary reflexes take control.
Even an elite working dog may:
Refuse to engage with the handler.
Ignore known cues or signals.
Lunge or flee unexpectedly.
Display freezing, disassociation, or primal aggression.
This isn’t "disobedience"—it’s neurological prioritization for survival.
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Examples of Reflex Collapse:
Scenario Secondary Reflex Extinct Primary Reflex Activated
Dog trained to heel in gunfire Refuses command Flees or flinches with tail tucked
Detection dog on cargo search Stops indicating odor Begins avoidance or hyper-scanning
Aggression-trained dog under threat Won’t engage or bites off-command Fight or fear-bite with no direction
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Building Dogs Beyond the Crisis Point
Understanding Konorski’s framework helps us train deeper and more resilient dogs by recognizing:
Secondary reflexes must be stress-tested: Only reflexes reinforced under pressure will resist collapse.
Primary reflexes reveal the dog’s raw code: Breeding matters. No amount of training overrides weak nerves or poor genetic traits at crisis.
Training must reinforce under layered stimulation: Environmental, physical, social, and sensory stress should all be part of proofing.
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Signs a Dog is Near Crisis:
Dilated pupils, “flat” or glassy gaze
Freezing or disassociation
Startle response to minor stimuli
Total disregard for handler or cues
Sudden uncharacteristic aggression or submission
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Handler Tools to Manage Crisis States
Early identification of the dog’s stress threshold
Grounding routines (automatic focus, contact signals)
Backchain confidence behaviors: reflexes so deeply conditioned they act as anchors (e.g., the dog auto-sits and looks at the handler when lost)
Resilience drills, not just obedience: e.g., stable platform work, pressure-and-release games, problem-solving under conflict
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Conclusion
A dog’s crisis point is where its true behavioral foundation is exposed. Jerzy Konorski's distinction between primary and secondary reflexes shows us why trained behaviors fall away under pressure: they are layered on top of instinct, not embedded within it.
The elite working dog isn’t just well-trained—it’s well-wired. True success in canine performance work lies in conditioning secondary reflexes so deeply and reinforcing nerve strength so deliberately that even under crisis, the dog draws from both instinct and training—not against them.
