SB&D, really good explanation -- seek them out (the triggers) so you can then make the choice as to how to manage and best work with the situation - cuz you know your dog best. You always want your dog under threshhold, and if you know where the triggers are, there will be no accidents, surprises, or meltdowns. Also remember - practice makes perfect (and that goes both ways). You don't want your dog constantly rehearsing the "see the trigger, and have a meltdown" -- sometimes it's best to avoid them and just have a nice relaxing walk, it's good for both you and your dog. And sometimes work is the order of the day, know where the triggers are, and work on them. Other times ... ya just gotta manage it, and get thru it.
And Sara - loved that second article too. Just had that very conversation at the park yesterday with a member of a dog group who walks there daily with their (leashed) dogs. A very elderly couple shows up almost daily for a walk (not with this group) with their chihuahua, never on a leash, running and barking all over the place. The man is now in a wheelchair. Ok, I see the problem, she's got her hands full, I get that. BUT - there's a leash law, so .... it applies to everyone but them? I mentioned this to one of the men in the group yesterday who is friends with them, he basically was saying to cut them a break, she has to push his wheelchair now. My point - their Chi had run up to Makena one day (when they wer both walking, no wheelchair involved), I literally saw it coming and had to get her attention and say "let's go" in the happiest voice I could come up with and take off running to avoid that dog landing in her mouth. One day, the ending will be different, it could be horrific, and altho I'll feel horrible, it won't be my fault. I've talked to her before, about how her dog runs up to other dogs (it's a snarkly little thing) and how mine does not like other dogs and how there's a leash law, blah blah blah. Her response was: she forgot her leash (uh, every day??). So frustrating. I pray nothing happens, we stay waaaay clear when I see them, altho that little Chi runs all over the place and they have no control at all, I fear it's pop up from around a bush one day before I notice them). We do frequent the park tho, as it's a beautiful place to walk and do Nosework. Hopefully that little thing never gets close enough that any harm comes to it. *sigh*