Training the Brain: How the Reticular Activating System Shapes Your Dog’s Learning
- Rachael Haddan
- Dec 14, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 16, 2025
When a dog “won’t listen,” “overreacts,” or seems unable to focus, it’s rarely about stubbornness or defiance.
More often, it’s about brain state.
In this post, we’ll explore how the RAS shapes your dog’s ability to focus, stay calm, and make good choices — and why true behavior change doesn’t come from pushing harder, but from training smarter. By learning how to support the brain’s natural learning zone, you can reduce reactivity, build emotional stability, and create lasting, confident behavior that goes far beyond basic obedience.
Training isn’t just about teaching skills — it’s about preparing the brain to learn. 🐾
One of the most important — and often overlooked — systems involved in learning and behavior is the Reticular Activating System (RAS). Understanding how this system works allows us to train more effectively, more compassionately, and with longer-lasting results.
What Is the Reticular Activating System (RAS)?
The Reticular Activating System is a network of brain structures that regulates:
Alertness
Attention
Arousal level
What the brain notices and filters out
In simple terms, the RAS is your dog’s internal control center for awareness. It constantly asks:
“How alert do I need to be right now?”
The RAS connects several major brain areas — including the brainstem, thalamus, and forebrain — and plays a central role in learning, emotional regulation, and self-control.
Why the RAS Matters for Learning and Behavior
The RAS determines whether your dog is:
Too sleepy or disengaged to learn
Overstimulated and reactive
Calm, alert, and ready to process information
Arousal and the Learning Zone
Learning happens best in the middle ground of arousal:
Low arousal:
The dog is sluggish, disinterested, or unmotivated. Attention is low and learning is difficult.
High arousal:
The dog is hypervigilant, reactive, or anxious. Emotional reflexes take over, and impulse control drops.
Optimal arousal:
The dog is alert but calm. They can focus, process information, and form memories. This is the learning zone.
The RAS, the Brain, and Emotional Control
When arousal is balanced, the RAS supports the prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain responsible for thinking, impulse control, and decision-making.
When arousal rises too high:
The prefrontal cortex goes offline
Control shifts to emotional reflex systems, especially the amygdala
The dog reacts rather than thinks
This is why an over-aroused dog isn’t being “disobedient” — their brain is simply not capable of rational processing in that moment.
The RAS “Dimmer Switch”
A key structure within the RAS is the locus coeruleus, which releases noradrenaline and adjusts global alertness.
Think of it as a dimmer switch for mental energy:
A well-tuned dimmer allows smooth shifts between calm and alert
A poorly tuned system acts more like an on/off switch — swinging from shut-down to overexcited
Training can help refine this dimmer switch over time.
How to Support the RAS in Training
Every training session influences how your dog’s RAS functions — whether we realize it or not. Below are five practical ways to work with the brain instead of against it.
1. Warm-Ups: Preparing the Brain to Learn
Purpose: Gently activate the RAS and guide the dog into the learning zone.
Starting with simple, familiar behaviors helps the brain shift into focused alertness without stress.
How to Use Warm-Ups
Begin sessions with easy, well-known skills
Reinforce generously
Keep early reps predictable and low pressure
Examples
Hand targets or nose touches
Easy sits or downs
Pattern games or “find it”
Name recognition games
Warm-ups reduce impulsivity and help the prefrontal cortex stay online before introducing new challenges.
2. Environmental Control: Reduce Cognitive Overload
Purpose: Prevent the RAS from becoming overwhelmed by competing stimuli.
The RAS decides what your dog notices. Busy environments flood the system, making learning nearly impossible.
How to Use Environmental Control
Increase distance from triggers
Choose quieter or simpler training locations
Remove unnecessary visual or auditory distractions
Examples
Teach new skills indoors before outdoors
Practice focus far from other dogs before closing distance
Use barriers or positioning to reduce visual input
Good training setups protect the learning zone.
3. Structured Progression: Build Regulation Gradually
Purpose: Help the RAS tolerate increasing levels of stimulation without tipping into stress.
Dogs learn best when challenges increase slowly and predictably.
How to Progress
Change only one variable at a time:
Duration
Distance
Distraction
Move forward only when the dog can succeed calmly at the current level.
This gradual progression strengthens emotional resilience and supports long-term learning.
4. Reorientation Training: Teaching the Brain to Shift Focus
Purpose: Improve the RAS’s ability to disengage and re-engage attention.
Reorientation training teaches dogs that noticing something isn’t a problem — staying stuck on it is.
How to Practice Reorientation
Reward voluntary check-ins
Reinforce turning away from distractions
Practice shifting attention intentionally
Examples
Look at a trigger → look back at you
Name recognition followed by reinforcement
“Touch” or “find me” after noticing something interesting
This builds flexibility, not suppression.
5. Avoiding Overwhelm: Protecting the Learning Zone
Purpose: Prevent panic, shutdown, or frustration that blocks learning.
When arousal spikes too high, learning stops — and one-trial fear learning can occur.
How to Avoid Overwhelm
Watch for early stress signals
Lower criteria instead of pushing through
Increase distance or simplify tasks
End sessions while the dog is still successful
Supporting emotional safety is essential for real behavior change.
Training the Brain for Lasting Change
By managing arousal intentionally, you are shaping how your dog’s brain regulates itself over time.
Working with the Reticular Activating System allows you to:
Improve focus and learning
Build emotional stability
Reduce reactivity and overwhelm
Create confident, thoughtful behavior
Training isn’t just about teaching skills — it’s about creating the right brain state for learning to happen.
Ready for Support?
If you’d like help applying these essentials of effective, brain-based training with your dog — from building focus and emotional regulation to supporting calm, confident learning — I’d love to help.
Call Rachael Haddan
Behav-N-Dogs Pet Services LLC
📞 719-334-8111
Let’s work with your dog’s brain to create real, lasting behavior change 🐾💙
References
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Khroud, N., Reddy, V., & Saggabadi, A. (2025).
Neuroanatomy, locus coeruleus. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing.
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