A dog’s working state can be said to be over or under Threshold.
A dog that is over Threshold has trouble working. A dog that is under Threshold is in good shape to do work.
Threshold is often the difference between DriveDrive is focus and energy applied towards work. There are many kinds of Drive: social drive, tracking drive, prey drive, bite/kill, stalking, and food to name a few. Social drive, prey drive, and... and ArousalArousal is a general excited state of being that is often mistaken for Drive. Door jumping, wining, pacing, hyper-vigilance, barking, biting and nipping, and a host of other high energy behaviors can be.... If your dog gets too high and winds up over Threshold then they move from Drive to Arousal.
Threshold has many definitions in dog training.