Blog — Alternative Medicine for Dogs

  Why Time in Nature Matters for Dogs I'm taking my dogs to the creek twice per week, letting them move freely off-leash. This isn’t just a casual outing—it’s a core exercise and foundational practice in our system. At this point, I think of it less as “training” and more as en-training the nervous system. The Missing Piece: Natural Environments Both dogs and humans are increasingly disconnected from natural environments—and we’re seeing the effects. One of the biggest? A lack of autonomic flexibility. Natural environments provide something that structured settings simply can’t: Rich sensory input Variable terrain Unpredictable movement challenges...

  Balance and Proprioception are Deeply Intertwined Proprioception (your body's sense of position) provides the raw data (where you are) that your balance system uses (with input from eyes and inner ears) to make constant, tiny adjustments via your muscles to keep you steady and upright, preventing falls and allowing coordinated movement, with balance training effectively enhancing this internal GPS system. Essentially, better balance means better proprioception because the challenges of balancing force your proprioceptors to work harder and smarter, improving nerve signals and muscle response. Proprioception (body position in space) and interoception (internal body states like hunger, fatigue) are...

  State Before Story: Creating Autonomic Flexibility In behavior work, we often focus on what a dog is doing and what we want them to do instead. But underneath every behavior is something more fundamental: the dog’s nervous system state. Before there is behavior, there is state. And before there is “story” or interpretation, there is physiology. This is the foundation of autonomic flexibility—the ability for a dog to move fluidly between different nervous system states without becoming stuck in any one pattern. Without this flexibility, behavior becomes rigid. The dog may appear either overly activated and reactive, or shut...

  I really wish I had some fancy training techniques for you. I wish I could impress you with some sharp obedience and lots of down-stays around chickens (impulse control). I wish making your dog "wait" for his dinner and then telling him "okay" was the quick and easy fix to all your training problems. But let's look on the bright side... What we do have is the built-in technology of the nervous system to detect threat and safety. What we have is the fascia, the living matrix of the body. We have neuroception, co-regulation, and somatic resonance. We have your...

What Is Biophilic Design? Biophilic design is the practice of incorporating elements of nature into the built environment to strengthen our connection to the natural world. This can include: Natural light Vegetation Water features Natural materials Designs that mimic organic shapes and patterns The goal is simple but powerful: to improve physical, mental, and emotional well-being by bringing us closer to the environments we evolved in. Why It Matters for the Nervous System I was introduced to this concept more deeply through a presentation by Dr. Niki Elliott at a Polyvagal Institute gathering. What stood out most was how biophilic...