Blog — Alternative Medicine for Dogs

What Is Leash Reactivity, Really? Leash reactivity is one of the most commonly discussed behavior challenges in dogs, but it is also one of the most misunderstood. People often use the term as a diagnosis or label for barking, lunging, growling, or over-excited behavior on leash. While these are the visible expressions, they are not the root of the issue. Leash reactivity is not a single behavior pattern, and it is not a personality trait. It is a nervous system response that emerges under specific conditions. To understand leash reactivity, we have to look beyond what the dog is doing...

  When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Appears It’s worth asking an honest question: Does your dog ever push your buttons? Do you find yourself having reactions that feel bigger than the situation calls for—frustration that escalates quickly, or moments where you feel unexpectedly overwhelmed or triggered? If so, you’re not alone. When Behavior Feels Personal Living closely with a dog creates a constant feedback loop. Your dog is responding to your cues, your energy, your patterns—and at the same time, their behavior can bring things to the surface for you. Reactions that feel immediate or intense are often...

Understanding Co-Regulation Through the Nervous System Polyvagal-informed work with dogs centers around one core idea: behavior is a reflection of nervous system state. When your dog is reactive, shut down, overly excited, or unable to settle, they are not choosing those responses—they are moving through different autonomic states designed for survival. Co-regulation is the process of influencing your dog’s nervous system through your presence, your actions, and the experiences you create together. Your dog is constantly reading your body language, tone, and energy, and adjusting their own state in response. This means that regulation is not something you “teach” in...

If you have an anxious or overstimulated dog, pause for a moment and consider this: Talking without touch can be overwhelming. It often adds confusion and activates the sympathetic nervous system—the very state your dog is already struggling with. But touch without talk? That can be deeply soothing. It has the potential to quiet an overactive mind and bring both of you back to center. That said, not all touch is created equal. Petting is often done absentmindedly—or worse, as a way to meet our own need for comfort or validation. Dogs feel that. They don’t just experience your hands—they...

  The polyvagal theory implies that more attention needs to be paid to the development of interventions that either promote activation of the social vagus or dampen sympathetic tone. One major implication is the need to pay closer attention the therapeutic use of play, rough and tumble behaviors that serve as preliminary exercises to develop adaptive defensive and aggressive behaviors, as a means of shifting people [and dogs] out of fight-or-flight reactions into loving and mutually engaged mobilization. --Bessel A. van der Kolk, in the foreword to: The Polyvagal Theory by Dr. Stephen W. Porges Play as Connection and Regulation Mirroring...