Blog — Alternative Medicine for Dogs

Safety First “Safety first” is one of the most commonly used phrases in dog training, but it is often misunderstood. In behavior work, safety is not just about preventing bad things from happening or keeping a dog away from triggers. True safety is about creating the internal and external conditions that allow a dog’s nervous system to learn, adapt, and change. Without safety, there is no learning. There is only survival-based behavior. What Safety Actually Means When we talk about safety in behavior modification, we are not only referring to physical safety or environmental management. We are also referring to...

CalmCalmness gives you the mental steadiness to truly see your dog. If you’re not calm, you can’t learn—and good training is as much about learning your dog as it is teaching anything. A calm state creates space for observation, better timing, and clearer decisions. Just as importantly, your calm nervous system signals safety to your dog. NeutralNeutrality means being unattached to outcomes. When you’re not emotionally hooked on what should happen, you can stay present with what is happening. This allows you to observe without judgment and respond instead of react. Ask questions: What is my dog communicating? What does...

If you're leaning toward a more holistic approach to your dog’s health and wellness, here are a few practices I personally incorporate into my own routine. To be clear, I am not a veterinarian, and I always recommend consulting with a trusted (ideally holistic) vet when making decisions about your dog’s care. What follows is simply a reflection of the choices I’ve made for my own dogs—choices that have supported their health and well-being in ways that feel aligned for me and my fur-family.   Nourishment: Feeding a Raw Diet One of the most impactful changes I’ve made is feeding...

I currently have my dogs on an “attention diet.” That means no touch, no talk, no eye contact—as Cesar Millan would say (and I promise you, this is both the first and last time I will ever quote Cesar!). Why do my dogs need an attention diet? Because they’ve had way too much attention indoors for most of their lives. They’ve been anthropomorphized, overstimulated, over-petted, over-cooed at, and wrapped up in a fairly co-dependent relationship with me. It’s only day two, and so far, so good. I was able to go almost completely cold turkey, and as I type this,...