Blog — Health and Well-Being
When Anxiety Medication Changes the Nervous System: What Happens When We Take It Away?
As I’ve been reading Dr. Stephen Porges’ work on the autonomic nervous system, I’ve become increasingly interested in the relationship between behavioral medication and the nervous system of the dog. This is not an argument against medication. Behavioral medications can be extremely valuable, particularly when a dog is experiencing so much fear or anxiety that learning, rest, exploration, and relationship-building are difficult. Veterinary behavior medicine recognizes medications such as fluoxetine, trazodone, gabapentin, and clonidine as useful tools for different behavioral and situational problems in dogs. But medication does more than change what we can see on the outside. It changes...
Enrichment, Breed Fulfillment, and Biological Fulfillment: Understanding the Different Pieces of Canine Welfare
The word enrichment has become increasingly popular in the dog world, but it is also one of the most misunderstood. Food puzzles, snuffle mats, lick mats, flirt poles, hiking, agility, swimming, and scent work are all commonly described as enrichment, even though they are not all the same thing. While these activities may all improve a dog's quality of life, they fulfill different biological and psychological needs. Understanding the distinction between enrichment, breed fulfillment, and biological fulfillment helps us make more intentional choices about how we care for our dogs. Rather than viewing them as interchangeable, it is more helpful...
Why Training Should Be the Last Step, Not the First
When someone reaches out to me about their dog's behavior, they are usually looking for a training solution. They want to know how to stop the barking, the reactivity, the jumping, the pulling, or the anxiety. They are understandably focused on the behavior they can see because that is what is affecting their daily lives. However, behavior is rarely the first thing I look at. A dog's behavior is the outward expression of everything happening beneath the surface. It is influenced by their physical health, their nervous system, their emotional experiences, their daily lifestyle, and whether their biological needs are...
The Secret to Helping a Reactive Dog Has Nothing to Do with Triggers
When people seek help for a reactive dog, they often assume the solution is to spend more time working directly on the reactive behavior itself. More exposure. More training sessions. More opportunities to practice around triggers. But the truth is that your dog's reactivity isn't really changing during the outburst; the real work happens in all the moments in between. The nervous system that barks, lunges, panics, freezes, or explodes in a stressful situation was shaped by thousands of experiences that occurred long before that moment. And if we want lasting change, we have to stop focusing exclusively on...
The Slow Blink Protocol: A Somatic Co-Regulation Practice for Sensitive Dogs
Recently, I was caring for a very sensitive and anxious dog staying in my home. He was struggling to settle and seemed to be carrying a great deal of tension in his body. Rather than asking anything of him or trying to interrupt the behavior, I decided to focus on slowing myself down first. I became quiet and still, softened my posture, slowed my breathing, and began using slow blinks and soft eyes in his direction. Within a few moments, his body language changed noticeably. His expression softened, he turned away peacefully, and then chose to go lay down on...