Blog — Vagal tone
What To Do After a Dog Fight: Creating Safety, Regulation, and Recovery
A dog fight is one of the most frightening and emotionally overwhelming experiences that many of us dog lovers will experience. Even when the physical injuries are minor, the emotional impact can be significant. The sounds, the intensity, and shock of watching two dogs you love inflicting violence on each other can leave you feeling disheartened, scared, and uncertain about what to do next. Many people immediately want to solve the problem. They want to know why it happened, whether it will happen again, and how they can make sure their dogs are safe together in the future. Those questions...
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...
When Your Dog Isn't Getting Better: Looking Beyond the Training Plan
One of the hardest parts of living with a behaviorally challenged dog is how slowly change happens. We live in a culture that expects quick results. We are told that if we use the right techniques, practice consistently, and remain dedicated, our dog's behavior should improve within weeks. But nervous systems don't work that way. True behavioral change usually unfolds gradually, almost imperceptibly at times. It's often two steps forward, one step back. There may be plateaus, regressions, and periods where it feels like absolutely nothing is happening. This is normal, but certainly frustrating. A dog's behavior is the outward...
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...
Why Decompression Walks Are Essential for Your Dog’s Nervous System
Many people assume that any walk is automatically beneficial for dogs, but that is not always true. For a large number of dogs—especially sensitive, anxious, reactive, or chronically stressed dogs—the typical neighborhood walk can actually be quite overwhelming to the nervous system. Busy sidewalks, barking dogs behind fences, traffic sounds, unpredictable encounters with people or other dogs, leash tension, and constant environmental stimulation can keep a dog in a heightened physiological state rather than helping them relax. While humans often view walks primarily as physical exercise, dogs experience them through an entirely different sensory and emotional lens. This is one...