Blog — Vagal tone

  Guests for this podcast are brother and sister, Campbell and Nerida, who grew up immersed in the world of dogs at their family’s boarding kennels, where their mum bred and showed champion Borzoi and kept Staffies. After finishing school, Campbell wasn’t sure what direction to take, so he traveled the world before settling into a decade-long career in finance. Realising this was not a fulfilling career, he reignited his passion for dogs and decided to make it his life’s work. Campbell joined a mentorship program, and obsessively studied canine behavior, securing a job as a behavior trainer at Melbourne’s...

  All I want for Christmas this year is for everyone (including myself!) to stop romanticizing dogs. Yes, that's right, dogs are not Disney characters. I think we've been weirdly conditioned by movies like "Lady and the Tramp" and "101 Dalmations" to feel that dogs are just like us: They want to live indoors and eat spaghetti, raise their babies among humans, walk through city parks, and enjoy watching TV by the fire as much as we do. Dogs are actually still so closely related to wolves that they can interbreed with them. This, by some opinions, makes them the...

The Somatic Hound Podcast is all about how to use somatic technology with your canine companion, helping you and your best doggie friend co-regulate and live a happy life together! I was honored to speak with Karishma Warr from Calm Canine Academy, all about biological fulfillment for your dog and how this affects their nervous system.     Subscribe on Spotify Support the show

When you listen to your dog, your dog learns to listen to you. But what does that actually mean? It goes deeper than obedience. It’s not about commands—it’s about connection. Your dog is incredibly attuned to your internal state. In many ways, they reflect your nervous system back to you. When you’re tense, rushed, or overwhelmed, your dog feels it. When you’re grounded, present, and calm, your dog feels that too. So the relationship starts with you. When you learn to listen to your own body—when you slow down, regulate your breathing, and create habits that support your well-being—you send...

When people reach out for help with their dog’s behavior, they often begin by describing how intelligent their dog is. They explain how quickly their dog learns, how observant they are, and how capable they seem in many contexts. And they are usually right. Most dogs with behavioral challenges are not struggling because they lack intelligence or learning ability. In fact, many of them are extremely perceptive and highly responsive to their environment. The issue is not learning—it is emotional capacity. More specifically, the issue is how much stress their nervous system can tolerate while still remaining regulated enough to...