Image by Alan Dobson from Pixabay
In This Article
- How your emotions influence your dog’s physical and emotional health
- The science behind canine stress and heart intelligence
- Why your dog mirrors your energy and mood
- Tips to reduce your stress and create a calming environment for your pet
- How to foster a stronger, healthier connection with your dog
How Your Mood Impacts Your Dog’s Health
by Rita Hogan. author of the book: The Herbal Dog: Holistic Canine Herbalism Applications and Practice.
More important than providing a big house and yard for our dogs is providing an environment of love and joy. This helps keep their heart healthy and in sync with yours. A dog living their best and longest life lies within your very own heart. -- ERICA MARIE COSTON, DOG HERBALIST
What you are putting out into the field around you is being picked up by your dog (because you are emotionally relevant to him or her) and your dog will take that on as if he was expressing that himself. (So, for [your dog's] sake, be mindful of what you think and how you feel.) -- BARRIE SANDS, DVM
Holistic herbalism centers on the mind-body-spirit connection, and that includes the vibrations we share with our dogs. Research has shown that dogs respond to human emotions and even take them on physically.
Dogs have heightened senses, making them especially sensitive to smells. When humans are stressed, they give off hormones like oxytocin, and dogs can literally smell them! I've observed many cases of this over the years, and it fascinates me and fine-tunes my awareness of how I speak to and speak about my animals.
With their keen senses, our dogs constantly interpret our emotions and our interactions with our environment. Like humans, dogs want to feel safe. When we don't feel safe, neither do they.
I once worked with a woman whose dog suffered from anxiety. As it turns out, my client was anxious, and that anxiety was spilling over to her sweet pup. Unintentionally, my client's stress became her dog's stress. We started working with flower essences and body language so that both my client and her dog could become more relaxed and less anxious.
The Emotional Aspects of Heart Intelligence
The HeartMath Institute studies the physical and emotional aspects of heart intelligence. One of the things they've discovered is that our emotions affect the manner in which the body harmonizes the heart's electromagnetic output.
The heart puts out a strong electromagnetic field; it’s approximately five thousand times stronger than that of the brain and can be detected more than two feet from the body in most cases. This is a vibrational field of moving particles, even if we can’t see them moving. Like the wind, the heart’s field may not be able to be seen, but it definitely exists, and it’s one way in which we interact with those around us—including our dogs.
Dogs can physically experience your emotions through their own heart and nervous system. The heart is controlled by your dog’s autonomic nervous system, which switches between parasympathetic (rest and relaxation) and sympathetic activity (fight or flight) as your dog interacts with their environment. The act of switching back and forth has a profound effect on the heart; we see it in a dog’s heart rate variability.
Emotions, too, affect the rate at which the heart and nervous system switch back and forth from reaction to relaxation. Prolonged emotional relationships have an even more profound impact on your -- and your dog’s -- mind-body-spirit connection and can have measurable physical effects.
Science has proven that both positive and negative emotions can affect the heart’s electromagnetic field. What we do in our environment directly affects our dog’s emotional and physical health, whether we like it or not. I’m reminded of animal behaviorist Temple Grandin’s work and how she encourages people to focus on joy around their animals and limit feelings of fear, anger, grief, and panic as much as possible.
Being Mindful of Your Mood and Tone
I don’t share this information to make you feel guilty for being negative or even angry around your dog; it’s meant to help you be mindful of your mood and tone. Having a bad day here and there isn’t going to harm your dog, but having consistent emotional displays of anger, resentment, regret, or jealousy can eventually take its toll.
These feelings can put you into fight-or-flight mode. Your stress directly affects your dog’s stress, and as is the case for humans, a dog with chronic stress is at risk of a wide range of health issues, including in the all-important microbiome.
The bond between dogs and owners can be so profound that sometimes dogs take on their owner’s illnesses. In her book Emotional Freedom, Dr. Judith Orloff shared the story of a woman with a rare kidney disease who became pregnant against her doctor’s stern warning. To the doctor’s surprise, she made it through the pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy baby.
Unfortunately, during the same period, her golden retriever, whom the woman was extremely close to, came down with sudden-onset kidney disease and passed away shortly after the baby’s birth. This is just one example of possible emotional transference. This is the subject of much study right now as science learns more and more about the shared energy between humans and dogs. The beautiful takeaway here is that you can have a positive effect on your dog by working on your own physical and emotional health. When you relax and bring down your stress levels, your dog can relax too.
Copyright ©2025. All Rights Reserved.
Adapted with permission of the publisher,
Healing Arts Press, an impint of Inner Traditions Intl.
Article Source:
The Herbal Dog
The Herbal Dog: Holistic Canine Herbalism Applications and Practice
by Rita Hogan.
In this comprehensive guide to holistic care for dogs, clinical canine herbalist Rita Hogan explains that by looking at dogs as individual ecosystems with unique personalities, physiology, and needs, we can select effective and personalized herbal remedies to support their constitutions and provide relief from many different ailments.
The author, who has spent more than two decades working with canines, uses energetic principles (cool, warm, dry, damp) to reveal how herbs are not "one size fits all" and how to find the root cause of chronic imbalances. She discusses in depth how a dog’s main organ systems work, how they are connected to each other, and why we need to understand them when choosing specific herbs and foods
.Presenting safe, clinically proven, and effective protocols for common canine conditions—from acid reflux to allergies to itching, scratching, and yeast—Rita presents a wide variety of holistic and herbal remedies: from herbal tinctures, glycerities, and phytoembryonics to flower essences, essential oils, medicinal mushrooms, and homeopathy. Her comprehensive materia medica of canine-specific herbs that she uses in her practice details what herbs are good for which conditions and why, what types of energetics are involved, safe dosage recommendations for each herbal remedy, and when to discontinue an herb.
Allowing each of us to take a hands-on approach to our canine companions’ health and longevity, this herbal guide outlines how to help them live their best lives by our sides.
Click here for more info and/or to order this paperback book. Also available as a Kindle edition.
About the Author
Rita Hogan, C.H., is a clinical canine herbalist with more than twenty years of experience specializing in holistic canine herbalism. An educator, speaker, writer, and herbal medicine maker, she lives and practices in Olympia, Washington.
Author's websites: https://www.canineherbalist.com/
Research shows that dogs are highly sensitive to human emotions, often mirroring their owners’ moods. Your stress, anxiety, or joy can directly impact your dog’s physical and emotional health. By managing your emotions, using mindfulness techniques, and fostering a positive atmosphere, you can create a more balanced and stress-free life for both you and your pet.
#DogEmotions #PetWellness #HolisticPetCare #CanineHealth #EmotionalConnection #DogStress #HeartIntelligence #MindfulLiving #AnimalHealing
