by Sasha Riess | 04.02.26. | Behaviour
There are people who download the guide, read it right away, and start applying it. They reach out after two or three days:
There are also those who read more slowly, reflect, and return to certain parts of the text. Their messages arrive after a month. And then there are those who read it and do not believe it. They say: “Why would I even try this?”
How to Use the Dog Training Guide in Everyday Practice
Do not reject something just because it is unfamiliar to you. If you criticize something before trying it, how can you know that it does not work?
This approach has saved many dogs. Literally saved their lives. Thanks to this method, many dogs were not euthanized. Many dogs who could not be adopted from shelters learned how to adapt, accept humans, and rebuild trust.
Mistakes to Avoid When Applying a Dog Training Guide
Hundreds of thousands of people have gone through this program. Everyone who applied it consistently, without compromise, achieved results.
A dog reacts to what you do – not to what you have read.
The only reason results fail to appear is because:
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The program is not applied.
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The entire family is not aligned, so the dog receives mixed signals.
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Doubt exists and the application never truly begins.
What you never try can never help you.
This understanding of a dog’s emotional and physical state is at the heart of everything we do. At Integrative and Holistic Grooming Education, we teach people how to apply these principles of stability and care in their everyday lives with their dogs, helping create calm, healthy, and happy results.
by Sasha Riess | 04.02.26. | Wellbeing
Preparing a dog for vaccination does not start on the day the dog receives the vaccine. It starts much earlier. The condition of the body, stress level, and nutrition directly influence how the body reacts.
The vaccine itself is not the problem. The problem arises when the body is not ready to process it. As long as you have questions or discomfort, it is a sign to pause, learn, and understand what you are doing.
Preparing a Dog for Vaccination Starts Before the Injection
In my experience, dog vaccination does not begin in the clinic but days earlier through preparation of the body. When the body is stable, nourished, and relieved of excess stress, reactions are minimal or absent.
Preparing a dog for vaccination starts with a stable body and low stress.
What Preparation Looks Like in Practice
A few days before vaccination, the focus is on the digestive system and the liver.
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Maintain Routine: The dog should not be under additional stress or change its diet.
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Simple Nutrition: Keep meals clean and easy to digest.
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Probiotics: Start giving a probiotic to support the gut.
On the Day of Vaccination: Supporting the Stimulus
On the day of vaccination, I use the homeopathic remedy Lysin 30C (one to three pellets or drops in food or water). Experience has shown me that it helps the body adapt more easily to an external stimulus. I do not complicate things; I simply observe the dog’s reactions.
The Post-Vaccination Period: Clearing the System
What you give a dog in the two weeks after vaccination matters. This is the period when the body unloads and clears what it does not need.
Two weeks after vaccination, I follow this protocol:
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Silicea 30C and Thuja 30C: Given on the same day in the same doses.
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Liver Support: I use milk thistle tea to support the liver during this demanding role.
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Detox Bathing: I wash the dog with a mild shampoo and rinse with a solution of water and apple cider vinegar (without additional rinsing). Since the skin is the largest elimination organ, this support is vital.
Vaccination and Stress in Dogs
None of this makes sense if a dog lives in chaos. If a dog is under constant stress, poor nutrition, or an insecure relationship with the human, then no vaccine is a small thing.
When a dog lives in a stable system with proper nutrition and a clear relationship with the human, the body has the capacity to handle far more than we think.
The skin is an important organ in the process of clearing the body after vaccination.
Conclusion: Do Not Act Out of Panic
If you have doubt, learn. If you are not at peace, stop. The worst decisions are made when we try to escape our own inner feeling. This is my way—not for you to follow blindly, but to understand the „why“ behind it.
This deep understanding of a dog’s emotional and physical state is at the heart of everything we do. At Integrative and Holistic Grooming Education, we teach people how to apply these principles of stability and care in their everyday lives with their dogs, helping create calm, healthy, and happy results.
by Sasha Riess | 04.02.26. | Emotions
A Stressed Owner and a Dog at Home as a Mirror of the Pandemic’s Impact on Dogs
The consequences of the pandemic in dogs are becoming increasingly visible. It is a phenomenon that is still rarely spoken about, even though it is quietly spreading through veterinary clinics, parks, grooming tables, and homes around the world.
A Generation of Dogs Carrying the Weight of Human Pandemic Stress
The phenomenon of dogs who lived alongside us during the pandemic is changing in a way that can no longer be explained solely by genetics, age, nutrition, or coincidence. These are dogs who today show disorders and illnesses whose frequency has never been this high nor this uniform. Everything points to the fact that they are carrying something we did not want to look at within ourselves.
Covid Dogs: A Generation Carrying the Consequences of Human Silence
The phenomenon of “covid dogs” describes a generation of dogs that lived with humans during the time when the world came to a halt. Some were puppies, just beginning to discover life. Some were already adults. Some changed owners, moving from home to home. Some stayed with their families, but those families became someone else during that time. Because the people who entered the pandemic are not the same people who came out of it. Even though life continued outwardly, much of what shifted inside never returned to its place.
That is why dogs became the first mirror of that unspoken change. Today, patterns appear in covid dogs worldwide that resemble something far greater than ordinary behavioral issues. There is fear of being alone in dogs who were once stable, nighttime wakefulness in those who used to sleep deeply, restlessness that arises without an obvious cause, sudden startle responses, nervous tension that feels as if the body is constantly preparing for a danger no one can see.
Hidden Consequences of the Pandemic in Dogs: Bodies That Do Not Lie
More and more of their bodies react through the skin, the digestive system, autoimmune processes, and inflammations that return in waves. Many of them age faster than they should, as if someone accelerated their biological clock. Some begin to show signs of confusion, cognitive decline, and loss of routine much earlier than expected. At first glance, this looks like veterinary statistics. But when viewed more broadly and systemically, it becomes clear that this is not a story about dogs. This is a story about people.
Dogs who lived with us during the pandemic were immersed in a field of anxiety that was never named. During those months and years, people lived in a state of constant inner alarm. Some lost their jobs. Some lost loved ones. Some lost their sense of belonging or control. Some closed themselves off from the outer world, others from their inner world. Everyone, in one way or another, had to survive something they were not prepared for.
What people did not speak, dogs felt. What people could not admit, dogs absorbed. What people had nowhere to place, dogs carried in their bodies.
How the Consequences of the Pandemic Manifest in Dogs’ Daily Lives
The pandemic may have ended on a political level, but psychologically it never truly closed. People returned to work, travel, social life, and a pace that resembles the old normal. But what remained unprocessed did not disappear. A system never erases what has not been seen. It only relocates it to where it will become visible first. In this case, it relocated it to dogs.
When a dog panics as soon as the owner leaves the room, it is not disobedience. It is memory. When a dog wakes up at three in the morning and wanders as if searching for something, it is a trace of the human insomnia it grew up with. When a dog reacts to a sound as if danger is imminent, it is a record of the household nervous system from a time when no one knew what tomorrow would bring. When a dog develops persistent skin reactions, it is the body speaking what human mouths could not.
When a dog shows behavioral fog, it parallels the mental fog so many people experience and dismiss as fatigue. Dogs do not have the capacity to repress. They live truth as it is. That is why today they carry something that does not belong to them. And what they carry clearly belongs to us.
When a dog develops persistent skin reactions or nighttime restlessness, it is often the body speaking for our suppressed emotions.
Dogs Were the First to Show What People Still Suppress
More and more experts worldwide are linking these disorders to living conditions during the pandemic. Studies show that puppies raised during lockdown developed increased patterns of fear and aggression as adult dogs. Research indicates that separation anxiety in dogs after the pandemic has reached a historic peak. There are numerous reports from veterinarians describing inflammations, digestive issues, and autoimmune reactions in dogs raised in households with elevated stress levels.
An increasing number of professionals connect the mental state of owners with the physical and emotional condition of dogs. No study yet offers a complete picture, because these dogs have not been followed long enough. But the existing fragments of evidence are already enough to point in the same direction.
Collective PTSD and the Consequences of the Pandemic in Dogs
Covid dogs today carry the consequences of a collective experience that humans still deny within themselves. That is why the most dangerous part of this story is what people do not see, while dogs already show it. Collective PTSD is not something that comes from a distant future. It is already here. Quietly. Without spectacle. Without visible drama. Exactly the way trauma looks when it is suppressed for too long. And as always in systemic fields, the most sensitive member shows first what others cannot.
In humans, these are children. In the human dog relationship, it is always and without exception dogs. Covid dogs are a generation that clearly shows that human pandemic trauma has not been integrated. Their fears are our unresolved anxieties. Their insomnia is our unspoken unrest.
Their skin is our unexpressed stress. Their reactivity is our nervous system that never truly calmed down. Their accelerated aging is our biological tempo trying to catch up with what was left unfinished. This story is about dogs only on the surface. In reality, it is a story about us. And that is precisely why it is a warning.
If we see what is happening to them, perhaps we can avoid in time what is approaching us. If we understand their symptoms, perhaps we will recognize our own. If we accept that they are a mirror, perhaps we will finally look into that mirror.
Collective PTSD is already knocking at the door. Dogs heard it first. They have been living it for years. Now the question is whether we will have the courage to hear it too.
This understanding of a dog’s emotional and physical state is at the heart of everything we do. At Integrative and Holistic Grooming Education, we teach people how to apply these principles of stability and care in their everyday lives with their dogs, helping create calm, healthy, and happy results.
by Sasha Riess | 03.02.26. | Coat Care
Problems with dog cosmetics rarely come from bad intentions on the part of owners. Much more often, they come from a lack of knowledge and from the need to care for dogs in a way that suits humans more than dogs themselves. The industry understands this very well and profits from it.
The Myth of 2-in-1 Dog Cosmetics
If you are holding a dog shampoo that claims to be both shampoo and conditioner in one product, it is important to understand this: That product is not made for the dog’s needs, but for the owner’s convenience.
The idea of “everything done in one wash” does not exist in chemistry. Shampoo and conditioner cannot function properly within the same formula because they have different chemical roles.
Why do products claiming to be 2-in-1, 3-in-1, or even 10-in-1 exist?
The reason is simple. If people do not want to use shampoo and conditioner separately, the market will provide an „all-in-one“ solution. These products are not developed to improve the dog’s health, but to sell more easily. In other words, this is not dog cosmetics for dogs—it is cosmetics designed for people.
How to Recognize When Someone Is Simply Taking Your Money
If you come across a cosmetic line for dogs that includes nose balm, paw balm, and special creams for every possible body part, this is a clear sign that the focus is on your wallet.
A dog does not need a softer nose or silky paws. These are not canine needs; they are human projections. A dog is not a baby and not an aesthetic object.
Shampoo and conditioner have different roles – that is why they are not used together.
What Does a Dog Truly Need?
A dog does need a hydrated nose, but that hydration comes from within, not from external products. It comes from:
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High-quality and properly balanced nutrition.
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Adequate water intake.
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A healthy mineral balance, especially sodium and potassium.
When these basic conditions are met, the dog’s body regulates the condition of the skin, nose, and paws on its own.
The Importance of Separate Shampoo and Conditioner
Shampoo and conditioner have different purposes. That is why they should never be used as one product. Less dog cosmetics, less chemistry, and more understanding of canine biology lead to a healthier and more stable dog.
A dog does not ask for luxury. A dog asks for a solid foundation.
This understanding of a dog’s emotional and physical state is at the heart of everything we do. At Holistic Grooming Education, we teach people how to apply these principles of stability and care in their everyday lives with their dogs, helping create calm, healthy, and happy results.
by Sasha Riess | 03.02.26. | Behaviour
There is no breed manual. There is only the dog.
Dog behavior does not depend on breed, but on the environment in which the dog lives, the relationship built with humans, and the way the dog is shaped through experience. Many people search for instructions for specific breeds. The truth is simple: there is no manual for a breed. There is only the dog.
Why Breed Does Not Define Individual Dog Behavior
Just as a human is not defined by origin but by the environment in which they grow, the same applies to dogs.
Dog behavior depends on:
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The family in which the dog lives.
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The level of safety and stability.
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The way communication happens.
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Consistency and human presence.
Doberman, Belgian Shepherd, German Shepherd, Poodle, or Maltese all share the same basic canine language.
Every Dog Has Its Own Language and Relationship With the World
Every dog walks on four legs, eats and drinks in the same way, and communicates through body language, energy, and reactions. The difference is not in breed, but in:
This does not change the essence of dog behavior, only its expression.
A dog is a mirror of the system in which it lives.
There Is No Manual for the German Shepherd, Doberman, or Poodle
A common mistake owners make is searching for a manual for Dobermans, a special approach for German Shepherds, or different communication for small dogs.
The relationship between human and dog shapes behavior. Environment shapes behavior, not breed. The truth is simple: there is no breed manual. There is a behavior manual.
Basic principles are the same for all dogs:
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Clear boundaries.
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Calm presence.
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Understanding of signals.
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Consistency.
Dog Behavior as a Reflection of the Environment
A dog is a mirror of the system in which it lives. Its behavior is a result of what we give, what we withhold, and what we do (or do not do). As with humans, dog behavior is not corrected by a breed label, but by changing the relationship and the environment.
One Dog, One Language
When you take a dog, regardless of breed, you take a being with its own experience, its own way of perceiving the world, and a universal canine language. Understanding dog behavior does not begin with breed, but with observation, listening, and relationship.
This understanding of a dog’s emotional and physical state is at the heart of everything we do. At Integrative and Holistic Grooming Education, we teach people how to apply these principles of stability and care in their everyday lives with their dogs, helping create calm, healthy, and happy results.
by Sasha Riess | 03.02.26. | Behaviour
When a female dog is in heat, the first question owners ask is how to calm the hormones. However, it is important to say the truth immediately. Hormones do not calm down. They do their job. Just like in humans.
Hormones Do Not Calm Down: They Have Their Role
The heat period in a female dog in heat is a natural biological process. It is not a disorder, a problem, or a state that needs to be switched off.
Hormones in this period:
Just as a woman goes through phases of her cycle that cannot be turned off, a female dog goes through her own hormonal rhythm.
Why Trying to Calm Hormones Leads in the Wrong Direction
When we search for ways to calm the hormones, we are actually trying to control a natural process or avoid our own discomfort. But the dog is not asking for her hormones to be shut down. The dog is asking for a stable environment.
Practical Steps to Help a Female Dog in Heat
What helps is not working on hormones. What helps is working on:
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Structure.
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Routine.
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Consistency.
The biggest role in this period is our discipline. Not the discipline of the dog. The discipline of the human.
Routine and Clarity Instead of Attempts at Control
When a female dog in heat feels clear rules, it reduces stress. Predictability brings safety, and a calm human stabilizes the dog. A dog reacts to your behavior, tone, tension, and presence. Not to explanations.
A female dog in heat is not asking you to calm her, but for you to be calm.
A Manual as a Tool for the Human, Not for the Dog
If you do not have a clear behavioral system, heat will simply bring it to the surface. That is why these moments are not a time for experiments, but for consistent behavior according to rules that already exist.
A manual is not meant to fix the dog or stop hormones. It is meant to:
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Stabilize the relationship.
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Give you a behavioral framework.
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Help the dog rely on your safety.
Hormones Pass, The Relationship Remains
Heat has a beginning and an end. Hormones will withdraw on their own. What remains is how you behaved, how stable you were, and whether you were a support or an additional source of stress.
A female dog in heat is not asking you to calm her. She is asking you to be calm.
This understanding of a dog’s emotional and physical state is at the heart of everything we do. At Integrative and Holistic Grooming Education, we teach people how to apply these principles of stability and care in their everyday lives with their dogs, helping create calm, healthy, and happy results.
by Sasha Riess | 03.02.26. | Behaviour
Dogs love us as we are. Precisely because of this, the relationship with a dog is one of the deepest relationships a human can develop. This is not coincidence nor romanticization. It is pure dynamics of survival and belonging.
For a dog to survive alongside humans, it had to learn to accept humans as they are. And humans come into the world imperfect with anger, fears, frustrations, and patterns passed through generations. Dogs do not try to change this. They recognize it and they stay.
Unconditional Acceptance As The Foundation Of The Relationship With A Dog
Dogs do not love us for who we could be. They love us for who we are now.
This „I love you as you are“ is not a romantic idea. It is a mechanism of survival. A dog must accept our emotional matrix because otherwise it cannot survive in the world we shape. In this dynamic we often get stuck. Instead of changing patterns, we repeat them. In the same way our parents spoke to us, we now speak to others, and even to dogs. Social networks show this clearly. The same tone. The same aggression. The same patterns.
Safety precedes change. A dog accepts us as we are so that we can grow.
Dogs As A Safe Base: A View Through Affective Attachment Theory
Attachment theory clearly shows one important truth: People change only when they feel loved and accepted. Not under pressure. Not from fear. Not from guilt.
Change requires a safe base. Someone who accepts us even if we never change. Dogs intuitively know this. They become that safe harbor from which we can grow. Our dogs understand what we often fail to see—that change means leaving old patterns. And that is extremely difficult. Sometimes almost impossible. That is why they surrender to the idea that happiness can exist here and now. With us as we are.
When Unconditional Love Becomes A Trap
Still, this relationship with a dog also carries a risk. Dogs cannot carry the role of our safe base forever. They cannot be the only support. Their role is not to save us, but to show us what safety feels like.
A dog can be a bridge, but not the final destination. A bridge until we anchor into our own inner security. There lies the true value of the relationship with a dog. Not in idealization, but in understanding limits.
by Sasha Riess | 03.02.26. | Wellbeing
Fifth Toe in Dogs: What It Is For and When It Should Be Removed
The fifth toe in dogs is often a topic of debate. Misleading advice. Routine procedures done without real understanding. Many owners are unsure what it is for. Whether it is an extra part. And whether it should be removed.
The truth is simple. It has a function. But only in certain cases can it become a problem.
What the fifth toe in dogs is?
It is most commonly found on the front legs. It is anatomically connected to bones and tendons. Unlike the hind legs where it appears less often and is usually weakly attached, the fifth toe on the front legs has a clear role in movement and stability.
What the fifth toe in dogs is used for?
On the front legs it:
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Helps with balance.
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Participates in stabilizing the joint.
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Is used when holding and gripping objects such as bones.
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Contributes to more precise support during movement.
If you have ever seen a dog holding a bone or a toy, you can notice that the fifth toe in dogs actively participates in that movement.
When it can become a problem?
The problem does not come from the toe itself. It comes from poor anatomical attachment, excessive mobility, or incorrect position. In some dogs, especially on the hind legs, the fifth toe can:
In these situations removal of the toe can be justified.
Functional role of the fifth toe in dogs: grip, balance, and stability.
Is the fifth toe a genetic flaw?
In most breeds the presence of an extra or incorrectly positioned toe is considered a genetic fault. Especially in the context of dog shows. Such dogs often cannot pass judging. Except in breeds where the toe is allowed or required by the standard.
It is important to distinguish between a functional fifth toe which should not be touched and a problematic fifth toe in dogs where removal can be considered.
When the fifth toe should not be removed?
If the toe does not interfere with movement, does not get injured, is stably attached, and has a clear function—it should not be removed. Routine removal without a real problem is not justified. It can disturb the natural biomechanics of the dog.
Function before appearance
The fifth toe in dogs is not an extra part that should be automatically removed. It exists for a reason. Removal makes sense only when there is a real functional problem. Not for aesthetic or routine reasons.
As in many other aspects of our relationship with dogs: We should not fix what already works.
by Sasha Riess | 03.02.26. | Behaviour
Dogs are deeply connected to humans so much that we sometimes forget they are not ordinary animals in a scientific sense. Although zoology studies species across the planet from insects to large mammals, dogs are almost never a central topic of zoological research. The reason is not simple, but it reveals much about how dogs came to be, how they function, and why their world cannot be understood without the concept of the human.
Why Dogs Are Not a Subject of Zoology
Zoology deals with animals in their natural form as they would exist without human influence. That is exactly where the issue with dogs begins. A dog is not a species shaped by nature but a species shaped by humans. Through thousands of years of selection, people created hundreds of breeds with characteristics that would never be sustainable in nature: short muzzles, extremely short legs, very large bodies, unusual proportions, and physiology that depends on constant human care.
Because of this, many biologists and zoologists view dogs and zoology as two separate worlds. Many scientists describe dogs as degenerated forms of a species, not in an emotional sense but in a biological one. They are shaped in a way that would not allow them to survive without humans.
How Selection Changes the View of Zoology
Selection turned the wolf into an animal that now has more than four hundred varieties, from the Chihuahua to the shepherd. Zoology cannot study dogs as one animal, because there is no single dog. There is a whole spectrum of shapes and behaviors created by human desires, needs, and aesthetics.
Many breeds have physical traits that would never be possible or sustainable in nature:
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Dogs with short leg syndromes would struggle to survive even a few days in the wild.
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Brachycephalic breeds have breathing difficulties that would be fatal in nature.
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Extremely small dogs would become prey for the first larger predator.
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Very large dogs require too much energy for an ecosystem without constant food availability.
All of this makes dogs and zoology an unnatural pairing for classical science. That is why they are more often studied through ethology, genetics, veterinary science, behavioral psychology, or anthropology.
A dog is not a natural animal, but a being shaped alongside humans.
What This Means for Dog Owners
For owners this insight carries an important message. A dog does not function as a natural animal, but as a being that relies on humans for stability, structure, and guidance. Its physiology, development, and need for safety cannot be interpreted through the lens of wilderness.
A dog does not seek a natural environment but a stable human. It does not develop through packs but through affective bonding with its owner. It does not choose its path alone but learns it by watching our behavior.
Understanding that dogs are not a subject of zoology only confirms what every owner feels. A dog is a being that was not created in nature but in relationship with humans. And that is why its world is understood through humans, not through science alone.
by Sasha Riess | 02.02.26. | Emotions
Many believe that electric collars for dogs are just a harmless reminder, but violence that is not recognized as violence becomes invisible, and what is invisible enters the body the deepest.
Put that collar on him. Just to remind him where his place is. It does not hurt. Well maybe a little but nothing serious. They hit me too and I turned out normal.
These sentences are spoken calmly today. Almost gently. Without raised voices. Without drama. Often with a smile and the belief that this is responsibility, discipline, and care. They are spoken by parents, trainers, and dog owners who believe that pain is small, controlled, and justified, and that the result is order, obedience, and stability. That is precisely why they are dangerous.
Small Pain and Electric Collars: Deep Consequences for the Nervous System
When we talk about an electric collar, about a little sting, we are not talking about technology. We are talking about a very old pattern of human behavior. We are talking about the iron hand. The idea that pain is a legitimate tool of upbringing. That fear is a shorter path to order. That suppressing emotions is a sign of strength. This pattern did not start with dogs. Dogs are only the latest to carry it.
Pain, regardless of intensity, does not operate on the level of reason. The nervous system does not measure millivolts, does not make moral judgments, and does not understand good intention. It reacts in a binary way. Safe or unsafe. When an electric impulse passes through a dog’s body, the brain does not register a message like „this behavior is not desirable.“ It registers a break in safety. In that moment the amygdala, the survival center, is activated, and the entire organism enters an alarm state.
Outwardly calm, inwardly an alarm. The body always remembers what the mind tries to justify.
When Discipline Hurts: The Parallel Between Children and Dogs
The same happens with children raised with an iron hand. A child who is hit, shamed, or silenced does not become disciplined. It becomes cautious. It learns to hide impulses, suppress emotions, and not show what might trigger punishment. On the outside it looks well behaved. On the inside the nervous system remains in a state of chronic alert.
Violence does not stop when behavior stops. It only relocates. If it cannot express through behavior, it expresses through the body. The phrase „they hit me and nothing is wrong with me“ is often said as proof of resilience. But neurobiology tells a different story. A child who was not allowed to defend, scream, or escape remains with trapped energy stored in the nervous system.
Cushing Disease and Chronic Stress in Dogs
In dogs today we see the same pattern. Never before have there been so many trained and calm dogs who at the same time suffer from chronic diseases. Cushing disease, adrenal gland disorders, and immune problems are increasingly common in dogs living in seemingly safe environments.
The stress hormone cortisol is not an isolated problem. It is a response to a long term state of inner tension. A dog that is not allowed to react lives in constant adaptation. Its body does not receive the signal that danger has passed. The adrenal glands work without pause. Electric collars become a symbol of that process. The problem is not one impulse, but the message. Safety is conditional on obedience.
Dogs as a Mirror of Our Suppressed Emotions
That is why this topic creates so much resistance. If we admit that a little sting has consequences, we must face our own experiences and the price we paid to be good. Dogs today are a mirror of that process. Their bodies speak instead of them.
The real question is not whether an electric collar hurts. The real question is what we teach a being that loves us when we show that pain is used as a reminder of place. Perhaps dogs today are not calling us to be softer, but to be more conscious. Because the body, whether canine or human, always remembers what the mind tries to justify.
