You and your dog deserve a happy and peaceful life, and persistent anxiety can get in the way.
We can help with your dog’s anxiety, including separation anxiety, and reactivity.
And you’ll learn about yourself along the way.
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Welcome to the world of Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) for dogs!
You might be wondering what SSP is and how it can help your furry friend. Well, let me tell you a bit about it. 😊
SSP is a result of Dr. Stephen Porges’ 40 years of research on the relationship between the autonomic nervous system and social & emotional behavior. It is based on his Polyvagal Theory, which explains how our nervous system responds to stress and danger. SSP is the only practical application of Polyvagal Theory in the world, designed to restore an experience of safety by providing a reset to the nervous system.
What does this mean for you and your dog? It means that SSP can help your dog feel more calm, confident, and connected by reducing stress and sensitivity and by enhancing social engagement and adaptability. Many human individuals who have used SSP have reported positive changes in their mood, behavior, and health. And guess what? We, humans, share a similar neurobiology to our dogs, so we were sure it would benefit them in similar ways. And we were right! Now, we have a growing number of case studies and happy customers to show that our canine friends benefit as well.
Isn’t that amazing? I think so too!
Participants have reported noticing that their dogs:
Behave more sociably
Access training more effectively
Sleep more soundly.
Are less easily distracted
Seem less reactive to their usual triggers.
Have more flexibility in how they respond to their usual triggers.
Are less hypervigilant, and able to settle and relax more easily.
Testimonials from dogs across the globe:
Wendy & Rocco from Wales UK
Patricia Norm & Lucky from California USA
Melany Jessica & Beau from Ohio USA
Sarah and Lulufrom NSW Australia
Sherri & Maya from Northern California USAOur dogs are part of the family – they connect us and they remind us to play! What’s happening at a deeper level is we’re co-regulating, our nervous systems are reading each others’ signals and responding to invisible cues.
When you live with a reactive or anxious dog, staying regulated and sane can be hard, however much and becuase we love them so much.
We are wired for connection and we experience safety with safe others. Safe and Sound Protocol provides a reset, a new start, and a learning journey that the dog and the whole family will benefit from.
Let us show you how to get started.
What’s involved?
Before we begin we need to establish you and your dog’s ‘readiness’ for the program. You are both involved in this process. This assessment begins with our Readiness Survey. You might like to look at the free version of the survey, here so you can see what we ask before you buy.
When we assess your results we’ll offer you either the CONNECT program, the CORE program, or a combination of both. The CONNECT program is the best place to start for more anxious dog / human partnerships, the CORE program is where we start seeing significant results for dogs who are ready.
Once you get started the first thing to consider is creating a safe environment where you and your dog can relax. Each day you will assess your own ability to stay calm and regulated before delivering to your dog, and we ask that you avoid playing the program if you yourself are unable to de-stress and relax on a particular day.
When your dog is listening, you are invited to pay attention to their subtle cues – listen to the ‘whispers’ of the nervous system, before they become ‘shouts’. These cues will tell you how much is enough. Less is more with SSP. It’s not possible to deliver too slowly, but it is possible to deliver too fast.
You can stroke them (if that is normally soothing to them!) noticing the texture of their fur. You can watch for their breathing and feel for your own. You can engage in a gentle activity, so long as it isn’t overly stimulating for them. With every subscription you get heaps of written, video and audio suggestions for how to monitor your own stress and provide a calm, nurturing environment for you and your dog.
In total, your dog will listen to 5 hours of this filtered music. For most dogs with mild anxiety yhis should take somewhere from 10 to 30 days to complete. We give you up to 3 months subscription, to allow for different scheduling needs.
If your dog is very anxious, you will need to deliver the program more slowly than if your dog was less anxious. To date we have not had a dog take longer than the 3 months your subscription is valid for to complete one program. Only the most anxious dogs will need to purchase 2 subscriptions to get through both the CONNECT and CORE programs, and we would only support delivery to a dog with this level of anxiety if their human guardian (you!) was fully on board to support them through this.
After completion, you may notice changes continue to occur for another 6-8 weeks. This is because it takes time for the nervous system to adjust to the changes experienced, and for those changes to be experienced and integrated into new situations. Keeping a diary from start to finish is recommended to help you notice these subtle changes over time.
Cautions and Contraindications
Avoid commencing SSP when your family are experiencing unusual levels of stress e.g. moving house, getting a new pet, family member under a different schedule to normal. SSP is designed to help open up to the environment, which can mean the removal of defense mechanisms, which can result in increased anxiety for a while.
Do not use SSP if you, in the last 3 months, you have used any aversive training methods. If your dog has experienced this kind of abuse in the past they may qualify as ready to begin. You will be asked to commit to force-free training going forward, to use SSP.
Avoid forcing SSP sessions if your dog is not relaxed. Mammals with heightened defense mechanisms tend to imprint negative experiences more strongly. Pushing ahead early on could damage the efficacy of the program going forward.
Pause the program if anyone in your dog, or anyone in your family who lives with your dog, experiences a significant event that causes them to behave differently to normal e.g. withdrawing, being more reactive / short tempered. Email us with a description of what is happening in your home so we can help you plan your next moves.
Wait to begin SSP if your dog is new in your family. We recommend a minimum of 3 months before considering SSP.
It is not recommended to use SSP Core with a dog that exhibits extreme anxiety around the clock. There must be periods of time where they feel completely safe in which to deliver the program. We offer an alternative program, SSP Connect, that can be used to start developing healthy habits of co-regulation, that your dog will then associate with safety. This can be an effective way to introduce them to the protocol before moving on the the Core program when they have settled into a greater sense of safety.
Certain health conditions are contraindicated, please email us with specifics of your case if you are unsure, and we will try to assess suitability. We will always err on the side of caution and will say when we’re not confident.
