Beyond Behavior, LLC - Alyssa Giles, BSci

11/06/2025

Did you know that, when you touch your dog, calming & confidence-building neurochemicals are released in your dog's brain?

This is why your dog seeks your presence and touch. Not because they're "Attention- Seeking," but because they're "Connection-Seeking." It means they're feeling a little lonely and they're reaching out: a "bid for connection," as they say in the relationship world.

Did this change how you view your dog's requests for attention?

10/30/2025

Thanks Mountain West Veterinary Specialists for helping people look out for their furry buddies!

If your four-legged friend struggles with strangers, spooky decorations, or nighttime surprises, please reach out! I'd love to help you help them! 💜

Halloween is coming up and our wonderful friend Alyssa at Beyond Behavior put together this list of tips to help your pet if Halloween is not their favorite time of year.

Is your pet Spooked by Spooky Season?

Whether they're cowering and hiding or attacking strange people (or decorations!), what your pet needs is to feel Safe and Social! To help them get there, here are some tips:

1) Notice & Respond: Keep an eye on your pet and watch for signs that they're feeling hesitant, worried, or upset. Respond with empathy and offer slow, deep, comforting touch and presence. This releases chemicals in the brain that calm the nervous system and help them feel safe and lets then know they can turn to you for help instead of being anti-social.

2) Protect Their Space: If there are situations you know your pet will have a "big" response to, help them keep their space safe. Stand up for them, or take them with you to a safer area and calm them.

3) It's ok that you have big feelings, too, but make sure you're still "safe." Your pet can't help being upset, and they need to know you'll be calm and safe amid the chaos. However, if you're feeling big feelings, find a playful way to release your tension that won't add to your pet's stress.

4) Stay close to your pet: As tempting as it is to just put your dog or cat away in another room, a crate, or outside, this leaves them alone with their big feelings. Temporary barriers for safety are great, but do everything you can to keep your pet close and respond to their big feelings quickly. This helps them feel secure rather than abandoned.

5) Play the Stress Away! After a stressful event, your pet may start acting obnoxious or hyper. This is because they're full of tension they need to release. Follow their lead and goof off for a minute or two, with the plan to wind them DOWN, not UP!

In the end, it's about being present and responsive to your pet, as if they were your best friend - because you're definitely theirs!

Alyssa Giles, BSci
Beyond Behavior, LLC

10/30/2025

You want a well-behaved dog who's like a member of the family so you can enjoy their company without stress and take peaceful walks together like old friends.

You want to not only love your dog, but to actually look forward to being around them.

But how you get there matters to you, too, because your dog's mental and emotional wellness are also important to you.

My mental-health-based approach looks at what's going on inside your pet's brain, and the emotions fueling their behavior.

I coach pet parents on how to recognize and respond to their pet's big feelings in ways that promote safety, calm, and confidence.

The results are pets that do better because they feel better, naturally!

10/29/2025

What is your dog trying to tell you?

Behavior is communication, and many of our dogs' behaviors are a cry for help.

From pulling, jumping, or barking to anxiety and aggression, our dogs are telling us they are having BIG feelings.

And big feelings need care and support in order to move through them to the other side. Then they realize they are safe and can return to calm, confidence, and contentment. Big triggers become No Big Deal, as they start to learn to regulate, with support from their People.

Rather than reacting to behavior with consequences, my goal is to help you "hear" your dog while helping them "see" what you have to offer for emotional safety.

There are plenty of "trained" dogs that behave poorly, and plenty of "untrained" dogs who are Perfect. The difference is in the connection, and I can help you see past the behavior to the heart of your dog.

10/29/2025

Without training, this whale recognized a need and showed pro-social behavior.

We see this all the time in our dogs. Do dogs need rewards to learn to live, or to learn how to care for us, or how to be social?

When we're stressed, we go into more survival-type behaviors. But when we feel physically AND emotionally safe, we can look outward and recognize and meet the needsv of others.

It sounds like the beginning of a movie — but it happened for real. During an underwater competition in Harbin, China, 26-year-old freediver Yang Yun dove into a frigid polar pool surrounded by beluga whales. Her goal was simple: to test her endurance against the cold. But as she reached the bottom, disaster struck. The freezing water caused sudden, crippling leg cramps, leaving her paralyzed and unable to swim back up.

As Yang’s lungs screamed for air, she realized she was sinking — helpless and out of time. But then, from the blue silence, something extraordinary happened. One of the whales, a gentle beluga named Mila, sensed her distress. Moving toward the struggling diver, Mila wrapped her mouth gently around Yang’s leg and began to push — upward, toward the light.

“I felt this incredible force lifting me,” Yang later recalled. “If it had been up to me, I would have died.”

Witnesses on the surface watched in disbelief as the whale guided her safely back to air, saving her life. Trainers confirmed that Mila had acted on her own instinct — no signal, no command. She had simply understood.

Beluga whales are renowned for their high intelligence and empathy. With complex social structures and expressive faces capable of “smiling,” they’re among the few animals known to display emotional awareness. Mila’s act of compassion is more than a rescue — it’s a moment that challenges how we think about consciousness, kindness, and connection across species.

In a world where human and nature often drift apart, Mila’s story reminds us that the ocean still speaks — not in words, but in actions that echo deeper than language.

10/27/2025

Be your pet's "Emotional Support Human"!

What is your pet feeling? How can you support them instead of trying to change it? What will help them feel heard and understood, instead of dismissed and invalidated?

This is Isa's "worry time," as the kids are about to come home from school and one of those kids makes her inexplicably anxious. I'm helping her feel calmer and safer through comfort touch, after she has a chance to pace and get some tension out of her body.

This is natural support, the way social animals know instinctively to do. Our dogs do this for us all the time. Yes, it helps them behave and listen better, but the best part is that it builds bonds and ultimately helps them to be happier and more content (that's where that good behavior comes from!).

Give me your ideas and experiences!!

10/26/2025

Do you have a "gut instinct" about how your pet needs and likes to be touched? There's a reason for that! And this is why we focus on touch, play, and other social support for our pets: because it leads to feelings of calm and safety, and to better behavior, naturally 💜

🥰Your feel good research of the day:Gentle as a mother's touch: C-tactile touch promotes autonomic regulation in preterm infants by I Püschel, J Reichert, Y...

10/24/2025

This applies to our dogs as well! Redirecting or suppressing emotions, whether with positive or negative consequences, prevents physical and emotional healing.

Like us, our dogs need to express their big feelings with someone they know will listen rather than try to make them stop acting or feeling that way.

Only then can they feel safe enough for those big feelings to go away, and the big behaviors with them.

This is how the social brain works!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DP1NzjREc9o/?igsh=MTN2bTVwcXRtbzBtcg==

10/14/2025

Touch is a powerful thing 💜

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