From Vagus Nerve Resets to Real-World Recovery:
Why Understanding Stress
Is Key to a Resilient Dog
In an earlier article, we peeled back the shiny marketing cover on the so-called vagus nerve reset techniques and found a sliver of truth buried under a mountain of miracle-cure hype. You can read the full article, “Vagus Nerve Reset”: Real Science or Just Shiny Hype? for the facts and myths behind these latest “training” methods, but here’s our extremely summarized version:
Yes, the vagus nerve is real. Yes, it plays a role in helping dogs recover from stress. No, rubbing your dog’s ear is not going to erase every bout of reactivity, fear, or over-excitement. But when used during moments of calm and rest, gentle touch and knowing key relaxation points can be a lovely bonding tool, with benefits for both you and your dog, and that bond will help build resilience.
However, if we truly want to raise resilient dogs - the kind who can bounce back from life’s curveballs with a bit more grace and ease, we need to go deeper. That means understanding not just how recovery happens, but the kinds of stress dogs experience, how those stressors affect their bodies and minds, and the ways stress shows up in everyday life.
Here, we’re unpacking the four main stress categories, how they impact a dog’s nervous system, and why “good” stress is not only possible, but necessary for growth. We’ll also look at the difference between challenges that build resilience and those that chip away at it.
Stress and Stressors
You now know the vagus nerve isn’t a magical reset button. It’s part of your dog’s built-in recovery system - but recovery is only part of the picture. To help your dog bounce back, you need to understand what they’re bouncing back from.
Stress isn’t just a “bad thing” that happens. It’s the body’s response to change - a trigger that disrupts (or could disrupt) your dog’s “state of normal,” or homeostasis. That trigger is called a stressor, and it can be:
Physiological – illness, injury, pain, extreme temperature changes
Psychological – social pressure, environmental change, unfamiliar dogs or people
Stressors can be real or perceived. Your dog’s nervous system doesn’t care whether or not the skateboarder poses an actual threat - if the dog believes it does, the body reacts the same way. The reaction kicks off a cascade of hormones and chemical signals that gear the body up to deal with the change, which is called allostasis. More importantly, this is where your awareness comes in.
✏️ Quick Exercise:
Think about times your dog “reacts” by barking, lunging, growling - or maybe even “happily” wiggling their way toward something. Sometimes we can see, hear or smell the trigger (delivery driver, the cat, the sparkly reflection off the window). Other times you can’t find it at all.
Make two lists:
Real (you can see, hear, or smell the thing - either a confirmed presence, or a really likely presence)
.
.
.
Perceived (your dog swears there’s a need to react, even if you’ve looked and can’t detect it)
.
.
.
The goal isn’t to stop these reactions right now — it’s to start noticing patterns. These moments are the raw material you’ll sort into the four types of stress, which determine how much they impact your dog’s long-term well-being.
PAWS for Science:
Homeostasis is the process of maintaining a stable internal environment by keeping physiological variables within a narrow, fixed range.
Allostasis, on the other hand, is the process of achieving stability through change, actively adjusting internal states to match the demands of the environment. The sympathetic nervous system - the “fight, flight, or freeze” response - and the parasympathetic nervous system - with the vagus nerve playing a central role - work in partnership to bring the body back to homeostasis.
Allostatic load refers to the cumulative wear and tear on the body due to repeated or prolonged activation of the allostatic response.
Resilience is the ability to successfully navigate and recover from stress. Strategies to enhance resilience can help mitigate the negative effects of allostatic load.
The Four Stress Categories
Depending on the duration, intensity, and your dog’s ability to cope, the stressors you listed above generally fall into four categories. After you read the rest of the article, see if you can categorize any of the stressors you listed into the different kinds of stress.
Acute Stress – The Short Shock
Acute stress is the quick, short-lived kind:
Hearing a loud bang
Encountering a strange dog on a walk
Spending a night in a new place
It’s the canine equivalent of slamming on the brakes in traffic. The body shifts into high gear, heart rate spikes, muscles tense, and then, if the stressor passes and the dog feels safe again, the system resets. This is allostasis, the process the body goes through in an attempt to return to homeostasis.
Acute stress isn’t inherently bad. In fact, short bursts can be part of healthy adaptation. The key is recovery. As a general guideline, most dogs bounce back within 24-72 hours, but “enough recovery” depends entirely on the individual dog. You’ll need to learn your dog’s recovery rate and needs.
Chronic Stress – The Long Haul
Chronic stress is the prolonged exposure to stressors that activate the body's stress response systems, or allostasis. Chronic stress happens when stressors pile on and don’t let up. It might be weeks of construction noise, repeated exposure to triggers on daily walks, or ongoing discomfort from an untreated medical issue.
The longer the body stays in “alert” mode, the greater the damage to both physical and emotional health. This is called allostatic load and can lead to:
Weakened immune function
Digestive issues
Sleep problems
Increased reactivity or irritability
In this state, dogs struggle to learn new skills and may even perform ones they reliably know. Their baseline shifts from “ready to relax” to “ready to react.”
Recovery depends on factors like the dog’s life stage when the stress occurred, how long it lasted, and biological predispositions (e.g., in-utero stress, early nutrition, brain development). You can’t change the past, but you can help reset their baseline over time and in certain situations, you can actually use stress to help your dog grow.
Good Stress (Eustress) and Tolerable Stress – The Growth Zone
Not all stress weakens a dog. Some challenges help them grow stronger and can be part of healthy adaptation. This kind of stress is called Eustress - it’s the positive, energizing kind that comes with taking on a challenge you can handle, or is not so far outside your skill set that you can figure it out. For dogs, that could be:
Learning a new skill, like navigating an agility tunnel
Exploring a novel but safe environment
Problem-solving in scent work
Handled well, eustress can build confidence and resilience.
Tolerable stress is a negative experience that your dog can cope with, often with your help. Vet visits, awkward dog greetings, or being temporarily separated from you all qualify. With proper recovery, tolerable stress can strengthen resilience.
The dividing line between growth and harm comes down to the dog’s perspective, and whether they have both the skills and support to cope. Without those, tolerable stress can slide into acute, chronic or toxic distress.
Toxic Stress – The Breaking Point
Toxic stress is prolonged, intense, and unsupported. It usually stems from neglect, abuse, social isolation, or environments that prevent natural coping behaviors.
In puppies, toxic stress can literally alter brain development, affecting learning, memory, and emotional regulation for life. In adult dogs, it can erode trust, reduce adaptability, and cause severe behavioral issues.
Intervention here is not optional, it’s essential. Recovery from toxic stress takes time, safety, and often professional help.
Why Understanding Stress Types Changes the Game
When you know the difference between a quick shock, a long-term grind, a positive challenge, and a dangerous overload - and you understand how your dog perceives stress - you can:
Offer the right kind of challenge to build confidence
Space out stressors to allow full recovery
Step in with support when needed to turn a negative experience into a growth opportunity
Act quickly when any stress tips towards distress
We help dogs build resilience through guided practice in moving smoothly between stress and recovery - which is the foundation of our training. We emphasize Brain Work & Behavior because it’s true: brain work shapes behavior, and behavior shapes the brain. Every time your dog processes a challenge, solves a problem, or learns a new skill, their brain rewires, which strengthens the pathways that support resilience, adaptability and emotional regulation.
In all of our training, whether in-person or online, we use targeted games and activities that combine movement, pattern and purpose. The goal is always the same: give the dog’s brain and body repeated, supported practice at navigating the world so they can experience mild stress, successfully recover from it and return to balance.
The vagus nerve plays a role in this process, but long-term resilience building through directed and guided activities is far more reliable than quick-fix “vagus nerve resets” alone. Calming techniques can still be a valuable tool - when used at the right time and in the right context.
Brain Work Game Examples:
Infinity Walks
A simple leash-handling pattern where you guide your dog in a smooth figure-eight path. The repetition and curved movement help lower arousal, improve leash connection, and give the brain a “job” that keeps focus on you instead of the environment.
Hide-and-Seek with Food or Toys
Hide a favorite treat or toy in an easy-to-find spot, then gradually make the search more challenging. This taps into natural scenting instincts, engages problem-solving, and builds persistence while offering a fun mental workout.
Boundary Games
Teach your dog to stay on a mat, bed, or behind a defined area until released. This blends impulse control with predictability and can double as a portable “safe space” in new environments.
Casa Luna Canines is your partner in dog training, human learning. Join us to learn how to be your dog’s best friend using 100% pain and fear free methods. Imagine what it will feel like when your dog chooses to behave well around you, no matter where you are!
