2026 Issue #36

What My Dog’s Anxiety Taught Me About Minerals

Hi Reader,

Quite to my surprise, a few weeks ago, on what was already a busy Sunday, two very large Great Pyrenees came running up our driveway.

My first thought?

THE CHICKENS.

I immediately ran outside, ready to protect the chickens and ducks from whatever adventure these two dogs had planned.

Except they didn't run toward the chickens.

They ran straight to me.

They were friendly, tired and very clearly lost.

So we brought them into the garage, gave them water and then were faced with the first of many problems...

What in the world do we feed them?

You see, we have a four-year-old Border Collie named Millie.

But we don't feed Millie dog kibble anymore.

And there's a reason for that.

Millie has always been an anxious dog.

Even as a puppy, she was hesitant around unfamiliar people, dogs and situations.

I used to take her walking at parks specifically so she could experience people and dogs passing us.

I knew she could read my energy, so I tried to stay calm and show her:

See? We're okay. Nothing bad is happening.

But as Millie got older, her anxiety actually got worse.

Thunderstorms became awful.

She'd run under our bed or climb into the shower trying to escape the noise.

During hunting season, she didn't want to be outside because an unexpected gunshot would send her running for the house.

And eventually I started wondering...

What if this isn't JUST behavioral?

What if there's something going on inside her body that's making it harder for her to handle stress?

So I did what I'd do with any client.

I checked her minerals.

And Millie's hair had a lot to say.

Her Mineral Test gave me another piece of the puzzle and made me start looking more closely at her nutrition, stress response and the food we'd been feeding her.

Instead of simply thinking:

"Millie is an anxious dog."

I started asking:

"Does Millie's body have everything it needs to handle stress well?"

That's a very different question.

Her mineral patterns raised questions about depletion and how her body was responding to stress.

And then I looked at her food.

At the time, we were feeding her kibble.

Like most people, I assumed dog food was formulated to give her everything she needed.

Pour it in the bowl.

Dog eats it.

Done.

But once I started looking at Millie's health through the same nutritional lens I use with humans, I couldn't stop thinking about one thing:

You can't separate the brain from the body it's living in.

Nutrition matters.

Minerals matter.

Digestion matters.

Stress matters.

So we changed Millie's diet to a carefully planned, home-cooked diet.

And over time, we noticed a difference.

Is she suddenly a Golden Retriever who thinks every stranger is her best friend?

Absolutely not. 😂

She's still Millie.

She's still sensitive.

She still doesn't appreciate hunting season.

But her anxiety has improved.

And the whole experience made me think about how often we do the same thing to ourselves.

"I'm just anxious."

"I've always been a bad sleeper."

"I've never had much energy."

"I'm just someone who can't handle stress."

Maybe.

But what if that's not the whole story?

That's one of the reasons I love Mineral Testing.

It gives us another way to look at what's happening inside your body instead of immediately assuming that a symptom is simply something you have to live with.

A Mineral Test looks at 28 minerals and important mineral ratios that can give us clues about things like your mineral balance, metabolic patterns and how your body may be responding to stress.

It doesn't give us every answer.

But sometimes it gives us the clue we needed to start asking better questions.

It certainly did for Millie.

And if you've been wondering what your body might be trying to tell you...

Learn more about a mineral test

xo,