Good morning, this is Rita Hogan and welcome to the Dogs Are Individuals podcast. This podcast is all about your dog through an herbal lens.

It is a beautiful day out, I am loving, loving Spring. Everything's coming up, everything is in flower, making a lot of flower essences here. Just love flower essences, they are just beautiful and a great tool in your toolbox. A lot of people overlook them, but if you've been listening to me for a while, you know the emotional component of a dog is important. So don’t overlook the flower essences of the world.

We are talking today about anxiety, it’s a Q+A from Laura Humphreys - thank you for writing into the podcast. The first thing what I do with a dog that is anxious and restless and having a hard time paying attention for training, I would check the diet. Bring down the carb. If your dog is on kibble, I would work towards a minimally processed diet with fresh food feeding. Low carb, get rid of some of the sugar in the diet. Second, I would look at the kidney. Anytime I have a dog that is on a good diet but is acting really fearful and reactive, I start supporting the kidneys. This time of year, we have a lot of restlessness because we are in Spring. I would work with herbs like blessed thistle, milk thistle leaf and flower, leaf flower and root, milk thistle and nettl flower