Observations from the Safe and Sound Protocol and Rest and Restore Protocol
A couple of days ago, I took my dog Amy to the groomer.
When I came back to pick her up, the groomer looked at me and said,“What did you do with ‘Crazy Amy’?”
I just stared at her, confused.
She went on to explain that Amy had been incredibly calm — calmer than she had ever seen her.“She was like a completely different dog,” she said.
That’s when I started to laugh.
Amy and I have been listening to both the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) and the Rest and Restore Protocol (RRP) together recently. While I had noticed some subtle changes at home, I honestly wasn’t sure yet whether I would call it a clear or significant shift.
There’s an important piece of context here: Amy has early trauma related to grooming. Historically, grooming has been a very activating experience for her nervous system.
And yet, in the very environment that would normally be the most challenging for her, she was deeply regulated.
At home, she still felt like… Amy.Same dog. Same personality. Same quirks.
Which is exactly why I might have missed it.
One of the things I see over and over again — with both animals and humans — is that nervous system change doesn’t always show up where we expect it.
We often look for progress in familiar, low-stress settings. But with nervous-system-based work like the Safe and Sound Protocol and the Rest and Restore Protocol, meaningful shifts often appear in context:
Just as importantly, it’s often not the person themselves who notices first.
With humans, this might sound like:
Only after hearing this do people begin to recognize a whole list of changes that had already been unfolding quietly in the background.
When people are engaging in SSP or RRP, I often encourage them to gently ask those around them if they’ve noticed anything different.
Not because external validation is required — but because the nervous system doesn’t always announce its progress loudly.
Sometimes regulation arrives gradually.Sometimes it integrates quietly.And sometimes it shows itself sideways.
Amy’s groomer noticed the shift before I did. And honestly, that’s very typical.
Helping pets matters deeply to me.
Because nervous systems are contagious — within families and across species — when my associates and I offer the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) or the Rest and Restore Protocol (RRP), we always include support for a client’s pet as part of the process, at no additional cost.
When the humans in a household become calmer and more regulated, pets often respond. And when pets become calmer and feel safer in their bodies, that calm frequently feeds right back to the humans.
It’s a ripple effect.
Many animals carry early stress or trauma of their own, often without much voice or choice. Supporting both the people and the pets they love feels not only effective, but humane.
Sometimes the clearest signs of nervous system change show up through a pet — as they did with Amy.And sometimes helping a pet simply feels like the right thing to do, regardless of whether it’s noticed right away.
If this way of working resonates, you’re welcome to learn more or reach out. And if not, I hope this story offers reassurance that nervous system progress can unfold gently, quietly, and in its own time.
Sometimes it shows up sideways.