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How to Calm an Anxious Dog | Cesar Millan & Dr. Andrew Huberman

Huberman Lab Clips08:51Added Aug 31, 2026

Cesar Millan and Dr. Andrew Huberman discuss the necessity of structured exercise and mental boundaries for canine well-being, emphasizing how long-duration ...

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Contributed by 刘嘉琪

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  1. Solving Dog Anxiety Through Exercise

  2. 00:00What if somebody has an anxious dog
  3. 00:01right now? They haven't been doing this
  4. 00:03and the dog is pawing at them and and
  5. 00:05running around. Should the person just
  6. 00:07stay completely in that calm space
  7. 00:09moving about and ignoring them touching
  8. 00:11them or should they be physically giving
  9. 00:13like, you know, get off me type?
  10. 00:15Well, this this also had to do with how
  11. 00:17how much exercise physically exercise
  12. 00:19the dog has received,
  13. 00:21right? How long is his walk? Cuz most
  14. 00:23people walk 20 30 minutes. That's not
  15. 00:25enough. and the dog end up in the house
  16. 00:27for 20 23 and a half hours.
  17. 00:29In my opinion, it's borders on abuse.
  18. 00:31It's really
  19. 00:33incredibly hard on an animal that has
  20. 00:36the same people say I love my dog
  21. 00:38and and and my first question is how
  22. 00:40long do you walk them?
  23. 00:41What is your recommendation? I realize
  24. 00:42it varies by breed and by age.
  25. 00:44Yeah. And by level of energy because
  26. 00:46some are couch potatoes, low level
  27. 00:47energy, some middle and some high,
  28. 00:49right? And so it depends on the energy
  29. 00:51of the dog. So not because a dog is a
  30. 00:53back of the pack doesn't mean there they
  31. 00:54don't have high level energy. Okay?
  32. 00:56Because the sled dogs there is a lot of
  33. 00:58guys that go on the back. It's only one
  34. 00:59in the front if you notice. Right? And
  35. 01:01even in the back of the pack dogs
  36. 01:03because they create a a pack front,
  37. 01:05middle, back, right? And that's why they
  38. 01:06stay in that mode. And and so even the
  39. 01:09back of the pack, they have to have the
  40. 01:10same level of stamina as the one in the
  41. 01:12front. So now because it's a back of the
  42. 01:14pack is couch potato, you know. So then
  43. 01:17then you have to understand the levels
  44. 01:19of energy that they're born with. Low,
  45. 01:21medium, high. Yeah. A lot of times
  46. 01:24people say, "Oh, bulldogs are couch
  47. 01:26potatoes." Now, [laughter] you can have
  48. 01:28a bulldog that is absolutely athletic.
  49. 01:31Absolutely athletic and has the stamina
  50. 01:34to go and, you know, obviously you have
  51. 01:36to help them with the breeding part and
  52. 01:38because they they just go into, you
  53. 01:40know, no limits. So you have to help
  54. 01:42them, you know,
  55. 01:43this drummer has a lot of energy. Yeah.
  56. 01:46uh compared to Costello. Um so two
  57. 01:50minimum 30 minute walks per day as as
  58. 01:53much as a couple hours twice a day
  59. 01:55with a backpack on. Right. Obviously
  60. 01:56[clears throat] the dog is a little
  61. 01:57older because you know the backpack adds
  62. 01:59that extra half hour cuz now the dog is
  63. 02:02carrying something.
  64. 02:02So a weighted backpack.
  65. 02:04Yes. And how should one assess like
  66. 02:06percentage of body weight of the dog?
  67. 02:07Like
  68. 02:07in the beginning you can just put a
  69. 02:08backpack because they're psychologically
  70. 02:10you know they don't want to wear
  71. 02:11anything you know nothing that we put on
  72. 02:13them they want to wear it
  73. 02:14you know a leash a collar a muzzle a
  74. 02:16boots doesn't matter doesn't matter. So
  75. 02:19psychologically that drains them right
  76. 02:21because they got to get used to it. So
  77. 02:22you you walk until the dog comes
  78. 02:24surrender to it and then you take it off
  79. 02:27and then the mind will become very
  80. 02:29drained once the dog gets used to it and
  81. 02:31then you start putting weight. You can
  82. 02:32start with five pounds. Remember, every
  83. 02:34time you add something, you challenge
  84. 02:36the mind. And the goal is simply for the
  85. 02:38mind to surrender.
  86. 02:40You see it? And and then the body the
  87. 02:42body is going to become calm because
  88. 02:44he's wasting energy. So your job
  89. 02:45literally every day with a dog is to
  90. 02:47empty the tank. Empty the tank. You
  91. 02:50know, because a tired dog is never going
  92. 02:51to give you problems ever.
  93. 02:53True.
  94. 02:53Ever. How? He doesn't have the energy to
  95. 02:56give you problems, right? And then on

  96. Rules and Impulse Control

  97. 02:58top of that, you create rules by
  98. 02:59limitations such as just put food right
  99. 03:01here, but he can't touch it. So the mind
  100. 03:03has to be disciplined not to touch it.
  101. 03:05Then the mind has to learn instead of
  102. 03:06doing this to do this and that requires
  103. 03:09self-discipline.
  104. 03:10If you tell the dog don't touch it or
  105. 03:13don't touch the human, don't touch the
  106. 03:15food, don't touch the cat, they go into
  107. 03:17a calm surrender state and they wait.
  108. 03:20Yeah. The first thing that I taught
  109. 03:23strummer um was to suppress action. Just
  110. 03:27as a general theme, he learned it right
  111. 03:29away. Um, at eight weeks it took about a
  112. 03:31day, maybe even half a day because I had
  113. 03:34learned the hard way with Costello. He
  114. 03:35was much more stubborn.
  115. 03:37I could set food down.
  116. 03:38Yep.
  117. 03:39As a eight-week old puppy, because we
  118. 03:42went through the training process, he's
  119. 03:43not touching it until he looks at me. I
  120. 03:47can walk around the room. I can do
  121. 03:48whatever I want. He's tracking and then
  122. 03:51when I say okay, then he's going to eat.
  123. 03:53I will just mention there's a inhibition
  124. 03:55from the forebrain down to the brain
  125. 03:57regions that control impulses. And
  126. 03:59that's what we call top down inhibition,
  127. 04:00which is nerd neuroscience speak for
  128. 04:02what you what you're describing
  129. 04:04practically.
  130. 04:05And I feel like it carries over to other
  131. 04:06circumstances more easily. But I can put
  132. 04:10food in front of him now and leave the
  133. 04:12room.
  134. 04:13I don't do this for extended periods,
  135. 04:15but I come back, he's not going to touch
  136. 04:17it.
  137. 04:17Yep.
  138. 04:17And then he he starts to eat.
  139. 04:19Now, it's a little bit more difficult
  140. 04:21with things that um like trying to teach
  141. 04:24him to not uh be mouthy on So I have a
  142. 04:26rule. No, no skin in dog's mouth. This
  143. 04:29is just like it's all or none. Make it
  144. 04:31simple cuz when it's really cute when
  145. 04:33they're a puppy, those teeth are a
  146. 04:34little sharp and then you can kind of
  147. 04:35But I just have a it's a thick black
  148. 04:37line,
  149. 04:38right?
  150. 04:39And my girlfriend knows this too. Like
  151. 04:40she's like, "No, but he wants to play."
  152. 04:42It's like no skin goes in his mouth.
  153. 04:44Then he cuz that's a simple rule.
  154. 04:46Yep.
  155. 04:46And
  156. 04:47if he does happens to, you know, go for
  157. 04:50skin, I'll do the little Yelp thing. He
  158. 04:52understands right away. So, if people
  159. 04:55hear this, they're going to be like,
  160. 04:57"This is terrible, right? You're putting
  161. 04:58food in front of him and he wants to eat
  162. 05:00and you're not letting him." But could
  163. 05:02you elaborate why this is so important
  164. 05:04to the dog's happiness and well-being?
  165. 05:06Because
  166. 05:06I believe it is, and I could see that in
  167. 05:08Costello. I see it in Strummer. There's
  168. 05:10a trust, there's a calmness, there's a
  169. 05:12an availability to go more places,
  170. 05:15but many people, they just like, "He's
  171. 05:17hungry. She's hungry. They missed me."
  172. 05:20you know, they didn't know what they
  173. 05:21were doing
  174. 05:22or they feel guilty because they didn't
  175. 05:23walk the dog.

  176. Power of Structured Walking

  177. 05:25Guilt [clears throat] plays a big role
  178. 05:26in raising dogs.
  179. 05:27Well, then let's stay on the walk for a
  180. 05:29moment. What What is so critical about
  181. 05:31the structured walk? I've been doing 2
  182. 05:33hours a day or so of structured walk
  183. 05:35since he was little. And people say
  184. 05:37that's too much for a puppy.
  185. 05:39I I feel like he's been great with two
  186. 05:41one-hour walks. It's because they forget
  187. 05:44instincts, right? They forget instinct
  188. 05:46that a dog is instinctually is going to
  189. 05:49follow his parents to find food and
  190. 05:51water, right? Yes. They do it after two
  191. 05:54months of age because otherwise they
  192. 05:55will stay within the den,
  193. 05:56right? But from from two to four, they
  194. 06:00follow, you know, they follow and
  195. 06:02somebody's always taking care. You can
  196. 06:03see it in the African wild dogs, there's
  197. 06:05always somebody that supervises the
  198. 06:07litter, but they allow them to follow,
  199. 06:11right? and then they they they they go
  200. 06:13to a certain stance because they're
  201. 06:14growing. But as soon as the dog gets
  202. 06:16into six, eight months of age, that guy
  203. 06:19wants to walk more than 30 minutes,
  204. 06:21guaranteed. He doesn't want to stay in
  205. 06:23one place too long. So all these people
  206. 06:25with their dogs home all day or some
  207. 06:27people would say, well, the dog has the
  208. 06:28yard, running around the yard, it's not
  209. 06:30the same, right? Uh being able to run
  210. 06:32around a yard
  211. 06:32with the yard, it becomes like the zoo,
  212. 06:34right? Is an animal in the zoo with a
  213. 06:36yard. But that's not natural. That's
  214. 06:39just practical for the human,
  215. 06:41right? And the human feels like, okay, I
  216. 06:44have a backyard. That's where the dog
  217. 06:45does exercise. But the dog is going in
  218. 06:46circles. So exercise for a bird is going
  219. 06:50for a fish for, you know, a bird have to
  220. 06:53fly, a fish have to swim, and a dog has
  221. 06:54to walk. It's just the nature of each uh
  222. 06:57species, right? So the walk is the most
  223. 07:00important activity in my eyes, right?

  224. Learning From Off-Leash Dogs

  225. 07:02Look at the homeless people with their
  226. 07:03dogs. Why they can walk a dog off leash?
  227. 07:05You were the first person I ever heard
  228. 07:07say that homeless people are the best
  229. 07:09dog owners.
  230. 07:10And the humans who are blind, the human
  231. 07:11who are blind dog is right next to them.
  232. 07:13A homeless people dog in the back,
  233. 07:15right? So what are they doing, right?
  234. 07:17Well, the dog is following them, right?
  235. 07:19They're in a follower state. And so the
  236. 07:23dog the dog that lives with the blind is
  237. 07:25is not allowed to get distracted because
  238. 07:28his purpose is to guide the the blind.
  239. 07:30And the dog that lives with the
  240. 07:31homeless, he's not allowed to go in
  241. 07:33front. Consciously or unconsciously, the
  242. 07:35dog stays in the back. Nine out of 10
  243. 07:37homeless people have a pitbull and the
  244. 07:39dog is well behaved, off leash.
  245. 07:42I see a lot of them in my neighborhood.
  246. 07:43This is Los Angeles. Incredible.
  247. 07:45Incredible. Right. But in Mexico, every
  248. 07:47single dog in a third country, every
  249. 07:48single dog is off leash. So that's uh in
  250. 07:52America the American dream for a lot of
  251. 07:54people is is to have a dog walk off
  252. 07:56leash because people pay a trainer to
  253. 07:58train their dog to be off leash with
  254. 08:01this is the nature of a you see it does
  255. 08:03doesn't make any sense you know once you
  256. 08:05hear it is you just have to uh help them
  257. 08:08by practicing the ritual of no touch no
  258. 08:10talk no eye contact let the dog be calm
  259. 08:12surrender in front of you make sure
  260. 08:14during the walk he's also in the same
  261. 08:16state of mind and before you feed him do
  262. 08:18this for at least three weeks Right? So
  263. 08:20you get into this habit,
  264. 08:22right, that when you greet, when you
  265. 08:24walk, and when you feed. So then this
  266. 08:27dog is going to have this beautiful
  267. 08:29silence, calm, surrender. And this is
  268. 08:31the dog you bring into dog parks or dog
  269. 08:34beaches. And then your job is to make
  270. 08:36sure that you uh the dog that your dog
  271. 08:38is going to play with has the same
  272. 08:39energy as your dog. You have to be
  273. 08:42selective just like with kids.
  274. 08:49[music]