Your Dog Has a Built-In Off Switch. He Just Has Nothing to Use It On.

He couldn't be alone for ten minutes and the vet wanted to sedate him. Then I found the one simple thing his own body was already trying to do.

I started picking up my keys in secret. He knew anyway.

You already know the face he makes. You pick up your keys and he sees it coming. His ears go back. He follows you to the door and just stands there.

That was Ollie every morning. I'd shut the door behind me and I could hear him start up before I got to the stairs.

So I put a camera in the living room. I wanted to see how long it took him to settle down. He never did. Every time I opened that app he was in the same spot by the door. Pacing. Panting. Watching the handle.

Then it started showing up around the apartment. A chewed table leg. The couch cushion pulled open. Pee by the door even though he'd been house-trained for years.

I tried everything. Longer walks. More toys. A walker at lunch. I even left the TV on so the place wouldn't feel so empty. Nothing worked.

Ollie wasn't himself anymore

So I did what most people do. I took him to the vet. And the vet reached for his prescription pad. Trazodone.

So we gave the trazodone a shot and it worked but way too well. Ollie slept most of the day and when he got up he'd wobble around like he'd had a few too many. He stopped running to the door when I came home and he wouldn't even go near his toys. They call it the zombie stage. And that was my dog now. Calm but gone.

I found out what was really going on

Here's the part no one told me. Licking is how a dog calms himself down.

It works on rhythm. The same motion over and over. When he licks like that his brain starts putting out endorphins, those are the same feel-good chemicals you get from a long run.

Endorphins do two jobs at once. They make him feel good and they push his stress hormones back down. So his heart slows. His breathing slows. His body drops out of alert mode on its own.

He isn't deciding to calm down. His body is doing it for him. That's why licking gets through to a dog when training, toys and longer walks don't touch him.

And it's built in from the day he's born. A mother dog licks her puppies to settle them and a puppy licks to settle himself. It's the same reason a baby takes a pacifier.

You've probably seen your own dog do it. He licks the couch. He licks his paws. He licks the floor for no reason at all. That's not a bad habit. That's the only tool he's got.

But here's the problem. Your dog has nothing good to lick. So that need never goes away. It comes out as chewing, pacing, barking at the window all day. All that stress has to go somewhere and your walls and your couch are what's left.

So I did the obvious thing and got him a lick mat. He loved it, he went at it the second I put it down and for about five minutes I thought that was it.

Then the mat was spotless. He kept licking at it anyway and when nothing came up he went back to pacing the hallway.

Five minutes is nothing. Endorphins don't build that fast. He was still wound up when it ran out and a flat mat can't hold him long enough to get him all the way down. It takes the edge off and then leaves him right where he started.

So I stopped looking for something to smear food on. I went looking for something that would keep him licking long enough to work.

30 minutes with this and he's completely calm

Then I found the Calming Bowl and it finally gave him somewhere to put all that stress. One side is a lick plate with a ball sitting in the middle and his food goes in a little bowl underneath it.

Here's the clever part. When he licks the ball it rolls and keeps dragging fresh food up to the top. So it never runs dry. It only lets a little food up at a time so Ollie gets a good half hour out of one spoonful. And that slow licking is the exact thing that calms him down.

The first night I tried it I couldn't believe it. Ollie licked that ball for a solid half hour straight. Then he walked over to his bed and lay down on his own. No pacing. No barking. He just settled.

Within a week I had a different dog. The chewing stopped. He met me at the door again. He started playing with his toys. And he did it all on his own with no pills and no zombie stage. He was calm and he was still him.

Every dog is different and yours might take a few days to get the hang of it. But it worked for Ollie when nothing else did.

And look at what you're getting. A slow licker, a lick mat, a slow feeder and a plain bowl. Buy those one at a time and it's $76 for four things cluttering up your kitchen floor. The Calming Bowl is $49 and it's all four in one.

And the best part is you don't have to take my word for it. It comes with a 60 day trial. Give it two months and if your dog isn't calmer you send it back and get every dollar back. So the only way you lose is by not trying it.

If you're tired of coming home to a wrecked house and a stressed out dog this is where I'd start. Tap the button below to get your Calming Bowl and see what your dog does with it this week.

4.7 out of 5

based on 7,000+ dog parents

60-day calm or money-back

Give your dog his calm back with the Calming Bowl

• Works with his natural instincts
• No pills and no zombie stage
• 30 minutes of licking, then he settles on his own
• Ships in 24 hours

FREE slow feeder side included
$10 value added at no cost

$74$4934% off

Apply Discount & Check Availability

Only 23 left in stock at this price