What's Actually Going On When Your Dog Has Anxiety (And What Helped Mine)
When I first started looking for calming support for my dog Arya, I was skeptical of everything. I'd already burned through what felt like every calming chew, spray, and supplement on the market. Some made her sleepy without actually calming her down (there's a difference). Others did absolutely nothing. A few seemed to help for about a day before her nervous system apparently figured out the workaround.
Arya's anxiety started after we were charged by an off-leash dog on one of our walks. She went from a confident, social dog to one who couldn't see another dog without her whole body going rigid, scanning, ready to react. The walks I used to love became something I dreaded. Training helped. Counterconditioning helped. But we kept hitting a ceiling because her baseline stress was just too high for any of it to stick.
That's when I found Austin & Kat's No More Wiggles formula (it was brand new at the time), and it's actually what led me to eventually work here. Two weeks of consistent use with the oil, and I noticed something shift. Not a sedated dog, not a zombie. Just a dog whose nervous system could come back down after going up. Our training sessions started clicking. The counterconditioning held. She could see a dog across the street and look to me instead of losing her mind.
Why Not "Just CBD"
Anxiety in dogs is usually not one system misfiring. It's a whole orchestra playing the wrong song at the same time. Stress hormones like cortisol running the show. GABA, your brain's natural "calm down" signal, getting drowned out. An autonomic nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight.
CBD is great. I use it for a lot of things. But for a dog with real, persistent anxiety, it's often not enough on its own because it's only reaching part of the problem. CBD works primarily through the endocannabinoid system for overall regulation, but it's not specifically supporting the GABA pathways, the cortisol response, or the limbic system overdrive that anxious dogs are dealing with.
No More Wiggles layers CBD and CBDa with botanicals that each target different pieces of the anxiety puzzle. Multiple pathways, simultaneously, instead of asking one compound to do everything.
The Botanical Breakdown
If you want the sciencey layer of why this combination works, here's what each ingredient is actually doing.
Valerian Root has been used for centuries for a reason. Valerian contains compounds called valerenic acids that increase GABA activity in the brain. GABA is your brain's primary inhibitory neurotransmitter, basically the chemical that tells your neurons to stop firing so frantically. When GABA is doing its job, the nervous system can actually downshift. Valerian helps that process along.
Passionflower is pulling double duty. It also supports GABA activity, specifically by binding to GABA-A receptors, but research shows it may also help modulate cortisol. Chronic anxiety often means chronically elevated cortisol, that stress hormone that spikes when your dog sees their trigger and stays elevated long after the scary thing is gone. Passionflower helps take the edge off that baseline.
Lavender works on the limbic system, the emotional processing center of the brain. The compounds in lavender, primarily linalool and linalyl acetate, have been shown to reduce activity in the amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for fear responses.
Wild German Chamomile is worth calling out specifically because the "wild German" part matters more than you'd think. German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) has a different chemical profile than Roman chamomile. It's higher in chamazulene and alpha-bisabolol, compounds with stronger calming properties. "Wild" means it's wildcrafted rather than commercially cultivated, which typically results in higher concentrations of active compounds. Plants that have to work harder tend to produce more of the good stuff. Chamomile also contains apigenin, which binds to benzodiazepine receptors in the brain, the same receptors targeted by prescription calming medications, but much more gently.
Why CBDa Matters
You'll notice I said CBD AND CBDa. Most CBD products only contain CBD, the converted, activated form. CBDa is the raw, unheated precursor, and it has a different receptor profile.
CBDa has a higher affinity for serotonin receptors, specifically 5-HT1A, which are heavily involved in anxiety regulation. Early research suggests CBDa may actually be more effective than CBD alone for this kind of support because of that receptor activity. By including both forms, the Wiggles formula covers more ground in how it interacts with the endocannabinoid and serotonin systems. CBDa hits specific signal points while CBD supports the broader system. They complement each other.
The Adrenaline Problem (And Why Timing Matters)
When your dog sees their trigger and goes into full panic mode, their body floods with adrenaline and cortisol. Heart rate spikes, blood pressure increases, brain shifts into survival mode. At that point, calming support is trying to work against a tidal wave of stress hormones already circulating.
Timing matters. If you're using the Wiggles situationally, before a vet visit, before fireworks, before a known stressor, give it about an hour before the scary thing happens. That gives the botanicals and cannabinoids time to get into the system and start working before the adrenaline surge hits. You're not trying to put out a fire. You're fireproofing.
For dogs with ongoing anxiety (not just situational fears), consistent twice-daily use is where you'll see the biggest shift. What you're doing with consistent dosing is helping regulate the nervous system's baseline over time. Instead of a dog who's always hovering at a 7 out of 10 on the stress scale, you're helping bring that resting state down to a 3 or 4\. From there, training works better, counterconditioning sticks, and triggers become manageable.
My approach with Arya was (and still is) twice daily dosing for baseline support, with an extra dose about an hour before training sessions or situations I know will be challenging. That combination of consistent background support plus strategic situational dosing is what finally gave us traction.
Oil vs. Chews: Same Formula, Different Delivery
Both the oil and the soft chews contain the same active formula: CBD, CBDa, and the calming botanical blend. The difference is speed and flexibility.
The oil absorbs faster. It's also easier to adjust dosing precisely, and for picky dogs who won't eat chews, it’s easy to hide in food or add to a favorite treat.
The chews are convenient, and most dogs take them willingly. They take a bit longer to kick in since they're going through digestion first.
For situational use where timing matters, I lean toward the oil. For everyday maintenance, either works.
What to Actually Expect
No More Wiggles is not going to erase your dog's anxiety. If your dog has genuine fear responses to specific triggers, those responses are still going to happen. What changes is the intensity, the recovery time, and how much room you have to actually work with your dog on behavior modification.
Arya still notices other dogs. She still has moments where I can see her body tense up. But she can recover now. She can look to me for direction instead of reacting first. The ceiling we kept hitting with training? It's higher now.
Give it two weeks of consistent use before you evaluate, and don't be afraid to adjust the dose if needed. The nervous system doesn't reset overnight, and the cumulative effect of daily dosing is where you'll see the real difference.
- Lilly
Hey there, I'm Lilly!
Lilly is the Director of Education and a member of the innovation team at Austin & Kat. With a background in biology and a decade spent formulating supplements and raw diets for the dogs in her life, she's on a mission to make natural pet care less confusing for everyone. Lilly shares her Gig Harbor home with Arya, a 10-year-old pit bull mix and three-time cancer survivor, and Floki, a 120-lb Anatolian Shepherd who thinks he's a lap dog.
What truly makes us different?
When you give your pet Austin and Kat, you're not just giving them any supplement — you're giving them something I've personally obsessed over. As a former ironman athlete and race director - the source, quality, and ratio of ingredients in my supplements had a huge impact on my quality of life. I've brought that same mindset to everything we make today at our Seattle Makery™, and the results speak for themselves.
NASC certified + proudly made by us
When you give your pet Austin and Kat, you're not just giving them any supplement — you're giving them something I've personally obsessed over. As a former ironman athlete and race director - the source, quality, and ratio of ingredients in my supplements had a huge impact on my quality of life. I've brought that same mindset to everything we make today at our Seattle Makery™, and the results speak for themselves.
