Campisi Holistic Canine

07/13/2025

Campisi Holistic Canine Expert Resources for Canine Therapy Holistic Services EXPLORE ALL SERVICES Structural Integration Trauma recovery for injury. ACL tears, pre- and post-surgery, and minor tears. Aging, achy, sore hips and pelvis. Imbalances in gait. Manual Osteopathic Care CranioSacral Session...

05/14/2025

⚡️THE $6,000 VOLT LIE: What They’re Not Telling You About “Low-Level” Shock Training
🚨This Applies Also To Vibration Collars

“It’s just a mild stim, like a TENS unit. Totally safe.”

No it’s Not!!!

Let’s walk through exactly what happens inside your dog’s neck when you hit that remote. Not just emotionally—but biologically.

Because once you understand what’s happening under their skin, you’ll see this isn’t a communication tool—it’s a nervous system atomic bomb.

You’re Not Hitting One Nerve—You’re Hitting a Highway of Sensory Chaos

When you shock a dog’s neck, you’re not delivering a clean signal to a single behavior center. You’re triggering a web of critical nerves, including:

Vagus Nerve (Cranial X)
• Regulates heart rate, digestion, and emotional calm
• Overstimulation can cause nausea, bradycardia, or collapse

Accessory Nerve (Cranial XI)
• Controls head movement and postural muscles
• Disruption causes jerking, reactivity, or defensive freezing

Cervical Spinal Nerves (C1–C5)
• Link to forelimbs and breathing muscles
• Disturbance can create stumbling, stiffness, or panic movement

Phrenic Nerve (C3–C5)
• Controls breathing via the diaphragm
• Overload causes panting, respiratory distress, or emotional shutdown

Auricular & Transverse Cervical Nerves
• Involved in ear, jaw, and neck sensation
• Trigger head shaking, pawing, scratching, or vocalization

And all of these are stimulated at once when you push that button.

Now Add This: The Skin Itself Is a Dense Sensory Organ

Just three layers under the skin sit multiple mechanoreceptors, each responding to different types of force. You’re not just shocking “muscle”—you’re shocking a sophisticated sensory matrix.

Pacinian Corpuscles
• Detect vibration and sudden pressure
• These fire off immediately during a shock burst

Merkel Disks
• Detect deep pressure and object shapes
• Overload affects body awareness and posture regulation

Ruffini Endings
• Track skin stretch and limb position
• Critical for balance and motor control
• Disruption here throws off the dog’s whole 3D awareness system

Now imagine all of these firing at once. That’s not “clarity.”
That’s impulse chaos.

Impulse Chaos = Trauma

Your dog’s brain receives:
• Vibration (Pacinian)
• Deep stretch (Ruffini)
• Sudden pressure (Merkel)
• Neck-region nerve signals (vagus, accessory, cervical)
All pulsing into the spinal cord and brainstem simultaneously.

The result?

Fight. Flight. Or Freeze.

The dog doesn’t get more “focused”—they get more hypervigilant, disconnected, or frozen. What looks like obedience is often just shutdown.

And Then Comes the Anticipation

Dogs are associative. After the first shock, they start bracing for the next.

This is anticipatory anxiety, and it’s biologically worse than the first zap.

The body floods with cortisol before the button is even pushed. The vagus nerve preps for threat. The limbic system locks into survival mode.

You’re not training anymore.
You’re rewiring the dog to live in fear of their own leash, collar, and handler.

Bottom Line: This Is Not “Communication”

If a therapist zapped you in the neck—triggering your breathing, heartbeat, posture, skin sensors, and head control all at once—you’d sue them.
You’d call it trauma.
Because that’s what it is.

And no, trying it on your arm doesn’t count.
Your arm isn’t your throat.
You’re not a dog.
And you don’t live in a constant state of trying to read the world without language.

This Isn’t a Training Tool. It’s a Nervous System Disruptor.

Stop calling it “low level.”
Stop calling it “just like TENS.”
Stop calling it humane.

Because when you press that button, you’re not sending a message.
You don’t send your location, you don’t sell the dogs problem, you simply add another problem up top of the existing problem your dog has.
You’re setting off a biological fire alarm inside a being who cannot explain their fear.

Addendum (not so minor):
Let’s not forget the hair follicle, a fourth mechanoreceptor often overlooked in these discussions. In dogs, each follicle is connected to three hairs, and their skin—especially in the neck region—is densely furred and highly sensitive. These follicles detect even subtle vibrations. Critically, the first nerve relay for this haptic input doesn’t stop at the spinal cord; it travels to a specialized nucleus just above it. In carnivorous mammals like dogs, this nucleus is larger and more complex than in humans or primates, meaning the same “low-level” input can trigger a heightened full-body response. When you activate a shock collar, you’re not just touching skin—you’re sending a chaotic signal through a neurologically supercharged system evolved for hunting, not handling pain.

(Dr. Sophie Savel, personal communication, May 14, 2025) thank you🙏

03/14/2025

Friends,

MovingSophia has been changed to Campisi Canine Holistic to better suit (and effectively locate) the practice. I've had this name for years, yet now I understand the value of the right name for the right find!

Campisi Holistic -> Human Services
Campisi Canine Holistic -> Canine Services

Thank you for all your support!!
L'aura

01/29/2025

What is Animal Bodywork?

Animal bodywork is both an art and science focused on an animal's muscles to improve their circulation, their range of motion, and decrease muscle spasms. To specialize in bodywork for animals you need to understand the anatomy of the animal you're working on, whether a canine, horse, or other animal, and be able to navigate their body to detect where any problems are.

There are several conditions that animal therapy can help with, including:

Athletic recoveries
Anxiety
Arthritis
Post-orthopedic surgeries

To schedule a session for your canine, please email or call::
CCampisi Holistic505/501,0279

11/04/2024

10/26/2024

🐾 POEM OF A DOG
I'm the one who's always waiting for you.
Your car has a special sound that I have imprinted on my senses, I can recognize it in a thousand.
Your steps have a magic bell.
Your voice is music to my ears.
If I see your joy, it makes me happy!.
Your scent is the best.
Your presence moves my senses.
Your waking up wakes me up
I contemplate you sleeping and for me you are my God, I am happy watching your sleep.
Your look is a ray of light.
Your hands upon me, hold the lightness of peace and the sublime display of infinite love.
When you leave, I feel a huge void in my heart.
I keep waiting for you again and again.
I am the one who will wait for you all your life today, tomorrow and forever:
I am your dog.

10/24/2024

SEEKING: Documentarian for film festivals

TOPIC: Animal Welfare

Message or email me: [email protected]

10/17/2024

If you choose to rescue animals, I am going to give you some sound advice - Grow thick skin and don't care what people think of you. I have known people to lose the battle with their minds and we just lost a kind, caring individual in my rescue network. Compassion fatigue is real, but nothing is worth your life. No pet. No rescue. No person's opinion. Nothing.

In rescue, that person that tells you what an angel you are and how wonderful you are every time you pick up a stray pet thrown at their door will also be the first person who tells people how your organization is worthless when you don't have space to pick up the 30th pet thrown off on their property. It's ok.

In rescue, the adopter that leaves you the five star review about how wonderful everyone has been will change that review quick when they return the pet even though you have spent hours trying to keep it in their home. One star reviews are ok.

In rescue, your friend will be your friend until you deny their application for a pet because they are a great friend but a terrible pet owner. That's ok too.

In rescue, you will answer 143 calls in a day (yesterday to be exact). But if you miss 6 calls in a row while you are in the shower, you will be the one who "never answers their phone". It's ok.

In rescue, other rescuers and random trolls will judge everything you do but never have time to pitch in a hand to help when they see something needing more attention. They will, however, have lots of time to talk about how they’d do it better while they harass and judge you. It will be ok.

In rescue, you will have to involve animal control and the police department sometimes. The people who you take pets from will hate you - and I mean REALLY hate you. Trust me, it's ok.

In rescue, pets will be put down and pets will die at the hands of abusers. We can't save them all - and that's ok. We save the ones that we can and pray for peace for the ones we can't.

I have been in the animal rescue world since 2009. I have dealt with every problem and every situation imaginable. I used to take some things to heart, then I realized - I am doing this for the animals, not for any person in this world. I have found my joy and no person will take that. If you are in rescue, don't let anyone or anything take your joy. Find peace that you will never please everyone. Find peace that you will never save them all. Never allow something you love to turn into something that ends your life.

By: Tiffany Rebecca

10/17/2024

Paws Across Pittsburgh needs YOU!!! Have you ever thought about fostering? If so, we would love to have you on our team!! If fostering has never crossed your mind…. Let me tell you a little about how you can help save a dog’s life.

All of the shelters across the US are full. The rescues don’t have enough fosters to help them all. I think we all now what the consequences are when that happens. You can be a foster hero and help change that.

If you foster with Paws, we provide training and a mentor to help you manage through the process. We provide all supplies and pay for all vetting. You provide the loving home!! The foster also has first choice if they want to adopt!

Please consider helping us help them. Become a foster hero and help save a dog’s life. Please pm us with questions. Applications are online pawsacrosspittsburgh.com/foster

10/07/2024

Adopt a pet, learn about services available for pets in Asheville, report a missing pet or learn what to do when you find a stray.

10/01/2024

Everyone who is thinking of getting dogs should read this because you need to understand this reality:

***I am a 21st century dog.***
-I'm a Malinois.
Overskilled among dogs, I excel in all disciplines and I'm always ready to work: I NEED to work.
But nowadays I get asked to chill on the couch all day everyday.

-I am an Akita Inu.
My ancestors were selected for fighting bears.
Today I get asked to be tolerant and I get scolded for my reactivity when another approaches me.

-I am a Beagle.
When I chase my prey, I raise my voice so the hunters could follow.
Today they put an electric collar on me to shut up, and you make me come back to you - no running - with a snap of your fingers.

-I am a Yorkshire Terrier.
I was a terrifying rat hunter in English mines.
Today they think I can't use my legs and they always hold me in their arms.

-I'm a Labrador Retriever.
My vision of happiness is a dive into a pond to bring back the duck he shot to my master.
Today you forget I'm a walking, running, swimming dog; as a result I'm fat, made to stay indoors, and to babysit.

-I am a Jack Russell.
I can take on a fox, a mean badger, and a rat bigger than me in his den.
Today I get scolded for my character and high energy, and forced to turn into a quiet living room dog.

-I am a Siberian Husky.
Experienced the great, wide open spaces of Northern Europe, where I could drag sleds for long distances at impressive speeds.
Today I only have the walls of the house or small garden as a horizon, and the holes I dig in the ground just to release energy and frustration, trying to stay sane.

-I am a border collie
I was made to work hours a day in partnershipwith my master, and I am an unmistakable artist of working with the herd.
Today they are mad at me because, for lack of sheep, I try to check bikes, cars, children in the house and everything in motion.

I am ...
I am a 21st century dog.
I'm pretty, I'm alert, I'm obedient, I stay in a bag...but I'm also an individual who, from centuries of training, needs to express my instincts, and I am *not* suited for the sedentary life you'd want me to lead.
Spending eight hours a day alone in the house or in the garden - with no work and no one to play or run with, seeing you for a short time in the evening when you get home, and only getting a small toilet walk will make me deeply unhappy.
I'll express it by barking all day, turning your yard into a minefield, doing my needs indoors, being unmanageable the rare times I'll find myself outside, and sometimes spending my days sunk, sad, lonely, and depressed, on my pillow.
You may think that I should be happy to be able to enjoy all this comfort while you go to work, but actually I’ll be exhausted and frustrated, because this is absolutely NOT what I'm meant to do, or what I need to be doing.
If you love me, if you've always dreamed of me, if my beautiful blue eyes or my athletic look make you want me, but you can't give me a real dog's life, a life that's really worth living according to my breed, and if you can't offer me the job that my genes are asking, DO NOT buy or adopt me!
If you like the way I look but aren't willing to accept my temperament, gifts, and traits derived from long genetic selection, and you think you can change them with only your good will, then DO NOT BUY OR ADOPT ME.
I’m a dog from the 21st century, yes, but deep inside me, the one who fought, the one who hunted, the one who pulled sleds, the one who guided and protected a herd still lives within.
So think **very** carefully before you choose your dog. And think about getting two, rather than one, so I won't be so very lonely waiting for you all day. Eight or ten hours is just a workday to you, but it's an eternity for me to be alone.

Like David Attenborough Fans for more.

09/30/2024

Winter is around the bend and there's no better thing to do than TAKE A CLASS WITH YOUR DOG!

On November, 9th at 9 a.m. I will be teaching the CST techniques at Salty Paws in Lawrenceville PA!

To learn more or register, please call or email:
*Class is 90 minutes in length
*Fee is $45 with personal instruction
*Registration required

Who is this for?
Anyone dealing with a stressed-out /anxious dog.

L'aura Marie Campisi / MovingSophia
505/501,0279
[email protected]