The MEN1 Mosaic

#48 - This Is How Dogs Mirror Dis-ease (Animal Communicator & Energy Practitioner)

• Lizzie Dunn • Season 1 • Episode 48

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Could your dog’s behaviour—or even their health—be reflecting what’s going on inside you?

In this eye-opening episode, animal communicator and energy practitioner Viviana reveals how our dogs often mirror our emotional wounds, energetic imbalances, and stress. Whether it’s anxiety, illness, or “bad behaviour,” what if your dog is actually showing you something about you?

In this conversation, we explore:

  • How your dog may be absorbing your stress or trauma
  • The energetic connection between humans and animals
  • Why gut health is key to your pet’s emotional and physical well-being
  • How to support your dog’s true nature in a human world

About Our Guest:
Viviana is an animal communicator, energy healer, and founder of Skool of Drool. Her work helps dogs and their guardians reconnect through intuitive communication, bodywork, and energetic healing—so both can live in alignment, authenticity, and health. Connect with Viviana here.

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Disclaimer
I share my personal experience as a MEN1 patient. Nothing in this episode, including the opinions of my guests, is intended as medical or holistic advice. Please consult a qualified professional before making changes to your care.

Today I’m joined by my friend Viviana, who is an animal communicator, energy practitioner, and founder of School of Drool—the most beautiful canine care space in the whole of Scotland, maybe even the world. This conversation is rooted in something much deeper than just dog training; it’s about emotional mirroring, energetic connection, and what animals can teach us about healing. We talk about how our pets often reflect back to us what we haven’t processed emotionally, what makes support dogs so special, and how animals can become powerful companions on the healing path—even when they’re not really doing anything at all. I hope you enjoy the episode. Viviana, one of the first things I learned from you was how animals mirror and reflect often what’s going on for us emotionally. I know you work with dogs, but you also work with all sorts of other animals as well. Can you talk us through a little bit of what they might be showing up for—what’s going on in our life? Yeah, so animals, especially dogs, their first language is energy. They run on their energetic system—we all have an energetic system, the human species—and it’s a really important system that gets completely forgotten about and overlooked. When I communicate with dogs, I’m always communicating in the language of energy first and foremost, because that’s how we have a deeper understanding of each other. I’m going to the universal language. Dogs are domesticated now, and most animals are suppressed in this human world, but they’re also really still connected to their ancestors and their purpose. Your dogs, your animals—everyone has a purpose. Every soul has a purpose, whether it be elephants or bees, ladybirds or dogs. Our dogs have a purpose too. We all run on energetics, and when your dog comes into your life, it doesn’t speak the human language, but it very quickly has to learn the human language, and they get everything from energy. So, if our nervous system, for instance, is running on overdrive—like most nervous systems are these days, everything’s so fast-paced—we weren’t built for that. Our nervous systems weren’t built for how fast-paced our life is now and how fast we want everything. Dogs are in our environment. How your life is is how your dog’s life is. So, if you’re having a fast-paced, chaotic life, that’s mirroring onto your dog—that energy is mirroring onto your dog. Like I say, your dogs have a purpose for you, and they just want to love you—that is their purpose—to bring love the best way they can and just give you so much love. When they feel your nervous system, your energy going through anything, they want to take that from you—they want to help you with that. Unfortunately, what happens when I talk about the suppression of them—when they’re taking that on for us—they don’t have an outlet to release that suppression in this modern-day world. They don’t understand that this modern world has changed. For instance, if a dog goes to the vet and is put on medication, we can’t explain to them the way we understand it. They just have medication put into them, and their body starts going funny, and they don’t have an understanding for that. They understand energy. They do their best to understand our human communication, and in that cross-communication, they’re taking on things that are too much for them to handle. They’re not built for taking on that amount of mirrored human stress and emotion, and it manifests in so many different ways. That’s my work all the time in animal communication. 90% of the time, when I go in to meet a dog and their human guardian, I’ll be reading the energy with the dog, but the conversation with the guardian is key. Whatever chakras or energy centers are blocked in the human, I know that’s where I’ll probably have to do energy work with the dog, as well as manipulation, massage, or bodywork, because they hold all that suppression in their bodies and energy centers. When they take on so much for us, we have a responsibility to allow them to enrich themselves and to still be true and authentic to them as the canine species—what they need, and what their needs are. Unfortunately, they’re just in a life at the moment where they’re taking on all our needs, all our stresses, and they don’t really have an outlet the way they should to release all that. I understand that from what you’ve said—that dogs don’t have an outlet in the same way to process emotion, and so that gets suppressed. Is it possible that shows up in physical disease—that they become unwell? Do you see anything like that when working with animals? 100%. It’s what I work on mostly. When we go into animal communication, there’s a lot that goes with it. It manifests, absolutely. When they’re not getting out, for instance—I have the School of Drool daycare—and the vision for that has always been to give dogs an authentic environment to them and their species, where they can be enriched and socialize. They’re not caged or suppressed; they can be their true, authentic selves. The dogs that come to daycare get to be in the world of dogs. Their four paws are grounded all day, and they are connected to their DNA and to their authenticity and purpose. It’s also time away from the human world, which is not their world, and they do so well in it—they do amazing in it—because they have that outlet. A lot of dogs, unfortunately, don’t. They’re not getting walked properly, they’re not getting exercise or enrichment, and they’re not getting the nutrition they need. We’re in a fast-paced world of eating, and it’s no different for dogs. Vets now sell all kinds of kibbles, and the advertising makes them look and sound great, but if you really look at the ingredients, it’s another story. So, you’ve got suppressed emotions, mirrored human emotions, miscommunication—usually between the guardian and the dog—because they’re not understanding each other. The dog is doing their best to learn and communicate, but it often comes up as learned behavior and mirroring. Then there’s overfeeding—too much protein per portion—it doesn’t break down properly. Just like us, dogs can only break down so much, and each dog is completely individual. When all that suppression builds, it has no other way to manifest but physically. One of the biggest things I do in animal communication is start with a gut reset. Sometimes before that, I do a water fast, because dogs are fine on just water for a while. What that does is remove the sugars that block their gut. A dog’s gut needs to be as clean as possible to keep them connected. Usually, within that 10-day program, a few things happen: they get healthier, and we see what’s really going on physically and behaviorally. I remember first finding out that a dog could have diabetes, and I thought, “Hang on—that’s a human disease.” But from our work together, you know I don’t focus on the diagnosis or the name of the symptom—it’s the energy behind it. If humans can experience a certain energy, then dogs absolutely can too. Is it likely the owner might have something going on for themselves physically as well? Yeah, absolutely. I’ve got loads of examples. Labradors, for instance—people say they don’t have a cut-off switch for food. But to me, Labradors are about giving, joy, and devotion. In the modern world, it manifests as greed. I worked with a dog called Toby and his human, Charlotte. Toby was on a lot of steroids and about to lose his tail. It became clear he was taking on a lot of Charlotte’s grief. With gut reset, energy work, and nutrition changes, Toby became a new dog. Charlotte had medical issues herself, and Toby was mirroring them. That’s not uncommon. The hardest thing is having that conversation with the guardian—explaining that the dog is a mirror for what’s going on in them. I’ve just finished a program with a lovely man and his dog. The dog had anxiety on walks, and while the surface-level bond was strong, the man’s nervous energy was putting the dog into over-protection mode. Once we changed how he communicated with her—realizing she doesn’t think like a human—their relationship transformed. He started voice-noting insights from their walks. After a guided meditation and sound healing session, things shifted dramatically. The dog relaxed, and the man felt more confident. They had the best walk they’d ever had. It was amazing. This is my purpose: to be a voice for the animals and help people understand them through energy and communication. We need to carry conscious intention in our relationship with our dogs. It’s not about control—it’s about safety. If we bring animals into our home to fill a hole, that’s pressure they can’t handle. I see it all the time—dogs taking on family stress. Puppies will pick up on the safest energy in the household and become everyone’s emotional anchor. That leads to behavioral and health issues because they’re overloaded. I believe dogs' full purpose is to help us. They walk beside us to assist and guide. Whether it’s emotional support or physical assistance, they are capable of so much. When they’re recognized and supported in their gifts, they live out that purpose with joy and devotion. Humans could learn a lot more from them. For anyone listening—if this helped you realize your emotional connection with your dog—what can you do to ensure they’re living a healthy, happy life in their purpose? The biggest thing is presence. Like any relationship, without presence, things break down. I watch people out walking their dogs—on their phones, distracted. That’s not presence. Your dog’s waited all day for that moment. Be with them. Understand that they have needs as a species, and take responsibility for what they consume and how they’re treated. Don’t always go for what’s easy—it adds up over time. Manifestation happens, and we can’t always control how. I don’t even have a dog, and I’m gripped by this. I hope listeners feel the same. Viviana’s School of Drool is amazing—an absolute dog’s heaven. There are other great daycares out there, but School of Drool is special. It’s open, free, wild, and energetically attuned. The dogs thrive because they get to be their full, authentic selves. Long may your mission continue. I never imagined I’d be talking to an animal communicator on a podcast about MEN1, but clearly, it has everything to do with it. We’re all here to live our truth, and dogs help us do that too. Thank you for your time, Viviana. I hope to have you back again. If something in today’s episode resonated—about deeper connection, emotional energy, or healing—I encourage you to explore Viviana’s work. She brings powerful presence to everything she does. For those navigating long-term conditions like MEN1, her approach is both grounding and empowering. You’ll find her links in the description box. Thank you for being here, showing up for yourself, and your healing journey.