The MISTER Protocol
Helping dogs complete the stress cycle instead of getting stuck in it.
In early 2023, I brought home a nine-week-old Australian Shepherd puppy to my one-bedroom city apartment with two cats.
I heard my fair share of cautions.
People were skeptical that a high-energy working breed could happily grow up in an urban apartment.
They weren’t wrong.
But I know myself, and I love a challenge. (That’s probably one of the main reasons Aussies and I get along so well.)
I’m a dog trainer. I work remotely. There’s never going to be a perfect time to bring home a puppy, but this was probably the closest I was going to get.
And so Max joined the family.
We went through all the expected phases: the floppy, goofy baby stage, followed by the long teenage raptor phase of unending energy and frustration. I regularly questioned my life choices.
And I loved him.
We persisted.
I tried over and over to build the perfect routine for both of us. But whenever things started to settle, life would burst through—sick days, weather changes, new triggers to work through—and suddenly we were back at the beginning again.
Over time I started noticing a pattern with Max. Later, I began seeing the same pattern in many other dogs I worked with.
A dog startles.
They mobilize—running away, barking, lunging, or escalating.
The human moves on. Maybe they physically walk down the street, or maybe they simply continue with their day.
But the dog’s nervous system never actually resolves the stress response.
The loop never completes.
Over time I started experimenting with ways to help Max finish those loops. Eventually it turned into a simple checklist I now call the MISTER Protocol.
The name started as a joke.
When Max is really irritating me, I sometimes speak to him like we’re having a Victorian spat.
“My dear sir, your attitude is not accomplishing what you think it is.”
Or:
“Mr. Max, you’re being entirely unhelpful being in my face right now.”
He has no idea what I’m saying, but it keeps me in a lighter mindset.
And so, the MISTER Protocol was born.
Instead of asking how to burn off all of Max’s energy, I started asking a different question:
Which part of the stress cycle is he stuck in?
He wasn’t “acting up.” He wasn’t being rebellious or disobedient.
He was trapped in a loop that hadn’t been allowed to resolve.
For Max—and for many other easily overstimulated, high-energy dogs—the stuck point usually showed up in one of six areas.
MISTER
Movement
Move the body to release accumulated tension.
Interaction
Connect and attune with others.
Self-engagement
Build the autonomy to make choices and tolerate boredom. This is the dog discovering that their own actions matter—playing independently, exploring, or choosing how to engage with their environment.
Thinking
Create and strengthen new neural pathways through training and problem solving.
Exploring
Engage with the world through sensory observation—seeing, hearing, sniffing, and gathering information.
Regulation
Strengthen the ability to downshift after arousal. This can include both co-regulation with a trusted person and the dog’s growing ability to regulate internally.
There’s a common misconception that high-energy dogs simply need to burn off all their energy.
If they’re still wired, run them more.
If they can’t settle, give them more to do.
But dogs—just like human children—don’t automatically learn how to self-regulate without support and practice.
Many dogs don’t struggle with building arousal. They struggle with controlling that arousal and coming back down afterward.
Max didn’t need help activating. His young Aussie brain had that part fully handled.
What we had to practice was regulating again afterward. Instead of organizing everything around how many minutes of exercise we could check off, I started structuring our routines around his arousal levels.
Then, near the end of 2023, I got sick.
Since then, I’ve been learning how to live with a new set of physical limitations. Some days I struggle just to get out of bed because of fatigue and pain.
But Max still has his own needs.
So the bedroom became our basecamp.
I got creative.
We played shaping games.
We used puzzle toys.
We practiced cooperative care.
We leaned heavily into regulating activities.
On good days we still play fetch, tug, and let him run his zoomies. Those higher-arousal outlets are important, and we do them whenever we can.
But life doesn’t always allow that.
And the MISTER Protocol gives me a structured way to check where in the stress cycle Max might be stuck, even on days when I’m exhausted and overwhelmed.
Many dogs—and many people—don’t struggle because they encounter stress.
They struggle because the stress cycle never fully completes.
The goal isn’t to eliminate arousal. It’s to help the nervous system move all the way through it.
This is very helpful, thank you!