Can the Emotion Code be used on animals?
According to Discover Healing, yes: the organization says the Emotion Code and the Body Code can be used with pets and horses, and its articles describe practitioners working with dogs, cats and horses. In Dr. Bradley Nelson's model, animals can hold trapped emotions just as people are said to, and releasing them is described as helping with stress, anxiousness or behavior.
That is the method's own claim, reported here so you know what it says. It has not been tested in the kind of controlled studies that would show whether it does anything for an animal beyond what time, routine and ordinary care would do. The underlying mechanism, trapped emotional energy found by muscle testing, is not established by scientific evidence.
What do practitioners say happens in an animal session?
Discover Healing's material describes the same basic steps used with people, adapted for an animal that cannot answer questions or hold out an arm for muscle testing. The approach most often described is surrogate testing: a person touches the animal while the practitioner muscle tests that person, on the premise that the answers reflect the animal. Discover Healing tells the story of Dr. Nelson working this way with a horse, with the owner acting as surrogate.
Practitioners also describe working at a distance, through what they call proxy sessions, where the animal is not present at all. After an apparent trapped emotion is identified, the practitioner uses the same release step used with people, typically passing a magnet or a hand along the back. Nothing is given to the animal, and nothing physical is done to it beyond touch.
What muscle testing can and cannot tell you
Muscle testing is the method's way of getting yes or no answers from the body. When it has been tested under blinded conditions, it has not performed better than chance. A 2014 double-blind study in the journal Explore concluded that applied kinesiology has not been shown to be a useful or reliable diagnostic tool upon which health decisions can be based. With an animal, the answers pass through a second person as well, which adds another layer of uncertainty rather than removing one.
Why a veterinarian always comes first
Animals cannot tell us when they hurt. A dog that suddenly snaps, a cat that stops using the litter box, or a horse that becomes hard to handle may be in pain or unwell. The Merck Veterinary Manual's guidance for dog and cat owners says the veterinarian will first need to rule out health problems that could be causing a change in behavior, because a medical condition can look like a behavior problem.
That is why the Emotion Code should never be used instead of a veterinary exam, and never to decide whether an animal needs one. Discover Healing's own site carries a disclaimer that nothing on it is intended to diagnose or treat any physical or medical condition. If your animal's eating, drinking, energy, toileting, movement or temperament changes, call your vet. If it is an emergency, go to an emergency veterinary clinic.
- New aggression, fearfulness or hiding can be a pain response.
- House-soiling can come from urinary, kidney, hormonal or digestive problems.
- Restlessness, pacing or changes in sleep can come from illness or discomfort, especially in older animals.
- A behavior specialist, working with your vet, is the evidence-based route for problems that are truly behavioral.
Why it is hard to judge whether it helped
With an animal, the judge of whether anything changed is usually the owner. Researchers have shown that this is less reliable than it feels. In a 2012 study in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Michael Conzemius and Richard Evans found that owners of arthritic dogs given a placebo reported improvement about 40 percent of the time, while objective gait measurements showed most of those dogs had not changed. They called this the caregiver placebo effect.
The same effect can happen after any session that an owner hopes will help. Animals also respond to how the people around them feel. A calmer, more attentive owner can mean a calmer animal, which is a real and welcome thing, but it is not evidence that trapped emotions were released. Keeping notes, and keeping your vet informed, is a fairer way to see what is actually happening over time.
If you are considering it for your animal
Some owners choose the Emotion Code for an animal as a gentle addition to good care, especially during a stressful change like a move, a new baby, or the loss of a companion animal. If you decide to try it, a few ground rules keep the animal's welfare first.
- Have your veterinarian examine the animal first, and keep them informed of anything else you are trying.
- Never delay, reduce or stop veterinary treatment or prescribed medication because of an energy session.
- Be cautious of any practitioner who suggests a diagnosis, or says a session can stand in for veterinary care.
- Ask what the practitioner is and is not claiming, and what it costs, before booking.
- Remember that an Emotion Code certification is not a veterinary or animal-behavior qualification.
Does Laura Bass offer Emotion Code sessions for animals?
Laura Bass is a certified Emotion Code practitioner who works with adults and older teens, and she keeps her psychotherapy and complementary work as separate pathways. Whether she works with animals is not something this site states. If that is what you are looking for, ask Laura directly.
For how she describes her Emotion Code work with people, see the Emotion Code service page. For more on the method itself, the Emotion Code guide collects the rest of this series.
Common questions
Is there scientific evidence that the Emotion Code works for animals?
No. Discover Healing describes using the method with pets and horses, but there are no controlled studies showing it changes an animal's health or behavior. The core ideas, that emotions become trapped as energy and that muscle testing can detect them, are not established by scientific evidence, and blinded studies of muscle testing have not found it reliable. Treat any benefit as unproven, and keep veterinary care at the center of your animal's health.
Can the Emotion Code replace a trip to the vet?
No. A change in an animal's behavior, appetite, energy or toileting can be a sign of pain or illness, and only a veterinarian can examine and diagnose the animal. Veterinary guidance is to rule out medical causes first. An energy session should never delay a vet visit, and it should never be used to decide whether one is needed. If in doubt, call your vet.
How do practitioners work with an animal that cannot be muscle tested?
Discover Healing describes surrogate testing, where a person touches the animal and the practitioner muscle tests that person, and proxy sessions, where the animal is not present. Both rest on the method's premise that the answers reflect the animal. That premise has not been demonstrated, and adding a person in between adds uncertainty. It is a description of the method, not evidence that it works.
Is it harmful to try the Emotion Code with my pet?
The session itself is gentle: touch, and a magnet or hand passed along the back. The real risk is indirect. If an owner uses a session in place of a vet visit, a painful or serious condition can go untreated. Kept alongside proper veterinary care, and with your vet informed, it is unlikely to hurt the animal, though you are paying for something whose benefit is unproven.
Does Laura Bass work with pets?
This site does not state that she does. Laura is a certified Emotion Code practitioner and a psychotherapist who works with adults and older teens. If you are hoping for a session for an animal, please ask her directly through the contact page before assuming it is available. She will tell you plainly what she does and does not offer.