Have You Ever Seen Anyone Yelling at a Dog?
Why Do We Lose Control Over the Small Stuff?
You’ve probably seen it happen—or done it yourself. Someone yelling at a dog. Not because the dog did something catastrophic, but because it was slow to come inside or barked too long at the wrong moment. The dog, of course, doesn’t understand. It just looks up, confused and still. And the person yelling? For a split second, they feel justified. But soon after, they probably feel embarrassed, maybe even ashamed.
That moment—the one where the reaction feels bigger than the situation—was the seed for Have You Ever Seen Anyone Yelling at a Dog? I wrote this book because I wanted to understand why we lash out over things that, deep down, we know aren’t really the problem. Why we erupt over traffic, tech glitches, miscommunications, or someone chewing too loudly. Why the small stuff isn’t actually small when we’re already carrying too much.
This isn’t a book about “those people” who explode in public. It’s about all of us. About the quiet build-up of pressure, the unseen weight of stress, and the inner scripts that make it feel impossible to pause before we react.
What’s Really Behind These Outbursts?
The truth is, most of our anger doesn’t come from the moment we explode. It comes from everything we’ve been holding in. The deadlines, the disappointments, the unresolved conversations, the background noise of anxiety. When we yell at the dog—or slam a cupboard or snap at a stranger—it’s rarely about what just happened. It’s about what’s been happening beneath the surface for days, weeks, sometimes years.
In Have You Ever Seen Anyone Yelling at a Dog?, I unpack the psychological forces behind emotional overreaction:
How unresolved stress builds up in the body and mind
How cognitive distortions make us believe the worst is happening
How emotional displacement causes us to target the wrong source
And how a lack of self-awareness keeps us stuck in loops of reaction, shame, and regret
These patterns don’t make you a bad person. They make you human. But understanding them is the first step toward not being controlled by them.
It’s Not About Suppression—It’s About Choice
This book doesn’t tell you to suppress your emotions. In fact, one of its key messages is that emotions are valid, but the way we express them is often unexamined. Most of us were never taught how to recognize frustration early, how to name what we’re actually feeling, or how to create space between stimulus and response.
What I offer in this book is a way to reclaim that space. To learn how to pause—not perfectly, not always, but enough. Enough to stop living in a loop of reactive anger. Enough to choose a different outcome, even when your body is tensed and your patience is wearing thin.
There are tools in these pages—psychological strategies, real-life stories, exercises you can apply. But more than that, there’s an invitation. To step off the emotional autopilot. To stop letting small things derail your peace. To recognize that your reactions don’t have to own you.
Who This Book Is For
If you’ve ever walked away from a moment thinking, “Why did I say that?” or “That wasn’t me,” then this book is for you. If stress makes you feel like you’re walking around with a hair-trigger fuse, this book is for you. And if you’re just tired of feeling like your mood is always at the mercy of everything around you—this book is definitely for you.
You don’t have to be in crisis. You just have to be ready to get curious about your emotional life—and honest about where you want it to go.
One Pause Can Change Everything
At the heart of this book is one simple challenge: the next time you’re triggered, pause. Just for a moment. Just long enough to notice. That pause won’t fix everything, but it will shift the dynamic. It will remind you that you are not your frustration. You are the one observing it—and that means you have options.
Have You Ever Seen Anyone Yelling at a Dog? isn’t just a book. It’s a mirror, a guide, and a gentle push toward emotional maturity. Toward reclaiming your calm. Toward choosing how you show up in the world, one moment at a time.