We’ve all seen them. The dog who runs into every new place, tail up, face smiling. For anyone who has ever been nervous or anxious starting a new job, walking into a party late or stepping up to a start line when competing, this is quite phenomenal.

Somewhere along the way, adult people forget how to breathe. We take short, shallow breaths from our chest. When worried or nervous, those shallow breaths become fast, making our breathing even worse. And when those short, shallow breaths are the result of any anxiety, our anxiety becomes worse as our breathing becomes worse. One feeds the other until we’re forced to just stop.

I remember the first time Dazzle lowered his head and growled at me over a bone I’d just given him. He was young—around 8 months old—and I felt I had done everything right—took him to classes, fed him a premium diet, including raw, meaty bones, walked him three times a day, every day and played with him in between. He had started basic obedience classes and puppy agility. I knew he had a good life and I worked hard to be able to afford to do it all—where did I go wrong?

You yawn when you’re tired and probably when you’re bored. You even yawn when you see someone else yawning a lot. And some athletes yawn to focus and stay calm before a competition. Olympic skater Apolo Ohno was well-known for his warm-up yawns.

Your dog also yawns—so what’ up with that?