When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Sources

When Your Dog Needs A Shrink

Unruly -- and unhappy -- dogs and cats can be a real nightmare for their human masters. One option? Therapy. Specialized dog and cat psychologists can work wonders with perturbed pets, but only when their owners are willing to open up as well.

Tied up and feeling down (Mr. T)
Tied up and feeling down (Mr. T)
Pascale Senk

Right now, about 10% of dogs are suffering from mental disorders. The same goes for us human beings. And 50% of canines are prone to mental illnesses at least once in their lives. Again, the same goes for us. At certain points in their lives they may feel anxious, depressed and have phobias, just as we do. All this can ruin not only their lives, but the lives of their masters as well.

Still, there are some specific disorders that are uniquely human. "Schizophrenia rarely affects animals. Psychopathology never does," says Joel Dehasse, veterinary expert in cat and dog behaviors in Brussels and author of Mon animal a-t-il besoin d'un psy? (Does my pet need to go to a psychiatrist?).

Nonetheless, behavioral problems that occur when the pets are with their masters or with their peers are very common. Here is one example: Mouse is a cute Anatolian Shepherd that weighs 60 kilograms. As he has grown, Mouse has become more and more aggressive with small male dogs he encounters while out walking with his master. Little by little, what had been nice relaxing moments for the master have become major nightmares. Mouse now has to be muzzled. His owner, always on the alert, has to make sure others dogs always stay 10 meters away.

"Some masters cannot stand it anymore. That's when they decide to bring their pets to a psychiatrist," explains Bruno Legrand, a dog trainer in the Loiret in northern France – and a teacher at the National Veterinary School in Maisons-Alfort. "What the masters don't know is that they will have to see the psychiatrist as well," he adds.

This is something particular to dog and cat therapy: vets have to examine the pet while also taking into account the subjective way their masters see them, in other words the masters' distorting prisms. "In most cases, animals project how their masters feel. At the first therapy session, the psychiatrist spends five minutes with the dog and 50 minutes with its master," Dehasse says.

Then, for instance, the vet will ask Mouse's master what kind of relations he has with small dogs. The approach is very close to the systemic analysis used with children who go to see a psychiatrist because their parents want to. No wonder Dehasse also knows a lot about family therapy. "People now consider pets to be part of their families," he says.

Nature or nurture?

Another similarity is that behavioral therapy for pets always starts with an inquiry about the causes of the disorder: Is it genetic, something proper to that particular breed, or is there something that happened in the animal's past life that may explain its aggressive behavior? Does Mouse think that it is playing with the small dogs he is actually attacking? Is it behavior that is programmed by the dog's genes? Or was Mouse taken away from its mother too early after he was born?

Once the causes of the disorder are recognized, the vets can prescribe medicines in some cases. But their first priority is to encourage the pets to behave differently. The vets have to lead the animals into a new "lifestyle" – something that is satisfying both for the pet and its master. "Dogs cannot talk like human beings, so we try to move forward relying on their various life experiences," Dehasse explains.

Thus, Mouse will be taught to look his master in the eye whenever it hears the mere order "Look." As result, the master can control his dog's attention, even in the streets.

"An animal only needs to go to therapy for one to six months to change its behavior," Legrand says. "The results are even better when the master is very much aware of the problem, and when he or she puts daily efforts into helping his or her pet."

But if the master does not know the basics about the behavioral mechanism of his or her pet's breed and about its needs, there can be serious consequences. "People just want romantic images of fictional dogs," says Legrand.

Not knowing, for example, that your dog needs to run and to chew at least 5 hours a day, or spoiling it rotten, may have serious consequences. Indeed, 95% of phobic or aggressive pets, if they don't undergo therapy, will be abandoned, end up in the ASPCA or be put down.

Read the original article in French.

Photo - Mr. T

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Geopolitics

An End To Venezuela Sanctions? The Lula Factor In Biden's Democratization Gamble

The Biden administration's exploration to lift sanctions on Venezuela, hoping to gently push its regime back on the path of democracy, might have taken its cue from Brazilian President Lula's calls to stop demonizing Venezuela.

Photo of a man driving a motorbike past a wall with a mural depicting former President Hugo Chavez in Caracas, Venezuela

Driving past a Chavez mural in Caracas, Venezuela

Leopoldo Villar Borda

-OpEd-

BOGOTÁ — Reports last month that U.S. President Joe Biden's apparent decision to unblock billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets, frozen since 2015 as part of the United States' sanctions on the Venezuelan regime, could be the first of many pieces to fall in a domino effect that could help end the decades-long Venezuelan deadlock.

It may move the next piece — the renewal of conversations in Mexico between the Venezuelan government and opposition — before pushing over other obstacles to elections due in 2024 and to Venezuela's return into the community of American states.

I don't think I'm being naïve in anticipating developments that would lead to a new narrative around Venezuela, very different to the one criticized by Brazil's president, Lula da Silva. He told a regional summit in Brasilia in June that there were prejudices about Venezuela — and I dare say he wasn't entirely wrong, based on the things I hear from a Venezuelan friend who lives in Bogotá but travels frequently home.

My friend insists his country's recent history is not quite as depicted in the foreign press. The price of basic goods found in a food market are much the same as those in Bogotá, he says.

He goes to the theater when he visits Caracas, eats in restaurants and strolls in parks and squares. There are new building works, he says. He uses the Caracas metro and insists its trains and stations are clean — showing me pictures on his cellphone to prove it.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest