“Before the bell rang, the dog barked. Its owners cried out, ‘Stay! Stay!’ I imagined the scene. They would be tugging at the leash to hold their dog back. I opened the door and a boxer threw itself at me, nearly striking my chin. It slobbered at me with its tongue, then ran after a tennis ball that had been left on the ground on purpose… The probable diagnosis of hyperactivity was rendered in two minutes and confirmed in five. I spent the rest of the hour of the consultation listening to the dog’s owners, to determine their level of motivation to change things…”

Faced with a hyperactive dog or a depressive cat, can one hope for a quick change of behaviour, asks Joël Dehasse. Under what circumstances? What sort of “therapies” work and what sort of therapeutic relationship should be established between the veterinarian, the pet and its master?
Dehasse presents here a little-known veterinarian specialisation: behavioural animal medicine. It implies the active participation of a pet and its master and aims at finding working solutions. It provides a therapeutic technique enabling pet owners to obtain — sometimes in a matter of a few weeks — objectively verifiable results that they will be able to consolidate themselves.

Joël Dehasse is a behavioural veterinarian, specialising in the interaction between pets and their masters. He works in Brussels.