Toby has stopped sucking his thumb. For three weeks the irresistible come-to-kennel-eyes of our family dog showed a lonesome pet. His only comfort was licking his front paws - apparently the canine equivalent of thumb-sucking. Toby is smitten with one of our neighbours. Nicholas, at no. 4, is the apple of his eye, a man with whom he strolls through hay fields, relaxes by log fires and sniffs out the most marvellous of River Dodder-centered adventures.
Just before Christmas, however, Nicholas left Dublin and Toby to go on holiday . . . for three weeks. And not a mention of it to Toby. The first poor Toby knew was when he trotted merrily down to see him, to give a cheerful bark at the door and be welcomed into the day's escapades. No Nicholas. Several times over the next few days, Toby returned to no. 4, refusing to believe that his partner could so abruptly have walked away from their life.
As truth slowly dawned, Toby took to his basket. Temporary relief came with the daily walk, hugs and reassurances that there were plenty of other Nicholases in the sea. But most of the time he was inconsolable. Paw-licking was preferable even to Scooby snacks.
But Nicholas is back now and Toby has recovered. He has a new leash of life, the eyes have their old sparkle and and there's a definite spring in his paws. No need to worry anymore.
Stress reduction
In the US, however, worry over doggy emotions can now involve a trip to the pharmacy. The US Food and Drug Administration has just approved two drugs to combat canine depression, separation anxiety and, in geriatric dogs, cognitive dysfunction syndrome.
Clomicalm - a beef-flavoured anti-depressant - has been found, says the FDA, to reduce the stress of separation anxiety, and the doggie-mess, chewed furniture and howling that go with it. Anipryl, based on the same chemical and used in a drug which treats Parkinson's disease in humans, is administered to ageing dogs who are getting confused, pacing about by themselves in the middle of the night, forgetting to eat and becoming incontinent.
You see, dogs don't lie about love - or hurt, or sadness or feeling in the doghouse. Orla Doherty, a Dublin-based vet and dog-behaviour specialist, says dogs are "very complex and sensitive creatures". Her basket-side manner, she says, is in ever-increasing demand. Tom Farrington, of Pampered Pets in Dublin, specialises in both the conventional and homeopathic treatment of animals. He says dogs experience "the same range of emotions as humans.
"One of the most fascinating things I see", he says, "is when an owner dies and the dog becomes enormously depressed. Dogs can become very attached to their owners and their grief can be just as traumatic as it is for humans. But they cannot communicate it or work it out with counselling, so they express it in other ways.
"When owners go on holiday", continues the doggy-doc, "they might put their dogs in the finest of kennels and come back to find they have barked so much they are hoarse. Barking here is the human equivalent of crying, and they have simply cried till they can cry no more."
Family is pack
"The important thing to remember", says Ms Doherty, "is that dogs think and have emotions, just as humans do, but they think as dogs and have the emotions of dogs. They expect to be treated as they would in a pack, and your family is your dog's pack.
When his pack goes out for the day and leaves him, he can become very distressed. In the wild, when a dog loses his pack, his natural instinct is to lie about a lot - which looks like moping in family life - to conserve energy. In more extreme cases though, they might try to escape the home to look for the pack, chew furniture in protest or even lose control of their bowels if their anxiety is severe enough.
"The only social system a dog understands is a hierarchy", she explains. "Most families treat their dog as an equal, but might give it certain privileges such as giving it bits of their food from the dinner table. That dog will think it's high up in the pack. Then the family expects the dog to submit to commands; they move the dog off the sofa and it growls. It's getting very mixed messages which can cause conflict and behavioural problems."
First 12 weeks
Most dog owners are very well-intentioned, but the majority of dog's behavioural problems are created by the owners, according to Farrington. The first 12 weeks in a dog's life are critical, like the first 8 years of a human's life.
If a puppy is rejected by its mother, or slapped a lot by its owner, or separated too early from the mother and siblings, it may grow to be very insecure, crave affection from adults, and have low self-esteem.
Some of course are just mad - plain mut-cases. Farrington concedes that in some cases a dog is psychotic, will not respond to treatment and may have to be put down.
So, are dogs meeting each other to speak of how their masters and mistresses have screwed them up? "Irrespective of where a dog lives, in the wild or with humans, life has its stresses. In the wild it lives in constant terror that it will be hunted out and killed", says Farrington.
So, when we humans make a mess of dealing with our dogs' emotions, should we thank goodness for puppy-Prozac? For our happy, if elderly mut, arthritic paws `n' all , a pill ain't no substitute for a walk in the park.