Learning to Love

But what about all the abusers who refuse to seek help even if they admit what they're doing to the animals? Therapists can't do anything, and they often suffer their own emotional turmoil over it. With PSYETA sponsorship, Schaefer is preparing a survey to determine how such cases affect her colleagues emotionally. She hopes her research will lead to legislative changes to include animals in the mandatory reporting laws that already exist for children and the elderly.

Until then, Shapiro is urging people in animal welfare, along with teachers, counselors, law enforcement, the judiciary, social workers, and anyone who encounters potential animal abuse in the context of their profession, to become trained in the Anicare programs.

"The bottom-line goal is to give animal abuse the same status as child and spousal abuse," says Shapiro. "I've trained over 200 professionals across the country, and we want to have teams of people traveling the country, holding workshops in assessment, and as many therapists as possible trained in the treatment phase to be able to alter these behaviors."

Learning to be a dog - and a boy

For those already working with the program, Anicare's positive effects are already invaluable.

"We had a 17-year-old who had abused animals in the past placed in the program," Ward recounts. "He was given a scruffy little white dog called Velma to partner with who had been horribly abused. She was incredibly fearful and timid, but it was a perfect teaching moment. We explained to the boy that this is what a victim looks like. You may be long gone, but that animal is still afraid today because of what someone did to her.

"Velma wouldn't go near him at first. He spent 10 days sitting on the floor with hot dogs, placing them a foot in front of her, talking to her calmly and quietly until finally he got the dog to come into his lap. Instead of trying to get her on a leash, he would be in her kennel just rubbing her ears. Velma went through the program and then into a foster home, and eventually she did get a home of her own. But it was a long, painstaking therapy for her to just learn to be a dog."

And the boy? "Well, at the next session he asked to be a teen supervisor. This is a perfect example of a survivor. He's come through all that he's come through in his own life, and I truly believe he will never abuse another animal. He knew he'd done something bad, and he could see before him the effect his actions might have had. But with Velma, he knew he'd done something good. And that felt a whole lot better."

If you would like to learn more about the Anicare program, contact www.psyeta.org or call (301) 963-4751.

For more about Project Second Chance, contact Tamara Ward at THWard@cyfd.state.nm.us.

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