Illustrative Cases from S.A.F.E.R.

FES Canine Case
Jacques: Refusing to Take a Back Seat

This is the case of a Retriever named Jacques. This is one of our recent cases. It was carried out by distance consultation, the dog and owner being in France (showing that in this type of therapy it is not actually always essential to have personal contact with the client / animal).

Jacques' owner, "M," had used Bach flower remedies in the past, and started giving him Mimulus and Rock Rose when he developed a strong fear of traveling in the car. He would not even approach the car, and was very unwilling to get inside. He could be lured in with tidbits, but this did not always work, and took a long time. Once the engine was started, and the car began to move, he would freak out completely. Prior to this, he had always been a good traveler and actively enjoyed being in the car.

Jacques had been checked out by his vet, but was given the all-clear. The vet could not explain the new behavior.

M had been giving Jacques the usual four drops, four-times-daily on pieces of biscuit or dried bread. Mimulus and Rock Rose had produced a slight result after two weeks - Jacques was happy to get into the car. But as soon as the ignition was turned on, the fear returned. M would have to stop the car and console him. But even this did not seem to have the desired effect. M contacted us for help.

The first thing we advised was that M should stop petting Jacques when he showed fear. This may have been an understandable reaction from a loving owner, but it was in effect telling him that there was indeed something to be afraid of, reinforcing his fear. A classic mistake!

The second point was to ask her whether anything had sparked the condition - had anything happened in the car, such as an accident, or trauma? M said no. When we asked whether anyone other than her had taken the dog out in the car at any stage, she also said no. She asked whether we thought Aspen (fear of unknown things) should be added to his essences, but in our experience, Aspen is seldom needed for animals. As far as we have observed, animals are aware of what makes them afraid - they do not fall prey to fears from the unconscious.

Instead, we decided to take a "tonic and pathic" approach, that is, treating for both the manifestation and the cause of the problem simultaneously. Mimulus and Rock Rose were to be continued as before, but we added Star of Bethlehem for the "unseen" trauma that we felt must be the cause of the problem. The three essences were given as before, four times daily on biscuits and bread, in conjunction with the strict understanding that any displays of fear from Jacques were to be ignored and not rewarded.

A week later, M called back to say that the dog was now sitting happily in the back of the car for short trips. Then, after ten days, she chanced a longer trip of fifteen minutes or so, and the dog was fine. This was over four months ago, and there has been no repetition of the problem.

Not so long ago, M e-mailed us with an interesting revelation: before the trouble with Jacques started, her 19-year-old son, while home on vacation from college, had taken him out in the car, driving without his mother's permission. He had been speeding, and narrowly avoided a serious accident. The experience had left him very shaken, and he hadn't told his mother at the time.

So this was the missing piece of the puzzle! Here was the "unseen" trauma that had triggered the dog's fear, explaining why the first two essences had not completely eased his stress.

We can see from this case that, as long as we are able to make educated guesses, flower essences allow us to treat problems without our even having to know their exact nature and origin. This is surely another tribute to their amazing flexibility.

Read three other animal case studies from S.A.F.E.R.

Brandy is a Springer Spaniel pup belonging to Mary, Gael's cousin in Ireland. When we started the case, he was about 4 and a half months old. Brandy's problems are very much behavioral, training issues.

Jessie is a three-year-old, female, long-haired German Shepherd, who has been in trouble with the law after biting a teenager five months ago. Under the Dangerous Dogs Act (UK) if she transgresses one more time she is at risk of being forcibly taken from her owners and destroyed. The owners have been cautioned and threatened with a criminal record. The owners requested a remedy "to stop her from doing this again."

At the time of this writing, Molly is in foal. However, her problematic temperament was causing concern as to how easily she could be approached and handled as the pregnancy progressed. This was the main priority for treatment, to "mellow" the mare into a more docile and receptive emotional state within the remaining month of pregnancy, for her own good, that of the foal, and for the safety of the handlers.