When a dog feels stressed, what is there to do? Take it to a psychiatrist. Obviously.

Dogs in therapy play-fight on the couch. (Photo: Lili Kocsis)

It is hard to miss the hoard of dogs that evade the streets of Buenos Aires – the four-legged, tail-wagging, tongue-dangling creatures are absolutely everywhere. A survey released this year by Mars, world leader in pet food manufacturing, reveals unsurprising statistics that prove Argentina to be the Latin American champ of the nations for indulging in pets.

Eight out of ten households in Argentina house a pet, 63% of which are dogs. From individual walkers to ‘paseadores,’ it seems the city is but a playground for canines.

But however fun Buenos Aires is, cities can be difficult places to live in. The endless hustle-bustle, being cooped-up in small apartments, and the ever-looming cloud of pollution is stressful even for us humans. Dog psychiatrist, Ricardo Bruno, argues that for most of these miniature urban dwellers, the city is detrimental.

Dog Whisperer Ricardo Bruno with two patients (Photo: Lili Kocsis)

It probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that in a country where visiting a therapist is as part of a daily routine as the gym, and where nine million dogs are domesticated, that psychiatry has been elevated from its originally human realms to those of dogs.

Bruno is one of ten pet psychiatrists in Buenos Aires, resolving issues with aggression, fear, and compulsive symptoms, ultimately socialising troublesome cats and dogs. And not just by dog whispering. “I am a doctor, I medicate animals with anti-depressants such as Paroxetine and Lorazepam,” he explains.

Isolation vs. humanisation of dogs

Over thousands of years, dogs have been domesticated to instinctively relate to their human families as being part of their pack, but there is a fine balance between needing to be socially involved in family life and being considered too much to be like a human. Various factors create festering problems in pets, which eventually need treating.

For one, dogs bought for security tend to be left alone in backyards, away from crucial human contact. All the dog’s instincts tell it to be part of the pack, causing it anxiety and stress.

“We have a large problem with security, so many people buy dogs for security rather than love, but in the end the dogs attack them. It is the same as people buying a gun for security, but end up shooting themselves in the foot, literally,” Bruno laughs.

The problem also persists with dogs that are bought just for show, many owners do not have time for their dogs, leaving them alone in the house for extended periods of time.

Dogs left alone tend to break everything, explains Bruno, which escalates into a larger problem as ‘destructive’ dogs then become further isolated, left on a terrace where they are unable to destroy things in the family home.

“People in Europe are more conscious when they are thinking about buying a dog; they think first. Here, they first buy the dog, and then they think.”

Although dogs thrive on companionship, owners can also run the risk of involving them too much in the family. Dogs are often accepted into a family like a human being, along with human expectations and without training.

Bruno theorises that people often feel alone in a city like Buenos Aires, so they take on dogs, and they love them like humans, and with such high expectations, owners get frustrated when their dog ‘misbehaves’, creating a confusing relationship for the dog. “Often, the problem is that the owner does not understand that they must be the leader. People see humans in their dogs. But they are not humans: they are dogs.”

Most dogs in Buenos Aires are not born with mental disorders – the conditions of living in an urban environment cause them, argues Bruno. “If you put any one of them in the countryside, they would be fine.”

So has Buenos Aires’ dog-crazy population created monsters out of canines?

Dog behaviour specialist, Mariana Bontosela, believes that Buenos Aires’ dogs are not doomed; though admitting to an Argentine pet ownership problem, she is much more optimistic. “Dogs have been domesticated for the last 16,000 years, they have long since adapted to living with humans and within cities.”

Bontosela does, however, agree there lacks a culture of education here – dogs are not typically taught tricks or even simple things such as ‘sit’. But she adds that as long as dogs are trained for their function, it is unlikely there will be problems. As an example, she uses security dogs, which function just fine left outside of the house; if trained properly, they should not present problems.

This dog, Max, stares out the window. (Photo: Poppy Wright)

“For pet dogs, contact is vital,” she adds, reiterating Bruno’s concerns, emphasising that an increase in pet-owner interaction is essential.

But generally, she believes that respect for dogs in Argentina is on the up: “People have been a lot more careful in the last few years, with zoological awareness on the rise. It is true that humanisation of dogs is still a problem, but Argentines really love their dogs, and attempt to treat them well.”

Both Bruno and Bontosela believe that the way to change the behaviour of Argentina’s pet dogs is through adapting interaction between pets and owners. Owners need to further understand their dogs, working with them. Though the allocation of drugs is essential for some, medication should only be assigned with an increase in human attention.

“It is really important to make people understand their pets, it interests me more to speak to the owner, because I want the people to understand the meaning of their dogs,” Bruno explains.

“If a dog keeps jumping onto people, give it special attention when its feet are on the ground. Although there are different variations of behavioural correction, this forms the crux.”

Dominique Gutierrez and Ryan Long, dog psychology first-timers, took their misbehaving pup, Joey, to Bruno for help earlier this year. “Sometimes a switch would go, and he’d get really angry,” they explained. They were convinced Joey’s constant snapping and aggressive tendencies could not be changed, but they could not put up with his disruptive behaviour any longer.

Bruno prescribed him female hormones for a month, assigned the dog a special lead, and told the couple “you can deal with this,” telling them to show Joey who was boss. Through Bruno’s various methods, the couple have seen huge improvements in Joey’s behaviour.

The message is clear, in a city of undeniable dog lovers, it is best not to smother or ignore pets, but to create a healthy balance. Though most of the city’s dog owners have their hearts set in the right place, more attention needs to be given to the way they interact with their dogs. Love is simply not enough.

“So much of our highly valued culture was acquired via sexuality.” Sigmund Freud

“One cannot understand the essence of a country or society without understanding the web of sexual relations of those that built it. Responsible for the birth, the splendour, the decadence, and the fall of the greatest civilizations, nobody can ignore the profound impact of sexuality on the visual art and stories of nations.” This is the creed which prompted Argentine author, Federico Andahazi, to write ‘Pecar Como Dios Manda’, the sexual history of Argentina.

Photo by Carlos “mUla” Muller

A strutting stripper at an erotic film festival held in Buenos Aires.

It is therefore unsurprising that he appeared alongside ‘sexologists’, film directors, artists, models and shop owners in September 2009, at Buenos Aires’ first ‘Festival de Cultura Erotica’. The festival provided a glimpse into a lesser known facet of the city’s cultural offerings. Conceived of the sexual and characterised by the sensual, Buenos Aires’ mundo erotico is a pulsing hub of art, literature and performance. It is a world which, according to Andahazi, is alien to many porteños, yet inexorably linked to their heritage and identity.

Erotica versus Pornography

‘Erotica’ is a portrayal of human anatomy and sexuality with high-art aspirations. Strictly speaking, a notion of erotica in Buenos Aires should not be pegged to its red light district, telos (pay-per-hour hotels), or sex shops and strip clubs. A distinction is often also made between erotica and pornography, which serves solely as sexual entertainment. The ‘Festival de Cultura Erotica’ therefore bore its name in the loosest possible sense, hosting big names in the Argentine pornographic industry.

However, artists have wrestled with the line between the two for decades, and one person’s pornography is another’s erotica. It was clear that the festival intended to encompass a multitude of expectations, satisfying both artistic curiosity and a more libidinous agenda. Torn between subtly titillating, creative finesse and brash, concupiscent entertainment, Buenos Aires’ cultura erotica was presented as a mixed bag.

Erratic erotica: ‘Festival de Cultura Erotica’

The three levels of the Palacio Alsina showcased everything from nude figure paintings and photography to heavy-duty sex toys; from provocative lingerie to conferences on ‘Erogenous Psychology’ and ‘Making a Porno’. Live performances oscillated from the thrusts of oiled strippers to a complex balletic duet involving melted wax and bare torsos. The festival’s headline act was Sonia Baby, Spain’s most celebrated vaginal acrobat.

Amongst such entertainments was an array of oddities. The hedonistic atmosphere conjured by the champagne bar was diluted somewhat by the kebab stand. Bikini-clad models posed suggestively for photos, but also gave out pens advertising good nutrition. The guests were a selection of old and young; couples and groups; those with an interest in the artistry, and those who became publicly amorous around 10pm. The festival seemed confused; as though obstinate that erotica held an important position in Argentine culture, though unsure of its exact location.

Photo by Beatrice Murch

Above, Paola Kullock and below, a selection of the sextoys she champions.

The art of the act: Paola Kullock

One of the most interesting additions was psychologist, erotic masseuse and general ‘sexpert’: Paola Kullock. The charismatic speaker presented an excerpt from her weekly stand-up show. Taking to the stage at her regular Friday evening gig, Kullock teaches “the professional techniques and secrets of great sex”. Through audience participation and pop-aided borderline-risqué demonstrations, she presents the sexual act as an art-form which can be mastered.

“The problem with a lot of women here is that they feel it’s unimportant to make time for their own pleasure,” she explains. “Argentine women are practical and often busy with their kids, husband or home. I do this because I want to help them find time for themselves through sexual enjoyment, whether with a partner or alone. To me, this is the art of erotica: the art of exploring and understanding your carnal and emotional desires.”

A whole new world

Kullock gives personal classes at her ‘Escuela de sexo’, which – like her show – are well attended, primarily by women in their late 30s. However, she admits: “People in Buenos Aires are still bewildered by erotica. What I do is less taboo than when I started, three years ago; and nobody would bat an eyelid at sex-shops or pornography. But although they are considered normal, they are not commonly used. There is a huge erotic scene in his city, but a lot of porteños don’t know what to do with it.”

Federico Andahazi agrees. He was struck by those at the ‘Festival de Cultura Erotica’ who seemed, “totally alien to the world of erotica”. He asserts that guests were astounded by the wealth of artistry: “It was so new to them. I’m sure these people watch porn, and that’s what they were expecting of an erotic expo. I actually think there is a false dichotomy between eroticism and pornography. There are good and bad versions of both, as was exhibited at the festival!”

Sexual ‘Appetite’: Erotic art in Buenos Aires

With reference to the pornographic yet highly wrought literature of Georges Bataille, Andahazi concludes that whether erotic or otherwise, people always appreciate creative skill. Acknowledged as one of history’s earliest artistic expressions, depictions of carnal pleasure abound in primal cultural production. At a recent exhibition, it was clear that such traditions are not facing extinction in contemporary Argentine art.

Photo by Ellen Knuti

The scene at Appetite gallery’s ‘Sex and Violence’, where the call for artists’ submissions drew nearly ten times as many pieces as where ultimately included in the show.

‘Sex and Violence’ was held at San Telmo’s Appetite gallery. The space was crammed with photography, sketches, paintings and sculptures, featuring scenes of nudity, sex, masturbation and sado-masochism. The pieces were experimental, combining a range of materials with a kaleidoscopic palette. Around 100 young artists were exhibited, selected by Appetite director, Daniela Luna. The sheer volume of guests at the inauguration verified the profound interest aroused by such work in Buenos Aires.

Many pieces were permeated with evident references to Argentine culture. A naked female figure was superimposed with the comic-strip character, Mafalda; and graphic flyers for Constitución prostitutes hung from meat hooks, alluding to Argentine beef. Lucía Harari, one of the exhibited artists, states: “This art is part of our identity. Through exploring eroticism alongside our heritage, we truly discover who we are.”

The sexual identity, history and politics of a nation

Argentina’s cultural and historical identity pervades Federico Andahazi’s sexual philosophy. He claims that ‘Pecar Como Dios Manda’ was an accidental conception, stumbled upon while researching the country’s colonial history. “Argentines habitually question the impact on our identities of where we are from. I was tracing Argentina’s origins, and realised then that there was no written chronicle of our sexual history: the crux of our origin, the creating force.”

Photo Courtesy of Federico Andahazi

Argentine author Federico Andahazi

Andahazi charts the sexual relations of key Argentine figures, from the country’s colonial origins to the May Revolution. He encountered some negative reactions from extreme political groups, enraged at suggestions of their heroes’ foul practice. “In Argentina, sex provokes varied reactions, whereas politics provoke stronger reactions. When you deal with both, then it gets complicated!” Yet Andahazi maintains that he cannot separate them. Sex is the organising paradigm of humanity and of Argentina’s heritage. Although still foreign to many, Buenos Aires’ mundo erotico is a rich artistic scene, embedded in its culture.

For more information on Paola Kullock, and to reserve a space at her show, visit www.pkescueladesexo.com.ar.

For more information on the work of Federico Andahazi, visit www.andahazi.com

Admission to Appetite Gallery is free, and it is situated on Chacabuco 551.

As a North American citizen living in Buenos Aires, there’s a certain amount of fitting in that I feel compelled to do. I’ve started gesticulating more. I paint my nails. I arrive just the right amount of late to engagements of all kinds. But I’ve learned that no matter how much mate I drink there’s a certain dreamy ‘yankee’ spirit in me that will never be fully subdued-nor would I want it to. I expound my perspective here not in the spirit of criticizing Argentines, but rather with aspirations to share what I hope is a valuable space in between things.

I was talking with an Argentine friend at work the other day who observed, “you know what the difference between Argentina and the States is? In the States you look forwards and in Argentina, we look backwards.”

I have steered away from language like ‘backwards’ or ‘upside-down’ when formulating my thoughts on development in Argentina. I suppose I’ve never felt that my own homeland was ‘upwards’ or ‘right-side-up.’ On the contrary.

But there is a particular truth to my friend’s statement about Argentine inertia.

Every place has its history, which is to say the present answers to the past, regardless of hemisphere. But I have never been somewhere where I felt such a recollection of the future, where buildings and people alike were so framed by their shadows. To borrow the Mexican historian, Enrique Krauze’s words, in Argentina, “the weight of the past has sometimes been more present than the present itself.”

So far as I can tell, the ghosts of Argentina’s past – not as a developing country but as a nation that briefly grasped and then lost hold of development – do an effective job of haunting the country’s citizens and leaders.

What form does that haunting take? Mostly, I believe, it rears its head in resignation: resignation to garbage-strewn streets, inefficient and smoggy public transportation, political corruption, and the likes. The very avenues, in their fading glory, seem to whisper, ‘look what you could have been and look at what you are now.’

According to me, Buenos Aires is beautiful: a fast-paced, vibrant, and relevant world city. And Argentines, in my experience, are well educated, hard working, and more open-minded than they are given credit for.

I wonder what the distance in between the nostalgia of Argentines and the dreams of North Americans is. In a capital city that has more psychoanalysists per capita than anywhere in the world, perhaps Argentines could therapise themselves into quantifying that leap and then taking it. Having lived both in the world of forward-lookers and the world of backward-lookers, I believe the gap between the two is a manageable one indeed.

As for environmental sustainability, our global challenge to ensure a healthy habitat for our future generation rests on our collective ability to think ahead and act accordingly. I believe that the currency of the times will be measured by our capacity not to retrospect, but to aspire.