To help victims of “Ondoy,” one of the first things counselors did at the Ateneo high school was to tell their teachers and classmates, “Don’t call them victims, call them survivors.”

Elsewhere in the evacuation centers, Red Cross workers tried to draw the children out of their newborn shells, asking them to tell stories of their experiences, to put down their feelings on paper with pencil and crayon. Most of them drew houses, the houses they had lost to the floods.

There are many ways to heal the walking wounded, the traumatized, the depressed. Deluge or no deluge, every day someone is in need of a helping hand, a shoulder to cry on, a sympathetic person whose understanding can serve as the bridge from pain to liberation.

But a pet ––? According to animal lover Joya Gonzalez, pet dogs make some of the best companions for people suffering from a host of problems.

Better known for guiding the visually impaired and as the best or only friends of the lonely and elderly, dogs are now sought for their value to autistic children and emotionally challenged couples (the ones who get on each other’s nerves). Recently, The New York Times reported on research confirming the bond that exists between animals and humans.

“Give a restless child a dog and you’ll see how he’ll soon calm down,” Ms. Gonzalez told “Bulong Pulungan” at Sofitel hotel. Then she talked about a childless couple who were on the verge of a legal separation until a friend gave them a puppy. The little creature has been taking up so much of their time that they no longer talk about dissolving the marriage. No more dogfights.