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Two per cent of the world’s dogs suffer from canine compulsive disorder. Like people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), affected dogs can get stuck in a rut of quirky, repetitive behaviour. Not all dogs show the same symptoms, however. German shepherds are more prone to chasing their tails, while Dobermanns repeatedly suck their flanks. To help the tortured animals, Andrew Luescher of Purdue University in West Lafayette in Indiana, is recruiting affected dogs to test whether drugs used to treat humans with OCD work on them. He also plans to use brain imaging techniques to diagnose the condition.