Cubbe went in for a routine kennel cough vaccine this morning. As
typical, she went into scared/vicious mode. It took 2 vet techs to
control her and stick her. Jim and I could hear her barking from the
waiting room. At first I thought it might be easy. Cubbe boards there
and is no longer freaked by the vet's office. In the waiting room, I
thought we might distract her. If the tech moved quickly, I thought she
might get the shot in before Cubbe noticed what was going on. (How I
miss the old vet in Miami. That man could work FAST.) Turns out the
tech had prepared a nasal spray, and Cubbe did figure out what was going
on when Jim tried, unsuccessfully, to muzzle her. By the time they
realized that an injection would be easier, Cubbe was in high-alert
scared mode and ready to lash out at anyone who came near her.


They were nice about telling us that it's not her fault and that we
shouldn't be embarrassed, that all dogs are different, and that they
think she's a very sweet girl. But I'm embarrassed anyway. (It was
really pretty funny when Cubbe had bared full teeth looking like she was
ready for attack, and the second tech came out and said "aw, is Cubbe
being a fussy pants today.") She's wonderful with us. She might growl
or snarf to let us know she's displeased, but she's not a mean dog--
except at the vet's office.


What are your dogs like at the veterinarian's?

What do you do about it?


--Lia

In article ,
Julia Altshuler wrote:

It took 2 vet techs to
control her and stick her. Jim and I could hear her barking from the
waiting room.

You don't go back with her?

What are your dogs like at the veterinarian's?

They LOVE going to the vets and are totally cooperative.


What do you do about it?

If they weren't good at the vets, we'd be going to the office for a
cookie as often as possible,

--
Janet Boss
www.bestfriendsdogobedience.com

Janet Boss spoke these words of wisdom
in :

In article ,
Julia Altshuler wrote:

It took 2 vet techs to
control her and stick her. Jim and I could hear her barking from the
waiting room.

You don't go back with her?

What are your dogs like at the veterinarian's?

They LOVE going to the vets and are totally cooperative.


What do you do about it?

If they weren't good at the vets, we'd be going to the office for a
cookie as often as possible,


My experience is same as Janets.
When I go to the vet, Tuck screams if I go in and leave him in the car. He
LOVES those people!
They saved him when he almost died, and instead of remembering his pain and
agony, he remembers their kind, caring nurturing.
but then, Tuck is fearless.
And if he didn't like going, we would go often for a cookie!

Julia Altshuler wrote:

What are your dogs like at the veterinarian's?

What do you do about it?

Well, you probably don't want to hear this, and I can't take any
credit for it - it is the dogs' own doing.

Dylan was at the vets' from age 7-8 weeks - she came with parvo
:-(. We think she imprinted on the vets, and one in particular.
When Dr. Boyle walked into the room, she would throw herself at
his feet, grovel, and then roll over for a tummy rub. He could
do anything with her (although all he needed to do for several
years was administer yearly shots.) She greeted all of the techs
with kissies and tail wags. Later, when she was undergoing
radiation and chemo at age 8, the techs reported that she would
try to jump up on the table. She did not require sedation when
they were administering the chemo; she laid quietly the entire time.

Oppie isn't quite as good - he also presents tummy at the vet,
although we think this is more defensive. Even so, after getting
a few skritches he is compliant and holds still for whatever the
vet needs to do.

The chihuahuas - a lot of shaking. No attempted biting,
generally pretty compliant as long as they are/were being held.

If I ever get a dog who is seriously vet-phobic, I will have to
learn a whole new set of skills.

FurPaw

--
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and are not clothed."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

To reply, unleash the dogs.

"Julia Altshuler" wrote in message
. ..
Cubbe went in for a routine kennel cough vaccine this morning. As
typical, she went into scared/vicious mode. It took 2 vet techs to
control her and stick her. Jim and I could hear her barking from the
waiting room. At first I thought it might be easy. Cubbe boards there
and is no longer freaked by the vet's office. In the waiting room, I
thought we might distract her. If the tech moved quickly, I thought she
might get the shot in before Cubbe noticed what was going on. (How I
miss the old vet in Miami. That man could work FAST.) Turns out the
tech had prepared a nasal spray, and Cubbe did figure out what was going
on when Jim tried, unsuccessfully, to muzzle her. By the time they
realized that an injection would be easier, Cubbe was in high-alert
scared mode and ready to lash out at anyone who came near her.


They were nice about telling us that it's not her fault and that we
shouldn't be embarrassed, that all dogs are different, and that they
think she's a very sweet girl. But I'm embarrassed anyway. (It was
really pretty funny when Cubbe had bared full teeth looking like she was
ready for attack, and the second tech came out and said "aw, is Cubbe
being a fussy pants today.") She's wonderful with us. She might growl
or snarf to let us know she's displeased, but she's not a mean dog--
except at the vet's office.


What are your dogs like at the veterinarian's?

What do you do about it?


--Lia


I'm so sorry you and Cubbe had to go through that, Lia. We've been very
fortunate with our dogs at the vets. Murphy was a bit frightened at the vet
after she had pancreatitis at around age four. She was in and out of
intensive care there for about a month, so after that she associated 'going
to the vet' with *staying* at the vet. But her fear wasn't an
aggressive type fear. She would just shake and quake. As long as I would
stay right by her head and stroke her and whisper in her ear, she was fine
through all procedures. I *talked her* through an ultra sound once, after
telling the vet she would be fine as long as I could come with her and talk
to her. And another time, we think she must have brushed up against the
grill, because she had a burn on her lower side. We never could exactly
figure out how she got it. But it was quite a bad burn, at least that's
what the vet thought it was. They again let me come back with them, and I
talked to her and stroked her while they shaved off her hair and treated the
burn.

Gracie and Merlin are fine with the vet too. Gracie looks a bit
intimidating, but she is truly fine with them. And our vet just thinks
Merlin is the 'cats meow', so they get along swimmingly. Our house call vet
is from Louisiana, so he had an immediate bond with the Catahoula. ;-)
The house call guy always lets me come into his truck/motorhome thing he
drives. The dogs are fine with that. The only dog in our extended family
who absolutely hates the vet is Whiskey. If it's a male vet, Whiskey has to
be muzzled. She's okay with women, but she doesn't like strange males. She
is and has always been fine with males she knows, family members, very good
friends, etc. But generally speaking, she doesn't like men for some reason.
It takes her a long time to warm up to any males. Since she doesn't *see*
the vet all that often, she has never warmed up to him. Monte, the choc.
lab, loves everybody. She's a vets dream. When she skinned all the surface
off her pads once, the vet remarked at what a good girl she was, letting
them treat all her pads without any sort of problem. We were caring for her
that time, so it was us who took her to the vet. We didn't know what to
expect, but she did fine.

Did Cubbe have a bad experience at one time with the vet? Or has this
always been an issue with no known cause?

td

Julia Altshuler wrote in
:

What are your dogs like at the veterinarian's?

Queenie and Max are fairly cool, although they get slightly freaked out.
Zoe gets very anxious and snappy.


What do you do about it?

I try to reassure the dog by using a happy voice (you know, no "poor
baby" stuff that would make them more scared) but Zoe reads my moods like
a book and I'm usually at least somewhat worried and/or freaked out. She
was muzzled once and I didn't like it, but now I wouldn't hesitate to ask
for it if I thought she could be a danger to someone. It helps very much
if the tech and dr take some time to make friends with her first, but
most don't have the time to do that, which I understand. I'm grateful
when someone does, though.

While I do apologize to everyone involved when she behaves badly, I'm
more worried for Z than upset with her or embarrassed. It takes a lot of
stress to make her act that way and yes, she is sweet as pie at home.

It seems to me that vets must have seen it all, and I doubt they believe
that the frightened crazy dogs they see in their office behave like that
all the time -- they know the pets are stressed out.

Let's not even talk about cats at the vet... that's where I received my
early training in vet visits. Cats will not hesitate to do anything
possible to get away from the vet, plus they yowl in a most disturbing
manner.


--
Catherine
& Zoe, Queenie, & Max, 3 black dogs of varying sizes
& Rosalie the calico cat
www.ourladyofperfection.blogspot.com

On Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:57:02 -0500, Julia Altshuler
wrote:

She's wonderful with us.

She might growl or snarf to let us know she's displeased

Lia, doesn't that sound a little contradictory to you?

Wonderful, but growls and snarfs at her owners?

--
Handsome Jack Morrison

In Canada: "Only a bigot would argue that every Muslim was violent or opposed to Western freedom.
But only a coward (Hi, Melinda!) or a liar would argue that there was not a profound and deeply
worrying link between conservative Islam and myriad acts of terror, intolerance and hysterical anger."
//www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Coren_Michael/2007/12/15/4725863.php

Great Britain (Hi, Alison!): Stupid is as stupid does. sigh
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...icle577014.ece

Liberal Larry O’Donnell admits he’s afraid to criticize Islam publicly (Hi, Melinda!).
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/12/1...slam-publicly/

Climate change: Skeptical Scientists Urge World To "Have the Courage to Do Nothing" At UN Conference
http://preview.tinyurl.com/ypfck4

Victor Davis Hanson on War and History: Chapters 1 - 5.
http://tv.nationalreview.com/uncommonknowledge/

Whoever said: "we just don't make them like we used to," has apparently never met the Albarrans.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316252,00.html

The Flaws In the Iran Report, by John Bolton.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...502234_pf.html

The Science of Gore's Nobel.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/column.../?id=110010947

Talkin' World War III.
http://www.slate.com/id/2178792

Co-ed Combat: The New Evidence That Women Shouldn't Fight the Nation's Wars.
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2...tml#1196697012

"Julia Altshuler" wrote in message:

Cubbe went in for a routine kennel cough vaccine this morning.

Hope you don't mind my asking, but why? I mean, why is she routinely
vaccinated for kennel cough, when she isn't a dog that is normally around
other dogs?

What are your dogs like at the veterinarian's?

Perfect angels. Khan is more of an angel than Pan, but both are super
cooperative. Khan is really pretty afraid, but it is basically limited to
when he is being handled, and I try to ease it by taking super yummy treats
with me that he only gets when he is being handled. Their cooperation is
very much necessary, because they can clearly overpower me and the vet if
they so choose, and especially with the kind of intensive testing that
Khan's been going through lately, it would be a serious problem if he
weren't more cooperative.

What do you do about it?

Khan started off being very, very afraid of going into the vet's office. He
would jump up and down as soon as we got to the vet's office door, and try
to get out of his collar. Before we worked on it, what we would do is use
another dog as a lure to get him in the door. As soon as I realized there
was a problem, we started making fun trips to the vet, where he would get
very, very good treats. Initially, it was just going to the vet's office,
tooling around the parking lot, peeing on bushes and stuff. We slowly
worked up to the vet's office door, not going in, then opent he door, not go
in, then open door, go in, turn around and come back, open door, go in, get
treats/pets from the staff, then go back, etc. The vet's office was 45
minutes away, so it took a bit of an effort, but it has paid off in spades,
and the vet staff was super cooperative. For some reason, we haven't had to
do that since, although we have changed vets, and Khan has been poked and
prodded more than most. Also, just about all vet visits end with us going
for a walk (huge reward), and occasionally, Gatorade for Pan (she loves it)
or ice cream for both dogs. I take both dogs to the vet with me, even when
only one is going to be worked on - I think it helps them realize that bad
stuff doesn't happen all the time they go there, and that they will both get
treats when we go there.

Suja

Handsome Jack Morrison wrote:

Lia, doesn't that sound a little contradictory to you?

Wonderful, but growls and snarfs at her owners?


Sorry. More information needed-- On those rare occasions when she's
hurt or scared, she's been known to growl or snarf to communicate fear
or pain. Jim and I have never felt like she was a real threat.


One example that comes to mind is the occasion of her first bath. She
didn't like the wet, didn't like the hose, was trying to get away from
it, and she growled. We worked fast in an upbeat manner, and now, while
she still tries to get away from the hose, she's okay with baths.


Another example was when her ears were infected, and she needed a salve
put in them. That meant my running my fingers over the sores while I
applied the medicine. She shook her head (while Jim was steadying her)
and made a snarfy noise but made it clear, I thought, that she was
communicating, not threatening. I was never afraid of her biting me.
That happened 3x/day until the sores scabbed over. After that, she made
a show of running under the futon when she saw me getting out the
ointment tube, but then came out for a biscuit.


Those are really the only examples I can think of growling and snarfing
at us. Thus: wonderful.


--Lia

In article ,
Janet Boss wrote:
You don't go back with her?

I generally don't go back with my dogs. I did with Duncan,
who was a really nervous dog, but the rest of them treat it
like a big adventure (because it is) and I figure that if
it's working, don't mess with it. I never was able to get
Duncan to like going to the vet, though.

Image is the only one of my current dogs who doesn't like
going to the vet, but she's a stoic and behaves extremely
well.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community