Any Advice?

[Mogwai]

I was hoping to get some extra advice about my 12 week old pup. Unfortunately every trip to the vet so far has been a painful experience for him. His first trip to the vet was after hurting his leg in play with our other dog (he growled when the vet was manipulating his leg) the second time he had an insect sting in his ear which was quite obviously causing him a great deal of pain. On his last trip to the vet for his vaccination he snapped at the vet when she was trying to scope his ear.

I have contacted his breeder and they have since seen him and felt it was a normal reaction to pain and did not consider that he has any serious behavioural problems but suggested making trips to the vet a positive thing by just taking him and giving him treats. I also contacted a behaviourist who gave me the same feedback. I have also been trying to desensitise him to being examined by touching his ears, feet and looking at teeth and eyes. However, I’m concerned this may have had a lasting effect on him and that he feels his first line of defence should be aggression. I’m quite upset that this has happened as I’ve been trying very hard to do everything right by him i.e. crate training, lots of socialisation, clicker training, making him sit and look at me before feeding etc. He will also be starting puppy classes next week. Is this something that he is likely to overcome? And is there anything further I can do or should change?

Edited January 15, 2011 by Mogwai

[Janba]

Take your pup to visit the vets when you don't need to actually see the vet. Take treats and get the receptionist etc to treat the pup and make a fuss of him so that visits to the vet are postive not associated with examinations and pain. As the behaviouralist said also get you pup used to being touched all over especially ears, mouth, feet, testis etc.

[jrm88]

We always recommend new puppies come in alot to get treats, makes everything easier for the pup and staff at the vets! I'd ask if you could go in when they are quiet and into a consult room, pop him up on the table and lots of treats and pats!

[sheena]

When my girl was young I would take her for a walk to the vets every couple of weeks just to weigh her & gave her treats & I would stay for a while talking to the receptionist then walk out. She has never had any problem with the vets. Oh & I made a point & still do of handling her all over & playing with her ears, tails & feet. Also you can get them used to a finger going into their mouth by putting something nice on it like vegemite. Comes in handy when needing to give a pill.

[mac'ella]

our now 15mth staffie went to puppy school at our vets now the only problem is keeping her still,the vet says the graduates make the worst patients and would rather have them quivering in fear than jumping around wanting to play,as the previous replies say he needs some good experiences there,is he ok with the receptionist, or is the vet the only one there?

[Mogwai]

Thanks for your replies. I will definitely be taking him for some "happy" vet visits.

Also you can get them used to a finger going into their mouth by putting something nice on it like vegemite. Comes in handy when needing to give a pill.

This sounds like a great idea and something I hadn't thought of.

is he ok with the receptionist, or is the vet the only one there?

He is fine with the receptionist and was very happy greeting and wagging his tail and was also fine with the vet until she put the scope into his ear. His puppy class is at the vet clinic so that should hopefully provide some positive associations.

Edited January 1, 2011 by Mogwai

[luvsdogs]

Poor little fellow to have all that happen to him all at once. What breed is he? When he goes to puppy preschool don't let him be bullied by the other pups but don't baby him either. I hope it all works out, & where are the photos?

[Mogwai]

Poor little fellow to have all that happen to him all at once. What breed is he? When he goes to puppy preschool don't let him be bullied by the other pups but don't baby him either. I hope it all works out, & where are the photos?

Thanks, he's a Kelpie. Definitely not the start to things I wanted for him. I'm really hoping he will be able to get past all this.

[dancinbcs]

All good advice on happy vet visits. Also ask the vet if he can put an otoscope very gently in the puppy's ear while giving him treats, when he doesn't have a sore ear and once you have desensitised him over a few months. Don't be too concerned at this stage as an otoscope can hurt a lot in an inflamed ear. I once had a dog grab the otoscope out of the vets hand and spat it on the floor. I was holding his head with the lead round his muzzle because he was a dog that was not fussed on having strangers poke him. He was being very calm and tolerent when the vet suddenly hurt his ear, he reacted so fast that neither of us got any warning. He didn't aim for the vet but for the object that was causing the pain, and got rid of it.

Some dogs will always react more to someone other than the owner causing them pain and some need to be muzzled as a precaution to protect the vet or whoever is treating them. I remember a friend's very nice natured GSD reacting very differently to different people touching a grass seed abcess on his side. The owner didn't think the lump was sore because she got no reaction when she touched or squeezed it. I felt it and got growled at, so she took him to the vet. The dog tried to eat the vet when he examined it. It was in fact a very painful abcess that had to have surgery to remove the offending grass seed.

[corvus]

We put teeth examination on cue for our dog who was thinking about having our vet when she tried to look at his teeth when he was 16 weeks old. He REALLY hated it, but now after letting us look at his teeth for his dinner he will let anyone look even without the cue. It also made it a lot easier to get a bone wedged across the top of his mouth out. His conditioning held and he went still as soon as I put my hands on his muzzle, even though I didn't think to give him the cue.

You could do the same thing for any problem part of the anatomy. Start with popping a treat for just letting you touch near it or put your hand close to it and work up.

[BMAK]

if the pup continues to bite/snap at the vet they usually muzzel them here.

Sometime you can have the worlds best trained dog but at the vets they can change dramatically i have never had a problem at the vets with my two as they did puppy pre school there and had people touching them on the metal benches etc and interaction and treats so quite lucky. your pup obviously hasn't had a good experience at the vets and associates it with bad things. try to practice your own examinations at home(touching body parts, paws, teeth checks, ears etc) or at other peoples house with different people touching him but using treats as rewards so he feels that its not all bad when people touch him everywhere.

good luck

[Lucyella]

It's a shame your young pup has bad experiences at the vet at such a young age. At 5 months, my dog dislocated her back toe it was traumatic for everyone, especially the other patients at the vets ???? as she was in so much pain, and literally screaming the place down and had to be sedated (I probably needed to be also ) She had such a frightening experience at such a young age so from then on I made sure she got a small liver treat from the vet prior to and after examination. She had done puppy school at the vets and I believe that helped her enormously as she related going to the vets as fun times, nice people and treats. Good luck with your dog and do explain to the trainers at puppy school what has happened to your pup and they should support you with handling your puppy for vet examination.

[Mogwai]

Thank you everyone for your help. I must admit I kind of hit the panic button when it happened thinking of all the worst possible outcomes. All my other dogs have been great at the vets. But I guess young puppies are just instinctual in their reactions to pain.

I guess I can only keep working with him and hope for the best.