I apologize in advance to my savvy vet tech readers. And if by some crazy chance a veterinarian actually reads this and you yourself are savvy, I apologize to you as well. As a dog owner and lover, I think there are some things I shouldn’t have to explain when I’m with my dogs at the vet.
Specifically:
Why all dogs should be on leash in common areas.
One would think this was a no-brainer, no? It’s actually happened to me.
Twice.
The first time it happened was when I took Sampson in for his surgical consult. While my poor lame dog was stressed out and waiting to be seen, two GSD’s and a Pug came charging up to him after having an exam room door opened. There was a lot of loud dog noises, which ended when I screamed, “HEY!” at the top of my lungs.
Afterwards the receptionist told me, “We’ve told him they have to be on leash, but he doesn’t listen.” I told her if it had it been Delilah it may not have turned out so well.
The second time was recently at my own vet when I went in to pick up Sampson from one of his tests.
A cute little off-leash dog came running up to me while I was waiting. The woman called the dog over, leashed her up and was then called into the exam room. I asked the ladies at the front desk about it and they kind of just shrugged.
Do people in the animal industry NOT understand that not all dogs or owners are comfortable meeting other dogs?
Delilah’s titchy. Sometimes she’s fine, other times she’s not. I prefer just to avoid the situation all together. It just makes it easier.
Sampson loves other dogs, but he gets so excited to meet them, that he bounces about and pulls me. It’s just not a pretty, nor pleasant experience. Never mind the fact that if two dogs don’t like each other, and either a dog or human gets hurt, there is a liability issue.
Hey, you don’t like every person YOU meet, why should I like EVERY DOG I meet?
Last week when I took Sampson in for Physical Therapy, there was a woman standing in the doorway of an exam room with her dog in her arms, and I had to walk Sampson past her. I said, “Can you go in the room?”
I think the Physical Therapist was taken aback because she smiled at me and said, “We have to share.”
I don’t mind sharing, but I know my dog and I know what I can and can’t do with him. Not to mention, the other dog was much higher up than my dog, and they were already encroaching into a hallway which was narrow to begin with and my dog is injured.
I’m certainly not comfortable in that situation and I’m not sure how comfortable my dog is, so to me it’s best to eliminate as many risk factors as I can.
Hey, at least I asked the woman nicely, I mean, I didn’t go all backwoods hood rat on her ass. 🙂
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Oh my gosh, I am SO with you on this. I’ve had that happen to me in so many different places, not just the vet. People are just super oblivious. It happens in dog training class, too! I’ve had to step between so many dogs because their owners let them go nose to nose with dogs they don’t know. People don’t realize that these things can go so badly.
If you think Delilah’s titchy, you should see MOM around unleashed dogs. It’s not pretty….
Love and licks,
Cupcake
I always say “he’s NOT friendly! And I am even less friendly!” Most people catch the clue and get out of the way and not try to let their dog near us! “He’ll bite you” (or your dog) works well too! 😉
I’ve had to yell this before at a woman with a totally out of control off leash lab!
I find those incidents all unacceptable, especially at the vet! Even the friendliest dog can be stressed at the vet causing bad reactions. We have never seen an off leash dog at our vet, and they have plenty of space so dogs don’t need to be near one another. That is just terrible and after it happening twice I think we would consider switching to a different clinic. I’m one who is terrified at the vet and I would attack another dog if they came racing up to me. I can’t believe this really happens! Amazing!
Whatever happened to common sense? I mean, isn’t common sense to keep your dog on leash at the vet’s? Ditto restraining your dog from approaching others until the other dog owner gives an okay of some kind? This is one thing my vet has right. They keep a bunch of slip leads on a leash hook by the door with a big sign saying all dogs must be on leash (and furthermore, cats must be crated.) Sad that they need to do that, but they do. In our case Rudy is absolutely terrified being in the vet’s office. It literally scares the shit out of him. Would he attack another dog? I really don’t want to find out.
I haven’t seen an off leash dog at our vet, thank goodness. I have seen dogs acting out, lunging and pulling towards us, and then MY dog gets criticized for growling at theirs!
It’s not all that surprising that everyday people are clueless, but the vet techs and vets? That’s unbelievable, because as others said, even your best dog can be stressed out if they are sick or injured. The people there are in the position where they need to strictly enforce their rules.
Ducky can be a brat at the vet’s office, too; but I always have her leash on her. And I always do my best to steer away from the other human clients. I just don’t want her nipping at peoples’ ankles. (Maybe Queen Elizabeth thinks it’s cute when her Corgis do it, but I certainly don’t. And I won’t let Ducky get away with it.) But other people just seem clueless. Oh well. That’s life, I guess.
PS. Except for a few very young puppies held in their owners’ arms, I don’t think I’ve ever seen any dog off its leash at our vet’s office. Or cat not in a carrier.
I haven’t seen off leash dogs at my vet, but they have big signs and extra leashes and people monitoring the dogs for compliance.
I never get people who let animals interact at the vets… my dog could be here cause he is ill and I don’t know what’s wrong with him, sure lets have him pass the germs to yours as well!
Some people. Seriously. Cocoa is not a big fan of other dogs when she is on her leash so if some dog comes running up to us it makes me so mad. Some people are so irresponsible with their animals and it is crazy. Someone once yelled to me as their dog was running up to us that they are friendly. Well, good for them but Cocoa may not be!!
Wow, I don’t even want to know what would happen if we encountered loose pets at the vet. Laika’s already stressed enough.
I just don’t understand the mentality of “my dog’s friendly so I live in a fantasy world where nothing bad will ever happen.” I mean maybe they’ve just been lucky. Maybe.
Great post Jodi, right there with you.
I can’t believe the amount of people who have NO common sense.
My vet example happened with Riva with an older woman in the waiting area of the office. She could see Riva was anxious and I was holding her close to me on leash but when the lady walked by us (and there was plenty of room for her to avoid us) she reached out and touched her, so Riva reached out and touched her. No one was hurt but she proceeded to tell my vet that Riva jumped at her but I guess she forgot to tell her that she as the human did not abide by the warning signs and body language of my dog, do not touch me or encroach on my space. So then when it was our turn to go to the exam room my vet asked me about it. I felt like a smuck but it was the ladies fault, she broke the golden rule “ask before you touch”!
I’m surprised that the vet doesn’t have the standard sign and extra leashes at the door. I can’t imagine walking into a vet’s office with an off-leash dog that isn’t small and in the owner’s arms/carrier.
It’s completely unacceptable, especially at a vet’s office!
Vets know the body not the brain or behavioral stuff, as i’ve come to find out the hard way…we love our current vet but with us moving soon i’m going to need to find a new local vet which I am not looking forward to doing. It has me thinking of driving 3 hours to keep our old vet….
Ugh.. the devil you know right?
Their is one nurse at our office who has been their forever but Dante hates her, which I can’t blame him. First time I ever brought him in she man handled him, freaked him out, and then had the nerve to tell me he was dangerous and needed to be muzzled!!
Needless to say we still visit the office because I like our vet, but we will never work with that nurse again. EVER.
That’s crazy! We’ve gotten several new vet techs recently (we miss our old ones desperately!), but they’ve been very good about dealing with Barley when I’ve said, “She doesn’t do well with other dogs.” I think it might also help that I refuse to budge from the entryway if there is another dog in the waiting room–on or off leash–and I stand there next to the door in case we need an escape and there’s a divider blocking Barley’s view of the other dogs. I’m sorry you had such a difficult experience–twice! I hope that they do better in the future.
All animals must be on a leash in our clinic and we have signs and of course there are those couple of people who think they are the master trainers and they don’t have to have their dog on a leash. That is when we hand over a slip lead and make them put it on.
Giggle…”I didn’t go all backwoods hood rat on her ass.” Oh Jodi…I’m so disappointed in you (smirk). If there ever was a DADO that deserved that, that one certainly did. But in the spirit of being a ‘nice person’ I guess I need to congratulate you on your restraint. ღ
I can’t believe you wrote about this because we just had an incident with Haley at our vets office too! The day we took her in when she was still hobbling on three legs and had colitis, a couple with a yellow lab appeared from one of the exam rooms and their unleashed, excited lab headed straight for Haley. My husband had to hold their dog back and run interference while the owners smiled and paid their bill. They couldn’t care less what was going on, even after we told them that Haley had just had surgery. Idiots!
I do not understand people sometimes. Happy to say that I have never encountered off lead dogs at the vet.