# Dog Aggression At Vets Office



## BRITTani (Feb 10, 2011)

Today Ava visited the vet and she growled and grumbled at every single dog that was near her. She's never done that before and I wonder if it was the stress of the long drive (I don't care for our local vet) and she gets car sickness. She has met many many dogs, children and people before (shes 5 months old today) and I felt really embarrassed because she was getting kind of loud with it. She'd still listen to my commands to sit and down for the most part but she'd still growl with her mouth open (but her teeth weren't bared or her hackles raised). Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle a situation like this?


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

Do not make excuses when your dog is behaving badly as that just perpetuates it
. What did you do when she was growling at the other dogs?


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

So no piloerection and no agonistic pucker; sound pretty minor... You could definitely work on socialization _at_ the vets office. Go there on an unscheduled day (probably should ask them first) and work on socialization just like you would at Petco or Petsmart. A visit to the vet could be stressful for the dog- especially if they have had a bad experience in the past. Work on making it a more pleasant experience.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I will tell mine to cut that out. And then reposition them so that they are facing the other direction, and then try to keep their focus on me. Generally, I do not have this problem because I have always trained in close quarters with other dogs, and sometime that means sitting in chairs on the sidelines with other dogs and their handlers while someone runs a course. So my dogs are pretty much used to the whole vet experience. Generally. I have a one year old right now that I am going to have to spend some mondays on in the vet lobby. She was returned to me after her owners injured her pretty badly. And I have let her heal, and let her forget what happened, but its been more than six months now, and it is now time to take her out and regain lost ground.


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## BRITTani (Feb 10, 2011)

I wasn't making excuses for her at all, I was just trying to find the reason for this as she's been there several times and never given that sort of behavior before, even just two weeks ago. I take her in at least bi-weekly just to meet people and get her weighed. I told her to settle down and had her lay down facing me, but if another dog came up to sniff her she'd start growling just not move. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll try getting her up there at least once weekly now, my vet doesn't mind at all.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

The way I see it, there are so many 'smells', 'vibes' going on in a vets office that we as mere humans do not pick up on,,alot of dogs are nervous, scared and I think pick up on these things,,Keep going and visiting thats great your vet encourages you to do so


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## Heidibu (Jul 22, 2008)

Yes...stress for her if she doesn't like the car. Sounds like you might have been stressed too, if you don't particularly care for the vet. Your energy level (whether you realized it or not) could have affected her to. It always amazes me how they feed off of our energy.

Completely agree with conditioning her for vet visits. Take her a few times even if you don't need to. Go in, have the vet techs love on her and offer treats. Sounds like you already do this.

Be aware of how much tension you have when holding her leash. She might just have felt like she needed to match your mood.


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## BRITTani (Feb 10, 2011)

Well shes always been more hesitant with new dogs, but within a few seconds warms up pretty fast. My neighbors dog who shes never met got out let out of their fence by the meter reader....she ran straight to our house and ran the fence while Ava sat back and barked at her probably twice. I know the dog well and I am good friends with my neighbor so I just put her in the fence until they got home and could get her. Ava sniffed her a few times and then it was playtime!

This is just a few seconds into them meeting...I think a big issue with this was most of the dogs were very large and shes used to smaller ones haha


























I keep imagining "ANNNND THEIR OFFF" When I see these pictures.


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## BRITTani (Feb 10, 2011)

Heidibu said:


> Yes...stress for her if she doesn't like the car. Sounds like you might have been stressed too, if you don't particularly care for the vet. Your energy level (whether you realized it or not) could have affected her to. It always amazes me how they feed off of our energy.
> 
> Completely agree with conditioning her for vet visits. Take her a few times even if you don't need to. Go in, have the vet techs love on her and offer treats. Sounds like you already do this.
> 
> Be aware of how much tension you have when holding her leash. She might just have felt like she needed to match your mood.



That actually may have been an issue. A guy came in with two large pitbulls, no collars just "dog" chain wrapped around their necks. The kind that has the sharp points on each link. He had on workers gloves to protect his hands...It had me kind of angry nobody said anything to the poor dogs hackign and chocking


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