# Vet Aggression and Ear Touching Avoidance



## nerdbird87 (Jul 9, 2015)

Hi All,

I'm new here and a new GSD owner. We adopted a one year old male that is not neutered from another family (we are currently stationed overseas in Europe). We've had him for about a month and a half now, and he immediately bonded with me (it took him a couple weeks to bond with my husband). 

Just yesterday, I took him to the vet on base to look at a possible ear infection/ear mites. He immediately went into full on defensive attack mode, was trying to bite the vet, snarling and baring his teeth viciously, the whole 9 yards. I have NEVER seen anything close to that aggression since we got him, he has never done anything worse than give us puppy nips when he gets excited while playing. We couldn't get anywhere close to his ears to do the exam, they just gave me this gel to put in his ears twice a day for 2 weeks.

Well, ever since the vet he is not letting me near his ears, everytime i try to rub the gel in gently he starts mouthing me and you see his muzzle twitching slightly but he's never growled or tried to bite me. He HATES muzzles and when the vet tried to put one on he completely lost it and we had to sedate him to calm him down so I could get him out to our car and take him home. 

I have no idea what his history is with his previous owners or how he was on previous vet visits since this was my first trip with him, and I'm not sure if his reaction was a result of a bad experience, pain, or something else. He's always been iffy with his ears but he used to at least let me flush his ears but now I can't even lift my hand near them without him stiffening up. 

I don't know what to do!?!? He needs the medicine in his ears or the infection will get worse, but he won't let me. Even when he was sedated he was still throwing a fit and mouthing me. Does anybody have some suggestions on how to do this?


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## DogWalker (Jun 16, 2015)

I saw this video a couple of weeks ago. This guy has great patience and I thought he did a wonderful job with his aggressive GSD:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2v8b_mEmTg


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

The fingers also worked in my situation. Newlie was never aggressive, but when I first got him, he absolutely would wrestle with anyone trying to clean his ears. I was having the devil of a time with him and even the vet's son, a young, strong college kid, stopped by several days to help, and he had a hard time holding him. Newlie would not let anything that looked pointy, that had a nozzle for example, near his ears.

So, I started getting him used to my rubbing his ears and he liked that and then putting medicine on my fingers and putting it in his ears. Gradually, he began trusting me and now I can do a lot more with him, although he still doesn't like nozzles.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

Sorry but if there is an infection/mites happening right now, then this falls into my 'it's happening' category.
Put a muzzle on him, pick a small room like a bathroom, and if need be pin him down. You need to treat him, and that's more important right now.
My dog was iffy with her ears, due to recurring treatments for allergies. We started using a cottonball, or make up remover pads and putting the meds or ear wash on those.


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## N Smith (Aug 25, 2011)

Sabis mom said:


> Sorry but if there is an infection/mites happening right now, then this falls into my 'it's happening' category.
> Put a muzzle on him, pick a small room like a bathroom, and if need be pin him down. You need to treat him, and that's more important right now.
> My dog was iffy with her ears, due to recurring treatments for allergies. We started using a cottonball, or make up remover pads and putting the meds or ear wash on those.


I completely agree - I don't really care if my dogs "don't like" a muzzle, this is non-negotiable. Most likely he is aggressive because it hurts and he doesn't trust anyone to handle him. He has learned that his response makes whoever is trying to touch him go away.

I do desensitize all of my large dogs to wearing muzzles as part of their training. (not just when they are sick) My dogs are very good at the vet, we even do all health testing with no sedation. However, having a black Shepherd with orange eyes can apparently be "intimidating" to the techs, so for them, I muzzle. It makes them feel better, and its not damaging my dog in any way.

I would muzzle this dog and work as much as possible with nicely desensitizing to the process, but in the end, it will be done each day to get the infection dealt with. Then continue the process with a good ear cleaner, even after the infection is gone, until it is no longer an issue.

It is dangerous for any dog owner to have a dog they can't physically handle, IMO.


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