Vet visits are exciting! Or nerve-racking!

The vets office is an exciting place for the outgoing goofy goobers but it can also be a very scary and worrisome place for more timid or introverted dogs. In both cases, we always want to get through our vet visits as calmly and politely as possible but at the same time we have to be aware that we are putting our dogs in a pretty difficult situation with lots of exciting or worrisome personal touching and if you’re like some dogs, a little too enthusiastically welcomed personal touching A lot of folks ask me how to handle the dog during a vet visit and what I always recommend to my clients and what I practice myself is doing our best to have our dogs wait calmly and politely before their exam, get through the exam the best you can knowing that it make cause some silliness or some nervousness, and then a little more calm waiting as we chat with the vet and pay the bill. A check up with the vet usually only happens once a year and it’s a bit of an unusual event in our dog’s life so if the dog gets a bit silly or nervous during his physical exam, don’t worry because all our training is certainly not lost! It’s a mere moment in the run of a year and if the dog has a little behavioural hiccup it can be overcome again at home by being stricter with the rules, firmer with the boundaries, and more consistent with the structure... so don’t sweat it!