05/18/2022
Dear Dog Owners,
This week I have seen post after post after post on the veterinary social media pages about the struggle with larger breed dogs that are undisciplined and fearful and trying to bite at staff and veterinarians. Half of the posts stated that they, the vet, were going to stop seeing any large breed dogs, some of them said that they were going to fire all clients who had dogs that were not well controlled, others said that they were starting to refuse service to dogs that growled or tried to bite or got freaked out when they tried to examine them. Clients, this is a huge problem and it is your problem and let's be real, it is your fault.
Dogs are NOT children or humans and we need to stop treating them like they are. They are animals! They do not learn by being coddled and babied and allowed to get away with whatever they feel like doing. It does not work that way in the animal kingdom. If you are a little s**t of a dog your mom or some older dog is going to bite your head off to teach you! Once that puppy leaves its mom, you now become the teacher and trainer of what is and what is not acceptable behavior and if you don't, you and you alone are ruining your dog!
Dogs need discipline! They are like your kids! They need you to teach them, to train them, to discipline them so they learn what is and what is not acceptable. I can not tell you the number of times I have been in an exam room and a dog is growling at me and the owner does nothing. In fact, often times they pull back from the dog and they always get that sheepish look and often will say, “he doesn’t bite.” The hell he doesn’t bite! He is a dog, he bites and he is going to bite me because you have not shown him who is boss and he has no fear of humans and he has no idea that being a jerk is not allowed.
Please, if you love your dog, do your job and discipline them, train them, show them the proper way to behave and make sure they know that being a jerk gets them in trouble. If you do not, you will not be able to find a vet to help them when they are in need and that will be your fault and not the vets fault. No where in our oath does it say that we have to subject ourselves to being bitten by someones dog because they treated it like a human and felt sorry for it and never disciplined it and so it now has no respect for humans and bites. If you don’t start being a responsible pet owner, your dog is not going to be seen and you do not want that to happen.
Do not let your dog be the top dog in your house! It is not fair to them and it is not fair to us in the veterinary profession when we have to fear for our safety in order to try and help them when they are sick.
Teach them to be nice, take them to uncomfortable places, make sure they know that humans are the big dog in the relationship, that does not mean you beat them that means you show them that you are the boss by not allowing them to be jerks and get away with behaviors that they shouldn’t. Your dogs life and health depend on you being a good dog owner and raising them to be good dogs.
Sincerely,
Dr Debbie and Every Vet
