Went to the vet, now i'm REALLY confused.

I took my dogs to the vet in dubai. Louie, my 1.5 yr old mystery breed needed a microchip and her annual booster shot. I wanted to ask about some of the problems i've been having with louie. (urinating/defecating in the house, resource guarding). The vet went to check louie's eyes and louie snapped at her. (i've never seen louie do this to a person, however, my wife was holding her in place, in a corner) the vet smacked her! my first thought was to hit the vet, glad i didn't. (i guess) the vet is supposed to take care of the dogs, not beat them! i noticed that during the exam she was also pinching her ear.

I asked my question about her messing in the house, (which some people here believe has to do with separation anxiety) she said it's a dominance thing, that she's marking her territory and she needs to be punished regardless of the time that has passed between the act and the discovery. Show her the mess, then smack her on the nose. I asked her about enzymatic cleaners, if she could sell or recommend one (i can't find anything here). She said only cats repeatedly go on the same spot because of smell.

About the resource guarding, she said i should let them fight. I told her that i had gone away for six weeks and left the dogs in the care of my wife's friend's housekeeper. When i got back the guarder was overweight and the skittish one was underweight. The vet said "this one has to learn to protect her food dish or she won't survive." Like i'm just gonna let one dog eat double and the other one die.

I feel like i don't really have a choice in going to another vet, all the other ones we've seen are far worse. This country is a terrible place to be an animal.

I'm getting so much conflicting information between this forum, books i read, my neighbour the dog trainer, the vet, this dog whisperer joke (watched my first episode this week-dog training aside, that show is AWFUL). i feel like i need to write my own book on how to deal with each dog to keep track of info and stay consistent. maybe that's what i have to do.

I'm sorry you're having so much trouble finding a good vet...keep searching, maybe one somewhere will be better.

In the meantime, keep in mind that vets, anywhere in the world, receive absolutely no education in animal behavior or training. You'll never find consistent information on dog training across the board...just use common sense, read as much as you can, and be consistent when you do find the approach you want.

If anyone, be it a dog trainer or vet, smacked my dog without my permission, I probably would hit them back...I would be absolutely shocked if a vet here did that.

thanks for the advice.

that is a good point about the vet not knowing animal behaviour. shouldn't she have known that a dog being held down in a corner is likely to bite?

the only thing that kept the vet intact is the zero tolerance EVERYTHING here. (read:imprisonment and/or lashes then deportation). you can go to jail for looking at a local funny.

*there'snoplacelikehome-click-there'snoplacelikehome-click-there'snoplacelikehome*

i'll be home soon.

I am so sorry, your vet sounds like a nightmare,

As for the book writing thing, do it!!! I have a binder full of stuff for and about my dogs. It lists commands they know, things I want to train them, what they are afraid of, what is triggering, which training method they like most (capturing, luring, shaping. For instance, Duncan isn't easy to train, sometimes he gets "stuck" when he are shaping. Luring works best for him). I keep all their medical paperwork in the binder, and I print out fun guides like...
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/167
http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/training_testing.cfm
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/725
There's another one I can't remember, it's when you teach a dog to leave things, first by waiting for them to not paw at your hand when you have a treat in it, and then working up to open palmed, treat on the floor etc. Anyone remember this one?

I also keep training journals, what we did, and how it went. It can be a tiresome project, but without it I wouldn't have seen all the progress that Duncan was making when he was fearful outside. On a (somewhat) comforting note, Duncan was a huge pain in the ass to potty train. You will get there. Don't give up!

Boy, that sucks (your vet, I mean). I think you'd be okay if you take everything your vet says and do the exact opposite...

I believe that's Doggy Zen, a self-control game... to get the treat, they must leave the treat... Riley's got it down pretty well, which also made teaching him the 'leave it' command easier.