How does your dog do at the vet?

[JacksonsMom]

Jackson completely shuts down. We pull up and he immediately slinks his head down, but obliges when I put his leash on and he will jump out of the car voluntarily then proceeds to try and avoid the door as much as humanely possible but does walk in with a slight tug from me, like he knows he's not going to be able to get away anyway so might as well cooperate.

He always keeps his ears back and tail under, and when we sit in the waiting room, he hides under the bench. Most of the time when someone tries to touch him, or pick him up, or whatever, he expresses his anal glands he is so scared. He lets them do whatever to him, but it's almost because he's frozen and just totally shut down. He never bites or shows any signs of aggression but he definitely likes to stay close to me. And as food crazy as he is, he usually won't take food while we're there.

But to say the least it's very heart breaking to watch him at he vet and be so insecure and terribly frightened. Poor guy. He does tend to know they're trying to help him though in some odd way.

 

[Pintage]

Lugia hates it, won't even accept treats from the vet or staff but will take them from me after a while. She just kinda stands there with the sighthound lurch and her head hanging low. She is easy to handle, tolerates restraint well and was a favorite of the students at the veterinary hospital (she was very agreeable for her abdominal ultrasound + lymph node aspirate, just quietly laid there and didn't move until they were done with the procedure). Lugia hates being manhandled by rough people though, and will yelp if she doesn't want a stranger touching her... this led the vet student who was assigned to her case on a diagnostic wild goose chase because they were convinced that she was in "extreme abdominal pain".

Circus loves it at the vet's office, she gets very tail-waggy and excitable, greets absolutely everyone who makes eye contact with her with kisses and nose bumps. She is a bit more wiggly when it comes to being restrained, though, and a little bit more dramatic about being poked when compared to Lugia.