You never know about what goes on at a vets office when you leave. I know a woman who found a stray GSD that had been injured. The injury required surgery. On the day of her newly aquired GSDs surgery she discovered her female Pit had a hawthorn buried deep in her front paw. The vet told her to bring the pit in at the same time as the GSD. The Pit owner gave explicit instructions via a written document saying that the Pit was to have NO CONTACT with another dog. When she brought the Pit in one of the vet techs was bringing a HS choc lab in to be checked out. The lab appeared to want to have contact with the pit. The Pit owner commanded the pit down and stepped in front of the vet tech with the lab and told the tech to please avoid contact with her dog. The vet tech made a sarcastic remark to the pit owner about her being very mean, the dogs only wanted to play, as the pit also had been wagging its tail and at attention. The Pit owner leaves both her dogs, the GSD for surgery and the Pit for the thorn removal. This vet tech brought the lab out and the pit to let them "play". When the pit owner came to pick up her dog the dog had several lacerations about it's head. The lab was so severly injured and seeing as it was ownerless the vet hospital opted to PTS. The vet tech said the dogs just wanted to play and got into a fight, she of course did not know how to seperate them. Good grief, the stupidity. Can you imagine if that poor little lab belonged to someone. This makes me afraid to leave my dogs. I will be writing up some of those NO CONTACT contracts for the vet to sign the next time my girl has to go to stay at the vet. It will be interesting to see what happens.........

Maybe the person was not a professional vet tech but a kennel cleaner/dog walker. Those tend to be high school or college students who "love animals." Doesn't mean they have a lick of sense. Disobeying the owner is no excuse, but perhaps this was a sign of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" where the employee thought she knew everything she needed to know and was wrong. Either way, the vet should have ensured that his employees were professional enough to follow orders.
I myself would be unhappy with my dog coming into contact with any strange dog at the vet's or a kennel. Who knows what those dogs have or how they will behave. I am thankful I have not had to worry about that to date, but your post is some food for thought.

I mispoke this was a young girl hired to do just that move the dogs about..........it is just so sad. The good news is Jada the stray GSD is doing very well, her surgery was a success!!!! <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> She is believed to be an old gal but responding very well.

Yes those children or young adults need to be given explicit instructions on letting dogs interact with eachother and be manditory they follow the instructions of the owners. That is an atrosity. On the other hand the pit owner knowing the dogs disposition should have brought the dog to the vet with a muzzle. Young adults are notorious for not listening but the owner should have brought it to the attention of the vet immediatly.

Rick

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Yes those children or young adults need to be given explicit instructions on letting dogs interact with eachother and be manditory they follow the instructions of the owners. That is an atrosity. On the other hand the pit owner knowing the dogs disposition should have brought the dog to the vet with a muzzle. Young adults are notorious for not listening but the owner should have brought it to the attention of the vet immediatly.

Rick

With respect, I do not feel that this was the fault of the owner. She gave written instructions and verbal instructions. Vet offices have muzzles a-plenty. The vet staff was in charge. They know how to muzzle and how to keep a dog from interacting. From everything we are given as info, I'd have to say that (IMO) this was 100% the responsibility of the vet and the vet's staff. Shame on them.

i agree with Connie on this one. My GSD is my family's PPD and i don't muzzle her going into the office. i just simply say that i don't want anyone to mess with her ie pet, play, ect. when we go back into the room i suggest that she be muzzled before any shots or anything just to be on the safe side. if the vet knew that the dog should not be close to another dog then it is completely their fault and i would be... UPSET for lack of a better word. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

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Yes those children or young adults need to be given explicit instructions on letting dogs interact with eachother and be manditory they follow the instructions of the owners. That is an atrosity. On the other hand the pit owner knowing the dogs disposition should have brought the dog to the vet with a muzzle. Young adults are notorious for not listening but the owner should have brought it to the attention of the vet immediatly.

Rick

Rick -

I agree with you and so did the owner of the pit, the office staff were given verbal instruction and written, and more specifically the young lady that allowd the interaction was told directly.

Another interesting point is the dog was trained, she was commanded to a down position when the dog walker tried to interact the first time. My dog has DA as well that is why she has also been trained, but I would not have a minutes issue with muzzling her either...muzzle and my dogtra would make me feel very secure, that is food for thought for me...Thanks

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I'd have to say that (IMO) this was 100% the responsibility of the vet and the vet's staff. Shame on them.

100% agreement with that here. Didn't see or pay attention that written and verabal was given.

Whoa! Obviously this girl was a complete idiot! If vets have lousy staff, it's because THEY refuse to pay for quality help! If all they want to pay is min. wage with no benefits, they are going to get the just-out-of-high-school idjits who think being a "vet tech" means petting animals all day. Hiring certified technicians is a start, but I have seen some just out of school that I wouldn't trust with a shedding blade either. I spent nearly twenty years working as tech. My first few years I spent working for one of those that didn't care whether the staff knew sic' em from come here and paid accordingly. (Why I ended up leaving, in fact)

What you can do is demand OF THE VET that they maintain a quality staff. Ask questions of your tech, because you can pretty much bet that THEY are the one that will be largely responsible for your animals' well-being in the clinic. From medication administration to post op monitoring. IME, most hands-on treatment, excluding surgery, is done by the staff. It is your right to expect that they are not only caring, but EXPERIENCED!