At the vets today, when it was time to put Lucy on the table, the assistant was going to, and I said, "no, I am". From that moment on, I was the one who held her. She had one moment of fierce snapping, but I noticed she wasn't directing it at me, but just expressing her 'displeasure'. I relaxed my grip just a bit and let her display. After that display, she had a moment to relax. After that, she just trembled a few times, but did not try to bite.

Now, we gave her a breather and put her on the floor. He wanted to see her move, so I thought I would try something we work on for fun. I sent her 'away' to the bench and she went and stayed at the bench. I gave her the 'return' and she came back. Both the doc and assistant praised and applauded her. She was sent away and brought back about 5 rounds. One round I signaled into the docs arms (he was hunkered on the floor) and she went and asked for praise from him and a pet!

Back on the table, she was relaxed. He asked her to see her teeth (remember we work on 'teeth' everyday), and she offered her muzzle! He looked at her teeth (just raised the lips a bit and didn't try to touch her incisors or open her mouth) and praised her and she was so pleased with herself!

All in all, it was a good visit. They were all so surprised she had changed so much from the fierce, fighting, frightened little dog from March, to this perky, mostly happy little dog in August.

She still has issues, but this visit was incredible!

(oh, and she has conjuctivitis in her right eye so now I get to try to put in ointment...sigh)

Wow, congratulations! You must be so proud of her and yourself for doing such a great job.

That's great! You guys are doing great!!!

Thanks to you both for the congrats. I am proud of HER!
Now to truth time.

A mistake I made: Facing Lucy to a wall with a stranger behind and to the side of her. That elicited the display. I knew better, but didn't stop to think it all the way through.

Second thoughts: Sending her to doc on the aways and returns. I would still do it because she tried to go to him for praise and applause on a return but followed my direction. So, I sent her in to him and she went. I wouldn't do it if she should hesitation to have contact.

One thing I did right: When she was trembling, I initiated our daily ritual--ears, eyes, teeth exam...ears, pretty ears; eyes, pretty eyes, etc. By giving her the gift of familiarity in an unfamiliar place, she relaxed so much into the exam, she didn't even tighten up when he had both rear legs up off the table and held back towards him. What a girl!

PREP: Someone on the board had expressed they weren't sure she would stand up to a probing exam (in one of my old posts) and they were right. So, for weeks we have practiced not only our ritual daily @ several times a day, but also different parts of her body with different pressures, touches, and positions. And, as you can read, it greatly helped.

This board is fabulous for old posts that give great suggestions or admissions of mistakes and because of this board, Lucy had a good visit. She pooped alot afterwards (tummy was upset) but no diarrhea, vomiting, etc.

Thanks!

That's awesome. Congratulations.

Bah, I'm not surprised. You've been working very hard with her. I knew you could do it! Imagine how good she'll be in another year. You'll look back at these old posts and it will be like reading about a different dog!

I can attest to the fact that practising at home for the things the vet will do does WONDERS with an uncertain dog.

Awesome, I love to read something like this. Whatever you have been working with her is paying it off! We know that you have been working very hard with her. You can see that she is starting to relax more and able to trust her mommy more!

Wow, congratulations Jo! I love to hear your updates on how Lucy is progressing! You've worked really hard with her so it's great to see all of that work pay off.