Jenn I think you're STILL missing the point being made.

The people in the vets should have known MUCH better that to increase the stress on a whelping bitch by putting her in this situation. Any bitch in this position is going to be aggressive/protective and I'd likke to see how "your dog" would react in same.

EVERY vet should have a clear policy/procedure for this occurrence and if it were me I'd be taking them the full road. These people are either thick or incompetent.

John

i have to put my 0.02 worth here. in every good vet clinic i've worked/been in, there is the regular cage room for animals recovering/getting ready for routine surgery/procedures, and there is always another, more isolated, quiet room for special cases. a whelping bitch would've been put in the iso room.

if your vet doesn't have such a room for intensive care, find a different vet. there is NO excuse for a vet NOT having these facilities unless they simply aren't competent or don't care.

unlike connie, i can't provide a link, but it may well be worth a trip to the AVA website, &/or your state's veterinary regulatory website.

this is just WAY out of line, IMHO.

Jenn Just for your information. I have 6 other dogs. My bitch has several Schutzhund and IPO titles. She has an excellent temperment and is fine in the vets office or any other place I take her. She roams my farm free with all of my other dogs including another bitch. I have no trouble with dog fights. In addition I run a boarding kennel. Though it is small, only 8 dogs max, all of my dogs are acustomed to seeing strange dogs comming and going. I am quite sure any good mother would not permit another dog which it did not know any where near her pups. I do not think that she would have stepped on her pup being defensive, judgeing by the condition that the rest of my pups were in, I would guess that it starved. Do not tell me my dog is not properly socialized. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> She is a great dog and a supper mom. By the way this did not happen at my regular vet. It was an after hours emergency clinic, which I will never go to again. I would have been better off to keep my pups at home and tube feed but they insisted I bring them in. Hind sight, I hope there is no next time, but if ther is I will know to keep my live pups at home and not trust anyone else with them.

Doreen,

I don't blame you for being upset. A bitch with new babies should not have to deal with other dogs being present. Even an emergency clinic should have a "quiet" room. Short of this they could have at least been creative and rigged up something for a little privacy!

Regards,

Doreen,
Sounds like you are doing a great job bringing up babies and I am glad that they are doing well. I also agree that you have every right to be upset about the treatment of your "family".
Common sense should have told them to keep her in a quiet, somewhat isolated area.
Keep up the great work.

 Quote:

Doreen,

......A bitch with new babies should not have to deal with other dogs being present. Even an emergency clinic should have a "quiet" room. Short of this they could have at least been creative and rigged up something for a little privacy!......

I'm not experienced with puppies or whelping, but from all I have ever read, Debbie's right about about the usual whelping area. Here's a Leerburg whelping room:
http://www.leerburg.com/whelpingroom.htm

And other examples of vet clinic whelping rooms all stress "segregated, quiet, no other dogs around......."

I know that my vet has a separate room which they do use for other intensive-care patients if necessary when it's not in use for whelping, but which is immediately vacated if a whelping bitch comes in. It's kept low-lit and quiet for the mother, and has a door and a small corridor between it and the other kennels.

I guess the point is that it seems to be general procedure to allow a whelping bitch to have quiet and privacy, and this clinic appears not to have done so. Personally, I would be concerned, too, if I were Doreen, and I would be asking questions about why my bitch had been put into a situation where she was judged not to "like other dogs." <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Based on what has been posted, I *would* investigate and probably complain.

I am so sorry that your bitch had to be put through the stress of being around other dogs at that vet clinic in such a delicate/vulnerable situation for her.
I also agree that you should take some action and have your voice heard in regard to them not having her seperated.
How are the pups doing now?
I hope all is well and best wishes! <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Agreed. The vets should have known a LOT better. MANY animals, not just dogs, change attitudes radically when they have young on the ground and a normally tractable individual may turn nasty while caring for young, only to revert back to her normal self once the young are weaned off and on their separate ways.

If the vets had to move the bitch past kennels, that is fine, it may happen at small clinics, but then the techs would have explained to Doreen "oh when we walked her to her cage we had to pass by some others and she growled at the dogs" rather than giving no explanation at all. I wonder if they had her pass by a dog that was outside the cage and very close to her- not good!

Well it still seems to me that a simple off hand comment from the staff caused alot more 'uproar' than necessary. I know I get sensitive when people say things about my dogs that I take as critisism. And since it seems like everyone is pointing out that bitches DO get alot more upset when whelping, her reacting to other dogs would be a normal behavior so you should expect her to not be loving other dogs near (hence the comment arises from the staff).

But I'm 'man' enough to admit I could be wrong. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

 Quote:

Well it still seems to me that a simple off hand comment from the staff caused alot more 'uproar' than necessary. I know I get sensitive when people say things about my dogs that I take as critisism......

I think we all do. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

But in this case, I think it was a combination of one dead pup, weight loss in all the other pups that indicated to the owner that care had not been taken to make sure they were fed ----- and then a comment made that sounded as if the mother had been treated insensitively in what was ostensibly a facility well-versed in handling emergency dog care.

The comment was made by staff who should have known better than to expose the whelping bitch to other dogs *and* should have known not to assume that her manner while whelping was indicative of her socialization.

If I had gone to find that a puppy had died, all the others had lost weight, and a staff member was commenting about my bitch with "Boy, your dog doesn't like other dogs, does she?" --- I think my response would have been similar.

That's why, I think, people are pointing out that her reacting to other dogs would be a normal behavior ----- normal behavior not warranting comment by staff if it was a passing thing, and not caused to occur in the first place if it was anything more.

We DO all get sensitive about unfounded criticism of our dogs, I think -- deservedly so, maybe, in this case.

JMO! Sensitive subject ...... but still largely good news. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />