The Dog That Made Me Cry

Today is fun Friday and it wouldn’t be fun Friday without another crazy vet tech story. Spoiler alert, this one ends with me crying. 

Clients often bring their pets into the veterinary hospital with soft tissue injuries. Dogs can be dumb sometimes. Leaping into the air at crazy angles only to land abruptly and tear a cruciate ligament. It happens. Cruciate tears are unfortunately very common in certain breeds, especially if that dog is overweight. This injury is very painful and can leave your pet toe touching, limping, or simply not using the affected leg at all. We can discuss cruciate tears in detail in a different blog, for now, let’s get back to me crying. 

The Dog

Shortly after becoming a veterinary technician, a client brought her yellow labrador in for an exam because he was limping on his left hind leg. This was his first injury, but also his first visit at our hospital. I brought the client and her dog into the exam room to collect a brief history. As I was speaking with the owner, her dog was wandering around the room and even came over to greet me with a wagging tail. The dog seemed friendly enough, so I asked the owner if I could get a quick rectal temperature on her dog (which was standard procedure at this hospital). The owner expressed no concerns with this and held him while I prepared the thermometer. 

As I reached towards the dog to lift his tail, he lashed out. I never actually touched him. I was just reaching towards his back end. He snapped, snarled, and growled. The owner got startled and dropped the leash. The dog realized the owner had dropped the leash and he charged at me. 

I averted my gaze, brought my arms in close to me, and backed away. He kept lunging and snapping in my direction. At this point I was backed into the closest corner of the exam room unable to escape. I demanded the owner regain control of her dog and grab the leash. She seemed utterly terrified of her own dog at this point. When the owner finally regained her composure and realized I was trapped, she grabbed the leash and pulled her dog away from me, stating “he’s never acted like this before”. I slipped out of the door and through the treatment area, saying to the staff “no one go in that room”, as I ran off to the bathroom in an attempt to compose myself enough to finish this appointment. 

After hearing the commotion from outside that exam room and watching me storm off through the treatment area, my assigned doctor for that day came to find me. He knocked on the bathroom door and said “Mel? Are you OK?”. I opened the door with the intention of explaining what had just happened and to prepare him for the upcoming physical exam with this aggressive dog, when I just started crying. I had never been lunged at or cornered in a room by an uncontrolled dog before. Sure, I have dealt with aggressive patients on a daily basis. However, even after 14 years working with companion animals in the veterinary setting and shelter setting, I can still say to this day, this is the one and only time I have ever been truly scared while doing my job. When you start your career as a vet tech, no one prepares you for that uncontrolled aggressive patient. So I just cried. 

What happened and why did the dog act like this?

First, he had a cruciate tear on his rear left leg. Which as I stated before can be very painful. The dog’s left side was facing me. I can only assume that he anticipated pain when he saw me reaching towards his back end. He snapped and growled to tell me he was uncomfortable with what I was about to do and I should stop. 

Second, his owner was nervous about the appointment and worried about the outcome. Pets do pick up on our emotions and sometimes act accordingly. If you are feeling nervous and insecure, your pet may display similar emotions. 

Lastly, the owner dropped the leash and retreated. This action gave the dog permission to attack me. This action was the owner accidentally telling her dog “Yes, I’m scared too, make that lady go away”. Had the owner held the leash tightly and corrected the dog with a quick tug on the leash, he would have stopped after his initial warning. Once the client picked up the leash and pulled her dog back, his behavior changed immediately. He understood that she wanted control again.

Word of advice: Always, always, always have control of your dog. Do not assume they will be well behaved and friendly, especially when they are in pain. Every animal has the potential to bite, even your own animal.