I apologize in advance to my savvy vet tech readers. And if by some crazy chance a veterinarian actually reads this and you yourself are savvy, I apologize to you as well. As a dog owner and lover, I think there are some things I shouldn’t have to explain when I’m with my dogs at the vet.

Specifically:

Why all dogs should be on leash in common areas.

One would think this was a no-brainer, no? It’s actually happened to me.

Twice.

The first time it happened was when I took Sampson in for his surgical consult. While my poor lame dog was stressed out and waiting to be seen, two GSD’s and a Pug came charging up to him after having an exam room door opened. There was a lot of loud dog noises, which ended when I screamed, “HEY!” at the top of my lungs.

Afterwards the receptionist told me, “We’ve told him they have to be on leash, but he doesn’t listen.” I told her if it had it been Delilah it may not have turned out so well.

The second time was recently at my own vet when I went in to pick up Sampson from one of his tests.

A cute little off-leash dog came running up to me while I was waiting. The woman called the dog over, leashed her up and was then called into the exam room. I asked the ladies at the front desk about it and they kind of just shrugged.

Do people in the animal industry NOT understand that not all dogs or owners are comfortable meeting other dogs?

Delilah’s titchy. Sometimes she’s fine, other times she’s not. I prefer just to avoid the situation all together. It just makes it easier.

Sampson loves other dogs, but he gets so excited to meet them, that he bounces about and pulls me. It’s just not a pretty, nor pleasant experience. Never mind the fact that if two dogs don’t like each other, and either a dog or human gets hurt, there is a liability issue.

Last week when I took Sampson in for Physical Therapy, there was a woman standing in the doorway of an exam room with her dog in her arms, and I had to walk Sampson past her. I said, “Can you go in the room?”

I think the Physical Therapist was taken aback because she smiled at me and said, “We have to share.”

I don’t mind sharing, but I know my dog and I know what I can and can’t do with him. Not to mention, the other dog was much higher up than my dog, and they were already encroaching into a hallway which was narrow to begin with and my dog is injured.

I’m certainly not comfortable in that situation and I’m not sure how comfortable my dog is, so to me it’s best to eliminate as many risk factors as I can.

Hey, at least I asked the woman nicely, I mean, I didn’t go all backwoods hood rat on her ass. 🙂

Welcome to Thursday’s Barks and Bytes Blog hop hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs and Heart Like a Dog. We hope you will grab a badge from one of our websites and join us.