White Coat Syndrom Overboard

I am feeling so sad. Brutus had doggy class today, and part of the class was giving our dogs massage, and checking their teeth and ears. When I smelled Brutus's ears, they smelled kind of sour, so after class I ran him next door to his veterinarian. Now the last time he was there didn't go very well to say the least. He was very scared as soon as they closed the exam room door, so today I asked them to leave the door open until the exam started. I thought maybe that would keep him a little more calm. As it is, he is already labeled as a vicious dog on the charts because the last time they tried to take Brutus's temperature, he turned around and tried to bite the vet tech. Not cool.

Today was worse. After the vet tech was done taking down all of the basic information on the computer, she started putting the lube on the thermometer. I reminded her that he wasn't going to cooperate on that "end", so she suggested that she swab his ears first, and then we could muzzle him and take his temperature. She came toward him with a Q-tip (quite harmless) and he freaked out and started growling and probably would have bit her if she hadn't stepped back. She went in back and got a soft nylon muzzle and brought it to the room, and I put it on Brutus. He literally lets me do anything to him without hesitation. She went to swab his ears again, and he started growling and bucking like a bronco. At that point she thought it might be better to take him in back where she could have a couple people help her, and I wouldn't have to be involved in a negative action with him. About five minutes later she and the doctor came back to the room with Brutus, and they were both sort of out of breath. The good news.....the doctor said that Brutus's ears were a little red. Not infected, but I should clean them every couple days for the next week and see if it clears up the odor. The bad news.....she said that from now on, in order to examine him, they would need to sedate him. He literally tried to attack both of them even with his muzzle on. I was absolutely heart broken. Brutus is literally one of the most gentle and sweetest dogs I have ever met. There has to be something in his past that has happened at the veterinarian or a similar type situation that has him so petrified that he feels like he has to fight for his life. I was on the verge of tears.

Libby, our new dog trainer happened to be in her second doggy class of the day, and it was a puppy class that was learning to be weighed on the scale at the vet. She saw Brutus and I out in the waiting area. I told her what had happened, and she was absolutely shocked. Libby has a very confident personality, and she took Brutus by the leash and headed up to the desk and told the girls that Brutus would be coming over to visit every Wednesday morning after class, and they are to welcome him with lots of love and cookies. They said they would, but I don't think any of them are too excited about it. I can't blame them. If a dog tried to attack me, I wouldn't exactly want to love it up and give it a cookie either. Good thing he's up to date on everything until August. I just need to keep the big guy in good health, and keep Libby on his side!