The Aftermath

In 2018, I wrote "Taking dogs to the back of the Veterinary Clinic, Why?". In this article, I advocated for dogs staying with their guardian for most routine procedures. Since then, I have had many life experiences that bolster my stance that dogs should stay with their guardians for routine vet care when feasible.  

When I wrote that blog post, Astrid was happy to go to the vet for many years and she was trained in multiple cooperative care behaviors. Unfortunately, during Covid precautions, we were required to allow her to be taken into the vet clinic without me. I was told she was doing great inside. By the time Covid precautions ended in 2022, she was showing many signs that she wasn't doing great. She would try to jump back in my vehicle tail tucked and crouching down. When Covid precautions ended and I could be present again, I watched as she displayed stressed and aggressive behaviors for even the most basic of vet care.  She was showing signs of pacing and painting as soon as she entered exam rooms.

I took Astrid to Synergy Veterinary Behavior for their program for helping dogs that struggle with the vet in early 2023. With their guidance, I trained her to perform a wall pin restraint for sedatives to be given, and we sorted out Astrid's previsit medications.

She was premedicated for planned vet visits. She was muzzled for all vet visits. She would growl at some vets she recognized as soon as they entered the room. She did better with veterinarians that could take their time and give Astrid a short break when Astrid communicated that she was uncomfortable. After moving halfway across the country in March 2023, I picked a primary vet that was willing to give Astrid these breaks and let her stay in the room with me for routine procedures.

When she had to go to the ER, where seperation from guardians is routine, I advocated for her to be sedated in my presence. She had to be given higher doses of sedatives than the ERs generally like to start with. Right after receiving a sedation injection, she would growl at the veterinary staff, except for Dr. Quinn. She would turn to Dr. Quinn with loose body language and tail wagging and expect Dr. Quinn to give her a treat.

Dr. Quinn runs a specialty clinic in Huntington, Indiana, to help animals that struggle at the vet. I met Dr. Quinn at a dog training conference in March 2024 and learned about her practice, which was only 1.5 hours from me. I arranged for her to be Astrid's primary vet before the conference was over. Her practice only has one vet, one vet tech, and one assistant. They do happy visits to build trust with the animals and work on cooperative care behaviors. They do charge a small fee for these happy visits, but that fee doesn't really cover what their time and knowledge are worth.

They only allow one client's animals in the clinic at a time, which allows for some different approaches that wouldn't be safe at a typical vet hospital. Animals are encouraged to explore the clinic off-leash and find the treats that are hidden along a wall with custom low shelves that also have a variety of dog toys. Guardians are encouraged to support their animals, with the exception of surgeries and X-rays. Guardians can be with their animals as their sedatives take effect and as their animals wake up.

Astrid was very receptive to this way of receiving vet care and was even able to do unsedated and unrestrained X-rays after just a few minutes of transferring a previously trained "lay on side and stay" behavior to the X-ray table. She could allow Dr. Quinn to listen to her heart and lungs without being medicated. She would still sometimes growl if ER veterinarians used a stethoscope, even if she was premedicated. If you have had the honor of hearing Dr. Quinn talk at a conference, she sometimes uses Astrid as one of her examples.

Astrid passed in 2025 at 11 years of age. Sometimes I wonder how much of Astrid's fear of veterinarians could have been prevented if I was informed of her stress in the vet clinic during covid precautions so we could address the stress sooner with medication. I now have two coonhound mixes that retired from research at 5 years of age. Both coonhounds are aloof with strangers. Edith finds travel stressful, so she goes to the primary vet Astrid was seeing before switching to Dr. Quinn. Edith is premedicated for her planned vet visits. Butters loves to travel with me, so she goes to Dr. Quinn, and Astrid helped set an example for her during happy visits before she died. Butters does not need premedicated for vet visits. I will be bringing home a puppy in 3 weeks, and she will also go to Dr. Quinn to start her off with the best relationship with veterinarians that I can arrange.

There are plenty of veterinary professionals that will insist that dogs do better in the back, and some dogs truly do. But without seeing the behaviors my dogs display or having them accurately communicated to me, I can't effectively work to improve how my animals feel and behave for veterinarians. I will continue to recommend that guardians select primary veterinarians willing to accommodate them in staying with their animals for routine care.