Yee-fucking-ha, a dog rodeo!

Sometimes people just absofuckinglutely blow my mind. God, how I wish professional ethics allowed us to bitchslap stupid pet owners. Hell, sometimes, with some owners, I almost think it would be worth getting fired over. Tonight, we had one of those situations.

We had a min pin (miniature pinscher, looks like a scale-model doberman) come in tonight. I personally have never met up with a min pin over the age of 3 months or so that wasn’t a total shit, and tonight was no exception. The dog came back to the triage/treatment area jumping around and snapping at the leash and the tech leading him. We all looked at one another, 2 vets and 4 experienced techs, and we were all thinking the same thing: “Yee-fucking-ha, we’ve probably got a fucking rodeo on our hands.”

After a few fruitless attempts to apply a canvas muzzle, we decided, in the interests of minimizing patient stress (and the chance of us getting bitten, I’m not ashamed to admit) to ask the owners to muzzle their own damn snaphound. This was when things got interesting. The owners refused to even make an attempt, because they’re afraid of their own fucking dog. (The issue of keeping an animal you’re afraid of is a whole other pissy thread.)

Rather than go straight for a full-on rodeo (which generally involves huge quanitites of shit, urine, and anal gland expression), we tried the blanket trick first. He was, unfortunately, wise to that one and kept evading the blanket while making repeated lunges towards all of us. Fortunately, though, in his attempts to nail the nearer hand I had on his leash, he got his front feet tangled in it.

While he was busy choking himself, another tech took advantage of his distraction, dropped the blanket over him, and got a firm grip around his blanketed throat. I slapped a gauze muzzle on, then a canvas one, and from there on, we pretty much had his bitey little ass, despite his continued attempts to break free and/or bite us through the muzzle.

Yeah, it was the dog being a pain in our collective ass, but I put all the blame squarely on the owners. They were the ones who socialized him so badly that he was trying to bite before we ever even tried to pick him up. They were the ones who didn’t even try to curb his aggressive tendencies as a pup, and they’re the ones who let him continue to rule that house with an iron paw. If they weren’t such irresponsible fuck-knuckles, they could have saved a) us a lot of time and energy and risk, b) themselves the technician fees that got added onto their bill, since it wouldn’t have taken three of us 10 minutes to even muzzle him so we could begin work, and c) themselves a lot of stress in day-to-day dealings with the fucker.

I’m sure their regular vet agrees.

It never ceases to blow my mind, how badly behaved SO many little dogs are. I’ve decided it’s because people get little dogs and decide they don’t need to train them properly, because they can just pick em up and remove em from any source of trouble, right?

Wrong. TRAIN YOUR MOTHERFUCKING YAPHOUND! I DON’T CARE IF IT ONLY WEIGHS 2 POUNDS, I STILL DON’T WANT TO LISTEN TO IT FUCKING BARK ALL GODAMN NIGHT LONG AT THAT GNAT ON YOUR FUCKING WALL, NOR DO I WANT TO COME OVER WHEN YOUR ANIMAL PISSES AND SHITS ALL OVER YOUR CARPETING AND UPHOLSTERY, WITHOUT YOU EVER SAYING “BOO” TO IT!

I had a 135 pound German-bred FEMALE Rottweiler(yes, that’s 135 pounds of bitch, just like her Momma) and she was built like a Sherman tank, head like a fucking wine cask. She was a VERY intimidating-looking dog. Gang-bangers in my neighborhood (Wicker Park/Bucktown at the time) would stop me to ask me about my dog’s breeding, and if I’d sell them any future puppies for crissakes. However…

She’s PERFECTLY trained in public. (Lives with the ex-boyfriend now, I didn’t have the heart to separate em, lol) I used to take her to Petsmart every weekend, I used to take her to bars with me all the time, I took her to restaurants, kid’s parks, she had a BLAST all summerlong at Navy Pier when I took her almost every weekend (and this is on weekend nights, in big crowds, mind you), etc, and no one EVER had a complaint about her, because she was VERY well trained, and VERY used to being in many different situations. All I’d have to do is snap my fingers and point at the floor and she’d drop belly-down into “down”, and people would marvel at “how well she listens”. I’d snap again and give her the signal, and she’d sit up and stay…all without ever touching the leash, ever. People would watch in awe, constantly, as if my dog was some miracle. As if the notion of obedience training just never occured to em. (Or maybe, with all the badly overplayed media those years about Rottweilers, they were just in awe she wasn’t tearing someone’s throat out like some psychotic hellhound shrug)

WHY?!? ALL dogs should listen that well, if you’re ANY sort of reponsible owner!!! Maybe it’s because I DON’T have the luxury of being able to carry my dog out of untenable situations. Maybe it’s because I know I wouldn’t have a hope in hell of getting my dog under control, should she choose to completely ignore me. Christ, she weighs as much as I do (I’m a 5’8" female), and I don’t doubt she’s aware of it. Fact of the matter is, however, I spent ALOT of time and money getting my dog proper training, and even MORE time working with her, socialising her, and making her fit company for other people to be around.

In my “perfect” world, there is NO excuse for a poorly trained dog, no matter what si_e it is (my 26th letter key doesn’t work =p)

And as far as the OP goes…damn, I feel for ya…I had an ex-roomie that had two min-pins and …omfg, I hated those dogs like I’ve never hated any living thing ever, up to and including Chicago water bugs.

I love animals…I mean LOVE animals, I am so far beyond sucker when it comes to critters, it’s not funny. 3rd biggest fight me and the ex-bf had…we were up to NINE critters in our Hobart, IN house, because we owned 2 (Rottie and cat), gained another due to it was gonna go to the shelter if I didn’t keep it (3 mo. old kitten which I still am blessed to have the companionship of 3 years later), FIVE strays I found around town and couldn’t bear to see running around loose (might get hit!)and another dog I was trying to keep, that I’d found just down the street (the most beautiful, sweetest, most loving husky ever grin). Boyfriend gave the ultimatum it was him or the critters. (I got my way with the kitten and the husky, the rest I either found their owners, or new homes wink)

I didn’t think it was POSSIBLE for me to hate any dog, ever. And then I met Reggie and Jordan, ex-roomies’s min-pins…the most ill-behaved yappy min-pin pieces of shit ever. If there was a strong gust, these dogs would bark from here till tomorrow. She never even bothered to housebreak em, they went inside, on those little “puppy pads”. They tore anything and everything up, and were the most foul-tempered, ill-mannered dogs I’ve ever had the displeasure of laying eyes on. I’ve hated the breed since, but take it with a grain of salt, I’ve NEVER been a lover of the Toy group(Go, Working group!!!) Don’t get me started on my ex-in-laws pekinese…I’d cheerfully throttled every last one of em after 4 of them peed all over my newborn daughter’s toybox and toys.

To anyone that owns or is thinking or getting a small dog, I BEG you, for your sanity, and everyone else’s, PLEASE train the little bastard, so I won’t be forced to pretend it’s a football and I’m the Bear’s starting kicker?

Have you considered picking up a pair of oven mitts? A good pair should be tough enough to protect against a small dog’s teeth.

Hallelujah. I wish people would fucking train their dogs, learn to keep them under control, and recognize their behavior. (Disclosure: I love dogs, I grew up with dogs, I think they’re wonderful pets, and I don’t think they’re appropriate for everyone. I also think you should pick a dog breed based on your lifestyle, home, and so forth, so you don’t get some huge mismatch and make the dog and yourself miserable.)

My husband is a letter carrier. He also grew up with dogs, his family bred English setters, and he loves dogs. He gets along very well with many dogs on his route, and has even managed to command dogs that aren’t his own to lie down/back off/otherwise be good when things looked iffy. That being said, he knows that in a dog’s mind, often “postman = intruder”. He’s seen many decent family dogs turn into snarling defenders when he comes up with the mail, and sees even more owners go into total obliviousness/denial when that happens. “Oh, he’s a good dog, he doesn’t bite”, and his response is, “Sir/Ma’am, he may not bite you, but he’s trying to defend you right now and he’s threatening to bite me.” He’s had to repeat demands to restrain their dog before an attack, frequently enough that he’s even shouted because some clueless folks just deny anything’s wrong while Fido snarls and barks. Oh, and a hint to any of them out there - if he’s repeatedly told you to restrain your dog and it charges him, he’s probably going to try to drive the dog off. This might involve a kick or pepper spray. He’s allowed to do that. He’s also allowed to hold the mail at the post office instead of delivering it if you seem unwilling to keep your dog under control.

Oh, and on another note: I’m aware that some dogs walk off-leash just fine. Those are well-trained dogs. Dogs that go running after people/pets (yes, even cats) snarling and take several seconds to respond to your commands - assuming you don’t have to run after the dog and physically haul it off - do not count as “well-trained” and “doesn’t need a leash”. Got it?

E-Sabbath, oven mitts would be a total waste of time for several reasons.

To safely and effectively restrain and animal, you have to be able to adjust your grip (or let go entirely) in a split second, and you just can’t do that in oven mitts. Nor do you have the time or opportunity to be stripping the oven mitts off when you need bare hands. Every vet clinic has at least on pair of huge, thick leather gloves for that purpose. No one ever uses them for the above mentioned reason.

Besides, oven mitts as adequate protection from a dog who’s actively trying to bite you? Either you’re joking, or you don’t know anything about how strong an animal’s jaws are. The blanket trick only works because the weight of a folded-up blanket hampers the dog’s movement while providing several layers of protection. It’s still pretty damn dangerous, though; if anyone’s timing is off by a split second, someone’s getting nailed.

No offense, but if oven mitts worked, we’d already be bloody using them, wouldn’t we?

I may be underestimating the strength of small dogs, but I was thinking that, since you apparently didn’t have the leather gloves (Which I thought was odd), they might do to help contain the dog for long enough to get the blanket on him.

I am aware of the horrible grip of said items, was thinking simply of their use as a blocking tool.

You might try welders’ gloves - not the cheap kind, but the shred-proof elbow length kind. They’re not quite as heavy as the thickest leather ones, plus they tend to have better gripping ability.

(btw, do you mind if I steal the word “yaphound”?)

It was “snaphound”, but steal away.

We already have a method of containing the dog till we can get the blanket on; it’s called a leash. :wink:

Seriously, though, I think some of you are misunderstanding the blanket trick. What happens is that one person has the dog on a slip-noose leash, holding the end wrapped tightly in one hand while the other holds the middle of the leash up and out from her body. This keeps the dog from charging and biting her. Someone else drops a large, heavy blanket over the dog, the weight and bulk of which prevents biting while the neck is seized and the entire bundle is lifted to the counter.

In theory this is a neat, fast little trick, but in practice it’s more complicated than that. The dog is usually spinning and snapping and lunging, and it takes multiple tries to get the blanket on them. Once the blanket hits, you have to move with lightining speed, and grab that throat before he comes out from under there in a worse mood than ever. There’s no time to be pulling gloves off, nor do you have the option of taking a hand off the dog later to remove gloves. In these situations, you pretty much wind up laying across the little bugger to hold it down, even after the muzzles are applied.

Yes, we have several pairs of the leather gloves, which lie unused in a basket on the counter, just like ever pair I’ve ever seen in every vet clinic I’ve ever worked in. Not only are they shitty for restraint, they make you more likely to get bitten by impairing your hand mobility. They may not break the skin, but you can get some nasty crushing-type injuries that way. The objective is to not get hurt at all, not to just prevent skin breakage.

As you may remember, many moons ago, my dog was unfairly labeled as 'WILL BITE" in her records, something which I tried (fruitlessly) to have removed.

But the reason I bring it up is, did you know what was up with the dog before you tried to grab it? Far be it from me to defend people who don’t train their dogs, but my little margie, who is as sweet as pie had a cyst on her leg and it was swollen and very painful to her, and the vet tech, without even looking at her chart, grabbed her by her legs to try and get her to sit. And she got snapped at.

And now my dog is considered ‘vicious’ and a ‘biter’. And I think it’s not fair. Was this little dog sick or injured? I know you probably knew ahead of time, I just get irked when I hear phrases like “damn dog”.

Well, if you reread the OP, the dog was snapping at the leash and the tech as she led it into the triage area. We never tried to grab without a muzzle, as only a complete moron would try to grab a dog that’s biting the leash and growling without some form of protection.

BTW, the dog was in for vomiting, diarrhea, and lethargy. Tenderness around the abdomen, leading to a snap, I could understand and attribute to illness and discomfort. Snapping and growling as you lead it down the hallway, and the owner’s being afraid of the dog, however, is absolutely inexcusable.

I’d have to know more about the situation to have an opinion about Margie and marking her chart. A lot of places have a policy that any animal that tries to bite, for any reason, gets the chart noted. The logic is that it’s better for a few dogs to have undeserved bad reputations than for the staff to get hurt, and I agree with that to a certain extent. I’d much rather use a muzzle and not need it than to find out I needed one too late.

Having restrained more then my share of yappy dogs (inc MinPins) I hear you loud and clear. I volunteered/worked in shelters for almost 15 years before I burnt out.

I think vets should be allowed to charge extra for those dogs that try to cause extra wear-and-tear on their employees. A “Neglectful Owner” tax or the like. :wink:

What is it with people who think little dogs don’t need to be trained or socialized? Just because Puddin’ can’t kill with a bite doesn’t make it less of a risk to others.

Arg.

Well, I’d agree with that fully except there are towns and counties (Lake County for one) in Illinois that will not allow you to have a dog off leash even on your own property if they have a ‘bite record’. So now because one vet tech was an idiot to my dog, there are whole sections of town and state that I can’t move to.

Anyway, thanks for clearing it up.

You might want to double check that. If she snapped, but hasn’t actually bitten anyone, that usually doesn’t count as a “bite record.” In a lot of jurisdictions, only actual bites reported to Animal Control or the health department count. (A lot of times attacks on other dogs that get reported also count.)

One other possibility for dealing with smaller bite-prone dogs (forgive me if this has been tried and/or dismissed as impractical) is the use of chainmail-type gloves. They are used during autopsy to limit the possibility of cutting oneself with scalpel blades. These gloves have to be fairly flexible due to the precision work involved. There are also gloves made with Kevlar-type material.

By the way, if you do a Google search using the terms “chainmail gloves autopsy” you come up with some very odd links.

I can’t say for certain, but I would assume that such gloves wouldn’t be cost-effective for the average vet clinic. Say what you will for the leash-and-blanket routine, it’s cheap. Also, those gloves might prevent punctures and scrapes, but if they’re very flexible they’re not much good for preventing crushing injuries.

Besides, you can even use the blanket technique (with minor modifications) on big dogs.