Long story short - Princess hurt her foot at work today and needed a few stitches to close a very small wound on it. Vet wanted to put her to sleep for just long enough to clean her wound and staple it up - Not a prolem with me. As Princess is my 'growly' Doberman, I can understand him wanting her asleep for this.

For some reason they took her in the back to give her the shot to put her to sleep. No idea why they had to leave the exam room to do this and I did not think to ask why at the time. They are back there no more than a minute or two when I hear Princess yelp and then LOUDLY give her 'about to eat your face off' bark/growl. She was about to bite someone judging from the sound of it. About 30 seconds after all this noise the door opens and Princess comes walking back into the exam room. Doctor says she should be asleep in about 5 minutes or so and to just knock on the door when she is out so they can fix her up. I ask about the noise and both him an the Vet tech have stupid looks on their faces. Vet tech says, "I don't know, She did just fine for her shot but freaked out as soon as I let go of her leash". (I don't buy any of that crap - There is more to that story than she was telling)

As I was waiting for her to go to sleep I was looking at her hurt foot and noticed someone had just clipped some of her nails. I would be willing to bet that all the noise was because someone clipped too much when she was back there for that short time and got into her quick... Lucky she did not eat their face... I do NOT use clippers on my girls and prefer to use a dremil or a file... They have long quicks and it is hard to see because of the dark color of the nail. Clippers are NOT the best choice for my dogs. A file may be slower but it is MUCH less likely to cause any discomfort to the dog.


All of the other times we have went to this Vet for services there was a form to fill out with little boxes to check off relating to services that you wanted done. There is a little box to check for 'nail trimming' and I NEVER let them do it. I am NOT happy they did it this time and especially without ASKING me first. There is normally a charge for nail trimming but there was NOT one listed on my receipt. I can't help but wonder why not??? I know darn well they clipped her nails as I just filed them yesterday and remember exactly what they looked like when I got done... It was also fairly obvious from looking at their work after the fact that they got the quick on a few of them...

Some things I learned today because of this:

1) Need to get a better first aid kid for the workplace. What we have there currently is garbage not fit for a dog... Plan to do some shopping and fix that problem tomorrow. I have first aid supplies at home that could have helped today but had garbage at work. Also plan to get a first aid kit for the van. I feel stupid for not having the stuff I needed around to help in a minor accident when away from home. The dog taught ME today... 'Get a good first aid kit and keep it NEAR you'.

2) NEVER let them take your dog out of your sight without a good reason. Ask WHY first... (All other work was performed in my presence during this visit - No idea why they went to the back for this one shot and nail mauling...)

3) Be sure to have roll of tape and a marker in van for 'just in case' senario where you need to temporarily stick a note on your dog that says, "Do NOT use clippers on me!"

4) Good to have at least a couple of Dobermans around.



The drugs they gave her to put her to sleep turned her into a zombie for most of the day. Not really fun to watch her like this. Poor dog looked/acted 'drunk' for a good while after this ordeal. Still not completely back to normal in my opinion. I do not think we will be going the sedation route in the future for something this minor. Our Vet today DID give me the option of just using a local anesthetic and me holding her. Chose what I did at the time to make the Vet more comfortable working on her - Not so sure that was the right choice now...

Sorry to hear about the experience.
My Dog, a Boston Terrier, got into something and had an allergic reaction. Face swollen etc.
After the initial exam, they took my dog to a different room and gave him a shot.

I don't know the why but I bet there's a simple policy about taking the dog into a more controlled area to give shots. The what if scenarios are probably pretty high so perhaps they'd prefer to do those things where the drugs are, the needles are, etc. They probably also undertand how people can react to shots and what you may be doing to try and control the dog while getting a shot isn't the best for the Vet. I can easily see a scenario where the Vet is giving a shot in the exam room with the owner. The pet struggles and bites the owner. The owner sues the vet, blah, blah. Hell, they tried to take my BT's temp via anal probe. He was so pissed he was snapping at me. They decided to do it in the back room...

I agree with you on the clippers. The folks in here told me about the nail clipper dremmel thing. Works like a champ. I'll never cut with clippers again.

The dog did not freak because of the shot. Vet tech said the dog did fine with that. Neither dog has ever had a problem with shots in the past.

Nails were definitely clipped and not broken. As I was waiting for the dog to go to sleep for the work I was looking at her feet and noticed her nails. Clean cuts that came from clippers - I had just filed these same nails the day before and remembered what they looked like... Someone screwed up and cut into her quick using clippers. Other problem was that I did not ask them to do anything to her nails. They should have asked before doing it...

Either way, There are plently of Vet Clinics around here to choose from and this one will not be getting any more of our money.

On the bright side, Princess is feeling much better now and getting around fine. Fortunately it was only a skin wound and nothing was broken. Bought her a new rope toy to keep her busy and a big bag of duck feet for her and her sister to snack on...

Fine looking dog. LOVE those ears!