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Toa Payoh
Vets Clinical Research
Making veterinary surgery alive
to a veterinary student studying in Australia
using real case studies and pictures |
A vet's dog wanted to bite the intern
Dr
Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
16 February, 2011 |
 toapayohvets.com
Be Kind To Pets
Veterinary Education
Project 2010-0129 |
I don't mind colleagues who are vets taking their dogs to the
Toa Payoh Vets surgery. However, such dogs should be well behaved.
Yesterday, the vet's dog was barking at clients waiting at the reception. He
had caused a rabbit owner the day before, to put up the rabbit crate
on her lap due to the owner's worry about this dog sniffing the
rabbit. See:
Blind
Loyalty.
Yesterday, Monday, Feb 14, 2011 was Valentine's Day and I
was in Toa Payoh Vets in the afternoon to interview a prospective
receptionist in the spare room.
I heard loud barking in the waiting room and went out to check what
the loud noises were all about. It was the vet's dog barking
loudly at clients and their dogs in the waiting room. He has this
habit for some inexplicable reasons.
I instructed the Junior College 2 intern, Michelle to get the dog into
the back room, away from the waiting room. She stopped her laptop
typing at the counter table top and patted the dog's head. Then she tried to move him to the
back by tugging his collar. Michelle has not much experience in dog
handling. I was so shocked to see the dog opening his mouth and grasped
Michelle's hand and wrist between his upper and lower jaws. He resisted being made to leave the
waiting room and was giving Michelle a warning. However, Michelle had
to get the dog away from the waiting room as the other clients were
edgy and unhappy.
This medium-sized dog would bite if Michelle persisted in taking him away from the
reception area to the back room. Now, this dog was showing signs of
aggression and would have bitten Michelle since she was not experienced
in dog handling and aggressive behaviour. This would not be good as parents
expect me to ensure safety of their young adults doing internship at
Toa Payoh Vets. Once there are dog bites, it would become an emotional
issue with parents of interns. They may turn nasty and start
litigation. That may be why many veterinary surgeries don't take
interns who are not veterinary undergraduates.
Immediately, I shouted to Michelle to leave the dog alone. In another
second, this dog would bite deep into her pale wrist and rupture the big
veins. The intern must be safe and not get bitten by dogs and this is
where the vet has a heavy responsibility. Immediately, I opened the
busy consultation room door to ask the vet: "Bring your dog to
the back room. He is disturbing the clients' dogs and pets." She came out, took her dog and put him inside a crate
without a word.
A vet's dog that starts barking at clients and their dogs in the
waiting room is not nice. These are the type of situations not
pleasant to me as the Principal and Clinic Manager and to new clients.
A barking dog will drive clients to other veterinary surgeries
where they don't have to worry about a big dog coming at them. In
addition, the biting dog
gives Toa Payoh Vets a bad reputation.
I will have to decide what to do if this dog continues his barking
actions at clients. He does bark at me but that is OK with me. But it
is not Ok when clients are involved as no client wants to go to see a
vet and get frightened or get their children frightened by a barking
dog that is medium sized. Real life in veterinary medicine does pose
challenges or problems and dangers that demand solutions to ensure
safety of the staff. How this situation is resolved remains to be
seen. However a more serious episode the next day. See:
A vet's dog caused a lady client to shriek |
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 BE KIND TO OLDER DOGS & CATS --- GET TUMOURS
REMOVED EARLY --- WHEN THEY ARE SMALLER.
More case studies, goto:
Cats or
Dogs |
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To
make an appointment: e-mail
judy@toapayohvets.com
tel: +65 9668-6469, 6254-3326 |
toapayohvets.com
Be Kind To Pets
Veterinary Education
Project 2010-0129 |
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 Toa
Payoh Vets
Clinical Research
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All rights reserved. Revised: February 16, 2011
Toa Payoh Vets |
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