was ibu to have said something to the vet?

[bubbub]

was going to collect dd1 from preschool with dd2 who has a dogdar of 20 paces, she is dog mad! screaming dogdogdog before ive even had a glimps of a tail.
we stopped outside the vets waiting for another mum to finish at the shop when a guy comes out the vets with a huge husky dog on a metal chain lead, dd goes into meltdown, dogdogdog!
yes i say, lovely dog.
the dog walks calmly about half a foot ahead of the man, who screams at it, then whips it with a metal chain on the face!
im stunned and dd goes silent.
guy proceeds to walk, then whacks the gog in the face with the chain (a hefty chain) again, this time i really didnt get what the dog had done wrong. dog whimpered. dd starts to cry.
so i popped into the vets and said, im sorry i know this is none of my buisness but the guy with the husky that just left just hit the dog in the face twice with a metal chain, and i felt i had to say something, it wasnt a light tap and it worried me, she said really condesendingly, yeah, i saw, he is just controlling the dog, its perfectly normal" and laughed.
so i appologised and went (didnt have time to say anything eles as had to get dd1)
i dont know what i expected but is this really normal behaviour condoned by vets?! is that what it takes to tain a dog? i dont have one so i dont know.
i just worried that if thats how he treats it in public, what does he do behind closed doors, but also thats the kind of behaviour that would make a normaly docile dog turn into an agressive dog? was i unreasonable to say anything? or were they unreasonable for kind of laughing at me?

its disheatening to know that the vet could get struck off for helping the rspca to investigate, if they check and the dog is fine then at least they checked, everyone goes home happy, if the dog is mistreated, then it can be removed, and go n to a better life.
in the current senario, the vet wont say anything because she fears for her job, and no one knows what is happening to the dog, and its suffering could potentialy go on for years.
its pathetic that the vets job be at risk for that if they are just looking to protect and safe guard the dogs.

can you imagine if this worked the same way for children, ie, teachers, doctors, preschool people reporting concerns to social services, them finding all seems ok then striking off the said teacher/doctor/preschool worker?

what would happen? no one would voice concerns due to fear of losing their job. and abused children would be in a far worse position.
it seems to me a piss poor system.
also my snapshot of the situation was a snapshot only 2 meters away from the situation, we were stationary. and had watched him come out the vets, hold the thick chain and whip it onto his face in a bit like how someone would do that whipping of a wet towel in a shower , he was holding the chain 3/4 a way down and the other quarter was hanging down past his wrist and thats what he whipped.
twice.

i am 100% sure i did not mistake or misinterpret what i saw, and my dd definately didnt.

the system is shocking, and dogs (maybe not this one, you just dont know) will suffer as a result.

Please let us know what happens
YANBU

I totally understand where you are coming from, bubbub. In fact it's only in the last few years or so that the rules have been relaxed to allow vets to reports suspected abuse/ neglect etc from their clients! Before we were even more tied up with client confidentiality.

I'm not excusing the vet at all, her manner wasn't right, but maybe she didn't have as good a view of the incident as you.

I guess it's a bit like seeing a child smacked in the street outside a doctor's surgery. I doubt the doctor would be the one who should report it to the authorities, although once the authorities were involved he/ she could help them?

If a vet witnessed something they considered to be cruel/ abusive/ neglect, they can certainly report it. But not on someone else's behalf, nor can they give out the client's details to a member of the public.

Be assured, if this guy regularly hits the dog like this, other people will notice too, and he will get reported, especially if there are other abuses going on. If the vet secretly suspects the guy is not treating his dog right she too will watch and report- but couldn't be seen to be saying as much to you, iyswim? Anyway, let us know what happens.