Aggressive dog in waiting room

[Wick55]

I went to the vet earlier and I had my 9 week old baby in the carrier and small/medium 12 year old dog on a lead. A man comes in through the door with a huge dog (Rottweiler? / no muzzle on) and instantly it was trying to get to my dog (and possibly the baby) I was TERRIFIED and so was my dog. It was snarling, barking and lunging and the guy only had it on a chain he could have easily let go or got dragged over. I hurried across the foyer (which is quite small anyway) and stood by the staff room door ready to lock myself in if the dog got loose. It was trying to get away from the man and attack us for at least 10 mins. To move towards the exit I would have had to get very close to them. The reception staff did nothing, and the man was trying to get it to sit and walking it around in circles, it continued to lunge at us barking etc whenever it got closer. I was shaking with fear and when we finally went into a side room the vet said we needed to walk past the dog to go to a consult room and I said I’m sorry but no. She didn’t hesitate and took me to the room behind us. My dog was so terrified her eyes were nearly popping out of her head. The barking sound was so loud the door barely masked it. I said to the vet ‘she’s not normally like this, I don’t think that dog is helping’ and she said ‘no I don’t think it is’. And then when we went to leave, she just ‘reassuringly’ said ‘don’t worry the dog has gone in now to see the vet’. I’m absolutely livid no one said anything to the owner, or noticed what a massive risk it was having the dog about 10 feet away from a tiny baby and little dog just stood there helpless. honestly I’ve never been so afraid in my life. I was shaking for like 20 mins after and just burst out crying in the car. AIBU to put in a complaint?

Genuinely I’ve never felt afraid of a dog before I feel to traumatised. It was so large and strong I wouldn’t have been able to protect my dog or my baby.

Sorry, that was to @FrangipaniBlue and if the message doesn’t come across very clearly the way I wrote it, I think you sound like a good owner but it’s partly BECAUSE you’re taking precautions to make sure your scared dog doesn’t hurt you, anyone else or himself.

Gosh this is all very dramatic.

Clearly the OP had a moment and was on the verge on a panic attack, but there is nothing else unusual or complaint-worthy here.

It can't be a huge surprise that there are other dogs in a vets waiting room. Some are larger and some are smaller. Some are noisy. They are on leads and under control. (If not - obviously a different story, but that wasn't the case here).

I cannot believe that there was any apparent threat otherwise the receptionists would have stepped in.

I absolutely get having a moment as a new mum with a small baby, and sympathise, but it doesn't mean that anyone else did anything wrong here.

Just time to take a breath and learn a lesson about taking young children into tricky situations, and also being able to stay calm and address something rationally in the moment.

I was like you but have learnt to find my voice. You either leave or address it. You have to rise above the fear/social conditioning of being polite. Your only priority is your child's safety.
The bloke was an arse. The staff were useless. But in terms of protecting your baby it falls with you.

Thank you @CeciledeVolangesdeNouveau yes I do all I can, it really upsets me and breaks my heart a little to see him like that and seeing the looks from other people judging us 😢

It’s probably horrible - to be honest I’m dreading the day when my cat first needs the vet not just because she’ll be ill and scared but because she’ll think I’ve put her in that horrible situation, I absolutely know vets do their best and the vast majority of owners too eg you taking precautions with your dog, who sounds lovely by the way, and she might not trust me any more. When we had horses mine had been horribly mistreated and we think fallen over in a lorry several times and she used to get into a state of panic I’ve never seen a horse in before - beyond flight and they’re flight animals. I can imagine a lot of people judged us thinking that we didn’t drive our horses safely and slowly - actually we did apart from me, who risking and illegally hung out in the back with the horse to try to calm her. This is a difficult topic because on the one hand obviously animals can get panicky and scared and difficult to deal with. On the other hand that doesn’t mean they aren’t scary with other, particularly smaller animals in that state. Hats off to you and your vets for being sensible and making the experience more survivable for your dog.

That is full of typos - sorry! My autocorrect is behaving weirdly at the moment.

Normally vets ask owners to keep large aggressive/anxious animals outside until called. It is a stressful environment for any animal especially if they've been to vet before and associate it with unpleasant treatment. It would have been better if this had happened, or if you had said something to reception or even gone into staff room and shut door. Perhaps you would have been less stressed if you didn’t have the baby to worry about either. call the vet, explain what you experienced and suggest they proactively tell dog owners to wait outside till the last moment before bringing in barking, pulling dogs in future. Suggest the pager idea upthread - they should be looking for solutions for this, its a common enough occurrence. I get you were paralysed by fear and it shouldn't be up to another customer to deal with this.

Yeah this

I understand that you froze in the moment. That's a very normal stress reaction to have. I don't wish to minimise your experience, but it sounds as if your mothering instincts and hormones may have made the situation feel worse than it was?

Having said that i do think it is a reasonable expectation that reveptionists should have asked the man with the dog to step outside until called in. It might be worth an email to the surgery to say that you have concerns that the situation wasn't dealt with as well as it could have been, and what you would like receptionists to be trained to do in the future.

This. There are so many posts on MN that could be solved by someone just using there words. These people always seem focused on what someone else 'should' do, not what they could do to fix their problem.

I would not take a tiny baby and a dog into a vets waiting room, particularly where you know there is one waiting room and it is a small space.

Both your dog AND your baby needed your full attention, taking them together to somewhere there will almost certainly be frightened animals, animals in pain or ill and not behaving normally is an unecessary risk.

Yes, the reception staff should have asked this man to wait outside to be called in, ideally in his car - I would address that in writing to them, and whilst your baby is small, only take the dog to the vet when the baby can stay with someone else/someone else can take the dog.

Ahh, I see all the dickhead dog lovers are out in force.

OP you're completely unreasonable for not leaving your tiny baby at home to fend for themselves to prevent just such a situation as this.

In fact you probably should have just kept your dog at home as well, that way the poor emotionally distressed icky wickle wottie wouldn't have had to go through so much trauma due to your presence.

Absolutely ridiculous that we're expected to endure this sort of terrifying behaviour everywhere we go and these muppets are out victim blaming OP for taking her fucking dog and baby to a vet! A perfectly normal thing to do in my opinion. We shouldn't have to worry about taking our kids with us to have the family pet seen to in case we run in to a feral, fucking psycho dog and it's mouth-breathing owner. Just as we should be able to take our kids for walks and enjoy public spaces without the constant harassment from off-lead, out of control animals.

People take priority, not your mangy mutts!
I'm sorry you had endure this OP, I would complain, that dog could hurt someone next time.

Are you ok hun?

Perfectly. I fear the OP is the one who is not, and should be the subject of your kind empathy! 👍

“Because someone in charge of an out of control large dog, known for its aggression is likely to be a lovely reasonable chap, isn't he? 🙄And the owner probably knew that everyone would be shit scared of him and of his mutt and could not give a single fuck.”

It’s a bloody veterinary surgery. Literally anything can happen, sick and very injured /dead animals can be brought in. I’ve been there when such events have happened. Are Rotties known to be aggressive… perhaps in the wrong hands. The owner seems to have kept his dog under control as it didn’t get free.

However the surgery staff should’ve done more - even bump the Rottie up the list in order to be seen and then could’ve left. I’m surprised the vet is willing to see an aggressive dog with no muzzle. Even with a muzzle it’s not a magical device- ask those who’ve been muzzle punched.

that sounds very frightening, OP, and in your shoes I'd call them and ask them to revise their waiting room policy for exactly those kinds of animals.

Failing a good policy, you might have to change vets (which is a pain) for one with much stricter waiting room policies and much more sensible and empathetic staff.

You are a mother now - congratulations! - you need to learn how to speak up in those situations, right away. It is hard, and it takes practice, but it is a really vital thing to learn.

At our vet we wait in the car to be collected for an appointment. No one waits in the reception area. This started in the pandemic but it’s a small waiting room ( small practice) & they felt that things were a lot calmer without everyone being on top of each other

someone with that attitude was told very firmly by our vet to go away and not darken their doorstep again.

@HaveToHaveTheLastWord i don’t think anyone is being unreasonable saying that if you can leave children at home rather than taking them along with you to the vets that that is better. Does the OP really have no partner, family, friends etc who can help her out for an hour or so.

when I am at the vet I want to give them all of my attention so I understand and remember any advice given, and also assist them with my dog if needed - my dog is very good at the vet because he looks to me for guidance and gets it. Otherwise yes you might have barking dogs, as some have said exposure to sick animals.

And for older children you may see animals or owners in deep distress. Even as an adult I still remember one elderly woman sobbing in the vet as her cat was being put down-it was harrowing, I wouldn’t want any child to have seen her.

that's an odd take.

Most people are explaining how their vet practice handles this in the hope that OP will speak up next time, with a few suggestions in case the vet practice had never ever thought of it.

And many of us have said that sure, as a new mum we don't always react correctly, but that mums have to learn to stand up and speak. Use their words, if you will.

The tip about leaving the baby at home is a good one. There may have been several reasons why this couldn't happen, but it is a sensible suggestion despite the comments by people who think that children can never leave their mother's sides until they are 18.

@HaveToHaveTheLastWord yes, appreciating that there may be more than one side to this story must make people “dickheads”. Absolutely no need for your nasty post, which has added nothing to this discussion.

The man should have stayed outside with his aggressive dog (which should have been muzzled) until he was called in. I've been at the vet before (only a small waiting area) and when there have been barking dogs that were straining at the leash, the owner has always taken them outside. It's not right to terrify everyone else and their pets!

The "dickheads" are the ones stating quite condescendingly that "they wouldn't bring a child to the vet" ironically not taking a separate view of the situation at all, as they don't appreciate not everyone can magic up childcare out of thin air! And surprise surprise the blinkered ones are the dog lovers, basically insinuating that it would be OP's fault if her child had been attacked. Standard piss poor dog owner behaviour at its finest, always blaming everythinig apart from the owner or the dog.
And considering I offered empathy to OP, and suggested that I would complain regarding the handling of the situation I think my post offered significantly more than yours did! 🤷‍♀️

This.

Vets waiting rooms can be extremely stressful for all parties. This is no place to bring a baby and small child OP.

Awful I agree but next time it needs to be.just you & your dog.

I abslutely agree with this.