Vet-induced fear of being handled and now I just made it worse

[feesh]

The last couple of times my dog has been to the vet, it's been to have something done to her face. She's previously been absolutely fine with seeing the vet - she loves him and I always make sure to counter-condition with loads of treats when we go and see him.

But we've been for 3 consecutive "bad things" in a row now. The first, she needed a bit of fur around her ears clipping, which she hated and growled at him for doing.

The second time, she had an open wound on her face and she wouldn't let him near it - he wanted to use the clippers around the wound and she lost the plot and went for him.

The third time, was for her vaccinations, which went fine, but when it came to the kennel cough up the nose, she went nuts again and we had to have a nurse come in and muzzle her.

He wants me to muzzle train her before I bring her back again, which is pretty upsetting as she's always been so good at the vets and I had worked hard to prevent this situation ever arising :(

To make matters worse, she's suddenly gone funny about me cutting her nails and went for me earlier when I tried to do it. This has only started happening since the vet phobia developed - it's like she doesn't trust anyone handling her intimately any more.

I managed to get all the front nails done just now, with the help of some very tasty blue cheese, but on the 2nd back nail it all went wrong and she wriggled, leading me to accidentally chop across her quick and now there's blood everywhere. There's no way I can do the rest of the nails now, and I'm scared to take her to a groomers in case it makes her fear of being handled even worse.

We live in the Middle East, and we're not exactly blessed with an astounding choice of groomers and vets. To be honest, I think the vet hasn't really helped matters - he prefers to consult her on the floor instead of on the consulting table, and I don't think my dog likes having people crouching over her. Also he has been a little wary of her since the first clipping incident, and I think she picks up on this - plus he is South African and I think he comes from the 'dominate your dog' school of training rather than the positive reinforcement way of doing things, although I did manage to get him to give her some treats himself during/after the kennel cough incident.

I feel really awful and so upset that it's come to this. I did so much work when she was a puppy to condition her to being handled and now I've ended up with an aggressive dog anyway after all that :(

Any tips?

Take it slowly and do not rush her. A great dog behaviourist always told me if you want a fast result take it slowly. (and she was never wrong!).

It sounds to me as if she is concerned by the noise eg the clippers set her off and obviously near her face would be very scary and loud. That was enough to make her very reactive to the vets.

Re clipping her nails just put the nail clippers by her - do not clip her nails or even touch them and then counter condition her either treats or a big fuss or a game.

Then move onto holding the clippers and more counter conditioning
Then clip the clippers but not near her and more counter conditioning - you could then try touching her with the clippers but not clipping them etc.

When she is totally relaxed with this (and it may take several weeks) then cut one nail and immediately play feed have fun etc.

Re the vets - can you just go into the waiting room feed her and then walk out, again build this up gradually until you can sit in the waiting room for a minute or two and then leave etc. If the nurses can fuss her and give her treats even better.

Muzzle training is again gradual hold the muzzle in your hand and fed her. Build up so that you can hold the muzzle and food so she has to push her nose into the muzzle to get the food - do not attach it to her for ages. If she loves her walk make sure you muzzle her in situation that she is relaxed in rather than just to go to the vets. You need to the muzzle to mean fun not stress. A great game to play is push the ball with the muzzle the dog then associates the ball game rather than the stressful situation that needs the muzzle.

She is not an aggressive dog she is a terrified dog that needs a little bit of tlc to get her over this.

As above, just go slow and you will get back to where you were.