Should I be worried?

[BeansOnToastWithCheese]

I've had beansdog since July and she's a lovely little thing 99.9% of the time.

But we went to the vets last week for a jab and she tried to bite him. And she really meant it. She's a small terrier mix and I think she felt cornered, so did what came naturally but I was a bit surprised - she'd never been aggressive before.

Then, I tried to trim her claws a few days later, she went for me. In her defence, she's never been a big fan of having her claws trimmed and last time I did it I cut the quick, which probably hurt.

Does this display an escalation of aggressive behaviour, or just acting out when she knows something is going to hurt do you think?

Maybe I'm being perfect first dog and just need a grip and a ?

I don't think you need to be worried. You've learned something about your dog (how she might react in specific situations she finds stressful) and you can use that information to help her as well as reduce the chances she'll feel the need to react again when faced with similar situations in the future.

It can take several days for a dog to truly recover from a stressful experience (in this case the trip to the vets) and that, coupled with the fact it's previously been a painful experience for her, is likely why she reacted how she did when you were doing her nails. As you say, she felt cornered at the vets and reacted how she felt she needed to in order to make the vet go away.

What was her body language like before she snapped at the vet? It's very likely that she was throwing off signals indicating that she was anxious/unhappy but they can be very subtle. It would be a good idea to have a read up on dog body language (there are some great visual guides here and loads of great information on this site) and watch your dog so you can get to know what signs she gives off when she's getting stressed. Once you can spot when she's getting worried you can step in before she feels the need to escalate her behaviour.

You can also work on desensitising her to both trips to the vets and nail trims so they're no longer stressful events for her. The key with desensitisation is to take it slow and make sure your dog always feels safe. Is she happy enough going into the vet waiting room? If so then start doing that on a regular basis. You take her in, she gets some lovely treats and then you leave again. You can then very gradually build up towards going into a consultation room, being handled by the vet, etc. Most vet surgeries are usually very happy to help with this process as it's better for them in the long run to have a patient who is happy to be there.

Nail trims can be very tricky and I'd suggest starting completely from scratch and also consider using a grinder rather than clippers. There's an excellent and very supportive FB group called Nail Maintenance for Dogs which has loads of really good information about training your dog to not only not be bothered by nail trims but actually enjoy them.

Unfortunately it's sometimes necessary for a dog to have vet treatment even if they're not "ready" in terms of desensitisation so I would also recommend muzzle training her. This would mean she could wear one without it being an extra stressor should she need any treatment before she's comfortable with the vet. I'd highly recommend the Muzzle Up Project, they've got links to some great muzzle training videos.

Thanks Cornflake - that's really helpful and everything you say makes perfect sense!

I've got her a muzzle, but I think she probably associates it with being very frightened and stressed - so immediately goes into that state when she sees it.

I'll request to join the FB group you suggest and also check out the Muzzle Up Project.

I had many dogs as a child, and none ever reacted to stressful situations by biting (they just cried and tried to run away/became overly submissive) so I just didn't really know what to do!