Ugh, I am already dreading taking Helmut to the vet for his annual checkup. He behaves so badly he has to be muzzled. I think it goes back to when we neutered him. We brought him in early in the AM and they were supposed to do the surgery around 10 AM. It turned out they had to do two emergency surgeries and he didn't go into surgery until 5 PM. So, he spent the whole day in the kennel without being able to eat. The vet went to do a pre-surgery check on his family jewels and he bit the vet. The vet assistant freaked out at me about that and made us take him home even though he was still very dopey. I'd have preferred for him to stay overnight. It was definitely traumatic for him.


He is so sweet and cuddly with us. However, any time he goes to the vet, it is "The Helmut Show" He barks at other dogs. He has to be muzzled. The thing is, vet clinic staff don't seem to believe us because he looks like such a fluffy teddy bear. We have to insist on the muzzle and if it starts to loosen up we have to insist they fix it.


The last time we tried a different clinic that has a patio area by the parking lot, so we could hang out there and walk him around and only take him into the clinic when it was time for him to be seen. Even so, it took me, my husband and the vet to hold him down to vaccinate him. He was baring his teeth through the muzzle. The whole thing was physically exhausting. I'm looking for a better muzzle right now. He may end up looking like Hannibal Lecter at his next appointment! I am also going to ask if there's something they can prescribe to him to calm him down.

When we moved to this house, I did once have a vet come here and vaccinate him and it wasn't so dramatic. My husband has insisted that we need to try to get him used to going to the vet because not everything can be done in a home visit. However, after that last time, I am thinking we need to try home visits again.