In vet school do you have to come into contact with scary dogs?

[brotherbloat]

Hi,

I love animals and am considering vet school, but I am deathly afraid of dobermans, rotweilers, and German shepherds. My question is: how often do you have to deal with dogs like this--i.e. if you're uncomfortable with them do you have to deal with them in school? Or are vet students taught how to control vicious animals?

Please explain.

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[VeganSoprano]

Well, not even close to all Dobies, Rotties, and GSDs are aggressive, so there's a big difference between dealing with a dog of one of these breeds and dealing with an aggressive dog. There are aggressive Pomeranians and even Labs out there! Stereotyping breeds is irresponsible. There are no aggressive breeds, just poorly trained and poorly socialized dogs.

I would say that you need to get over your fear of dogs if you are considering becoming a small animal practitioner. If your goal is to become an equine vet or another non-cat/dog specialty, you won't have to deal with dogs much at all. But even if you are a large animal practitioner, you will still have to come in contact with dogs at clients' barns. So it would be a good idea to get used to dogs.

You will learn restraint techniques in vet school. But fear is absolutely your worst enemy. The number one trick to handling any animal is confidence.

 

[PAThbrd]

Hey,

Ive been raising German Shepherd puppies for the Seeing Eye for the last three years and have had three of them so far. Ive also dealt with numerous rotties and dobies and pit bulls as well as shepherds whilie working at a small animal clinic. I have never once met a vicious dog of these breeds. These dogs tend to get a bad rap as they are highly intelligent and can be trained as attack dogs. I actually have only ever gotten attacked by a little boarder collie while working at the clinic. The trick is to not be afraid, they can sense that and become nervous if they pick up on your fear. This is also the same with horses and probably most any animal. are you afraid cuz of a personal experience? or because of the stereotypes? Either way, you should definately work to get over it. Alot of the dog guide schools, like the Seeing Eye, take volunteers so you could at least work with shepherds there, or get in contact with a breed rescue in your area.

Hope you can find a way to keep your fears at bay!
~Deanna~

 

[HeartSong]

It's not the aggressive dogs you need to worry about, it's the scared ones. I've been bitten by dogs about four times throughout my life and I had to have stitches the two times that it was by scared dogs but only had to wash the bite from the two aggressive ones. Only one of these times was while I was working at a vet the others where in my home or someone else's. They were also all mixes, breed rarely has anything to with a dog biting.

I would almost guarentee you that if you work with dogs you will find youself in a situation where you are faced with a dog that will try to bite you. But you can also learn to read dogs' body language and proper holding to lessen the chance of getting bitten. If you want to work as a vet that cares for dogs, start off by getting involved in a more controlled area around dogs that scare you but they won't be so scared. Training classes, breeders, therapy dogs, etc. are all sources where you might be able to be around dogs when they are at ease so that you will start to be able to be comfortable around them too.

 

[serissa]

Being a small animal vet will definitly lead you in the path of many different types of dogs but not all of the ones you mentioed are mean or agressive. I have a Doberman myself and he is an angel. I worked with the Seminole Indian Reservation in Florida (spay and neuter program) and they all had Pit Bulls - it was my first time handling them and they all were really nice. You will learn how to 'read' a dog quickly. So far for me, the scariest dogs to work with are small white dogs! haha Seriously though - you should start working with different breeds to get used to them all because you will definitly come in contact with every temperment out there.

In vet school you will be taught small and large animal - I'd be more scared of the beef cows than a Pit Bull!

 

[NCaggie]

Hey, dont worry about agressive dogs. Not to say that there arent any out there, but you will be trained on how to deal and interact with these animals safely. If you have the drive, then you will be more than prepared. or you can always decide to do a feline practice :-D