As some of you may recall, Tilly got into her meds a couple of weeks ago, and spent 3 days in the emergency clinic. We were pretty sure that Cooper did not get into them, but we could not be positive. As a result we wanted to get some blood work done on Cooper just to be sure she did not have any affects from the meds. While Cooper is very friendly and compliant, she does not like to be restrained at all, and does not like people with tools handling her. The initial baselline blood draw was nightmare and took about 40 minutes to accomplish. We went back a week later for a follow up and could not get her out of the car, much less into the clinic. Last Saturday I took Tilly and Cooper into the vets just to get them acclimated and weighed, and Cooper was OK with that. She went in and was pretty calm. We really had never had a problem with Vet visits before, though they had not been able to get a rectal temp since she was a pup. I understand that the spay was stressful, but she has been to the Vets a number of times since then with no issues. Today we went for a wellness exam, Bordetella vaccination and a blood draw. To improve the odds I gave her a Trazdone a couple of hours before the visit. It really did not do anything that I could see. She was just as active at home and refused to get out of the car at the Vets. One of our Vets came out and did the wellness exam and vaccination in the car, but no blood draw. Cooper would move away from all of the Techs and the Vet, in the car but our Vet was able to get everything done. We are going to try the blood draw again, giving her Acepromazine next time. She had it when she was spayed and IIRC it just about knocked her out.
Ugh it’s no fun. I’m always a little nervous about vet visits. Simba does not like them much and he has to be muzzled for the exam and needles, but he always walks in happily, at least.
She is a funny dog. We have never muzzled any of our labs, at the vet, or anywhere else. Cooper will struggle, but the thought of biting never seems to cross her mind, which is the same as our other two labs. While we don't make a practice of taking food or other things away from them, all of them would allow it, with no issues at all. I can handle her paw and ears most any time, and she sleeps between us, or lies on the couch behind us. I can often give her big hugs, but occasionally she will just explode and leave, but she will come right back for more pets so she is really not upset by it. I don't restrain her, if she wants to leave I let her. One behavior that is unusual is that she will not go under chairs or push things around to get toys or treats. She will stand and bark, even for things she could reach with little effort. Tilly on the other hand, will move anything she can and go into tight places she has trouble getting out of, but Cooper absolutely will not. We are still trying to desensitize Cooper to brushing. Right now they are shedding so much that we have to get licenses for the dust bunnies in the kitchen. I can't imagine that bushing actually is uncomfortable, at least not as much as dragging someone down the street by a flat collar, but she does not like it, even with a Zoom n Groom or a grooming mitt.
My boy dislikes being brushed. I agree with you, how uncomfortable can it be?? Yet he adores being rubbed vigorously with a towel, and that is somewhat effective at getting hair off - so perhaps worth a try for now? If it’s damp, the hair tends to stick to the towel.
Damp hands and a massage is good for taking out shedding coat. Rory was lying on my knee on the sofa and I slowly worked out a lot of blown coat from sensitive areas like his neck and head. He was a floppy pile of labrador after that and then he let me furminate him and used his softy brush. He doesn't particularly like being brushed and is very ticklish and fidgety but if I get him really relaxed he'll let me do anything.
