Our First Vet Visit

    Handel had his first post-shelter vet visit yesterday and it went about as expected.   He whined and paced in the waiting room and then was friendly enough in the vet room.  That's until he had to get up on the table.  I chose to muzzle him myself before they proceeded.  Thank goodness.
    Other than two moments (once where his hips were being manipulated and the other when she was drawing blood) he happily stood there and took meatballs while the vet tech held him.  Those two times were a little sad, but as usual he recovered quickly and once the muzzle was off he held no grudge (not that  I really believe dogs hold a grudge like humans do).
    Then we spoke a bit about his history and the circumstances that brought him to me.  We decided (along with the advice from our Behavior Modification Trainer) that if the blood work comes back with his thyroid in the normal range for his breed, we'll probably begin him on a short term course of behavior modification drugs (in his case most likely Prozac).
   I know a lot of people baulk at the mention of drugging a dog, but in Handel's case since he is so hyper reactive to my husband's movements both the vet and our trainer agreed that the drug program would help smooth the transition and allow the training program a better chance of working.   The only worry is that thus far Handel has very good bite inhibition.  Even when he is very stressed and sort of snaps over threshold he has never bitten anyone (though he has put his teeth on one person).  There is a small chance that the behavior drugs, while making him feel less stressed out, would also disinhibit his bite behavior.   Therefore, we will start at a very low dosage and monitor him very closely for changes in his interaction with both people and our other dogs.  Fingers crossed the drugs will do much more good than harm.  Regardless, it is worth trying.

Our Daily Training Log:
Added 2nd DAP diffuser (kitchen)
CC/D for husband moving in kitchen (10 min)
Exercise through ball play (non-stop 20 min)
CC/D for people walking dogs in front of vets office (10 min)
CC/D for vets office (15 min)
CC/D for vet tech (10 min)
KOPR (Day 9)
Massage w/ lavender candle (10 min)