So I brought Balto to his 16 week vet appointment on Friday. This was the 1st time that I have brought him to the vet since I've had him and I got him when he was about 9 weeks (vet said they didn't need to see him until he was 16 weeks). Anyways, he was a little scared going into the office and then into the exam room. He did fine with getting on the scale. When I put him on the exam table, he did ok. Until the vet touched his ears. Now we found out that he has a nasty ear mite infection. Well he ended up nipping at the vet and vet tech (poor boy, they had to swab his ears a few times). He has never nipped at anyone before but he is scared of new people. The vet said that they'll give him a 'pass' this time as he more than likely nipped because his ears were hurting him.

Later Friday evening, I brought Balto down to the dog club that we are members of. I talked to the dog trainer there and we ended going into the grooming room they have. We put Balto on the table they have and he immediately nipped at her. Now I don't know if it was because he was thinking she was going to touch his ears like the vet did. But we put him on the floor and we both sat down. I let him nibble on some chicken while she slowly tried to touch him. After a few times she was able to touch him without me giving him food.

Do you guys think that the nipping was related to his ears bothering him or do you think he would have nipped if they weren't bothering him?

Now I obviously don't want my boy to be afraid of people or anything and end up being aggressive when he gets older. I talked to my vet and I'm going to bring Balto just to visit so that he learns that the vet is not a bad place. We are also enrolled in a puppy class at the dog club. And I talked to a local dog groomer that has a doggie daycare and when he gets his Bordatella they said I can bring him by and see how that goes. I'm trying make sure that he gets exposed to as many places and people as possible (it's hard where I live, especially in the winter) but I don't have many places I can bring him.

Puppies need lots of handling with their ears and feet and just in general as early on as you can get it. Sore spots will make a dog act out at times but a dog that has been properly handled from an early age shouldn't automatically think that every time he's on a table someone is going to go for his sore spot. That being said, he should have been to the vet while the breeder still had him and if the breeder's vet gave him a less than good experience then he is building up a bad track record of vet visits. The puppy class should really help but until his ear issues are cleared up I wouldn't push him. If you try to work with him on the whole touching thing while he is still sore it's just poking the bear.

With me and my husband and kids, well he lets us do whatever we want to him. I can clip his toenails, look at his teeth, brush his teeth, touch his ears, etc. and he's fine with it. The breeder we got him from did take him to the vet. I just don't know if it was a bad experience or not. On Thursday when we go visit the vet, we won't stay long. 10 minutes tops. And I'll have them give him a few treats and that's it. I know he's propably still sore so I'm not going to do too much right now with him.

I think the nip was because of the ears bothering him. Kohdi had a similar experience (I don't know if he nipped because the vet took him in the back...Kohdi had an ear infection) but after the vet, Kohdi would not let ANYONE near his ears, not even me (to put in the drops) he did however, after some coaxing, trust me enough to clean his ears daily. It took a lot of building his trust though so I'm thinking his vet experience was not pleasant. However, Kohdi to this day, readily and HAPPILY, goes to the vet so whatever happened, it didn't traumatize him for the rest of his life.