A Veterinarian's Role in Responsible Dog Ownership and Dog Law

Veterinarians are supposed to be an imporant aspect of responsible dog ownership. We trust them with the health, welfare, and lives of our dogs. We sometimes ask them to help us make major decisions from an objective standpoint, when we are likely to be emotional.

Of course, they are not entirely impartial, and they are subject to emotions. They may influence our decisions based on their own experience, values, morals, and ethics. But how far should they go?

It is important to note that veterinarians are under attack from animal rights groups as much as any one else. The problem is, they may not realize this. Especially in the case of veterinary students, who are spoon-fed all sorts of "facts" based on false "science", by the time our dogs are in the examination room, we must be careful that our established DVM is not making decisions based on AR values.

Vet's are known to chase puppy owners with spay and neuter doctrine, and in some cases, for good reason. They may also over-vaccinate and over-medicate (depending on where you stand in veterinary and holistic medicine). Some give behavior advice based on myths and conjectures rather than facts and experience. Of course, not all of them do, but we must look out for the ones that are not really looking out for our perspectives.

In their own way, they are all supposed to be looking out for their patients. But the new science of veterinary medicine includes a bit too much judgemental opinions based on AR standards.

This means that your vet. may not only suggest spay/neuter, they may push pediatric spay/neuter on you when you are in for puppy vaccinations. If you breed dogs which are traditionally docked, cropped, and have dewclaws removed for health and asthetic reasons, you may be hard-pressed to find a vet. that will perform these for you or at a reasonable price, if they help you with your purebred puppies at all (some secretly despise breeders of all kinds). If you have a dog that bites someone severely, and you decide that the best option for your dog is euthanisia, you may have a hard time finding a vet. that will put down your dog.

This is not to say that all vet's are the same. Of course, there are many that are quite willing to work with an educated, responsible dog owner and help them make decisions without being judgemental. But woe to the owner who finds themselves in the office of a veterinarian who listens to animal rights activists rather than common sense.

As a dog owner, this means that it is always in your best interest to ask questions of your veterinarian with your first visit. Be sure that you are on the same page. Will they LISTEN to you, educate you, and help you be a responsible dog owner? Or will they instead rush through every visit, telling you what they want you to do, and insulting your every wish?

The other problem here is that there are a number of veterinarian associations which are promoting animal rights propaganda. As the majority of the public feels that these people are intelligent and operate on scientific principles, they place too much trust in the hands of these organizations. So when such a group promotes mandatory spay and neuter, for example, the public will tend to agree with them. They're smart, right? So they must know what they are talking about.

Not always. Some need to learn the facts for themselves, and protect responsible dog owners by not following AR agenda and pushing laws which restrict us.

So talk to your veterinarian sometime. Find out where they stand on dog law issues. Make it your job to educate THEM if they need it. After all, they are not supposed to just look out for our pets; they should be looking out for pet owners too.