Does anyone else have a dog that goes bananas everytime he enters the vet's office? I have an Akita that weighs about 80 lbs. He has been through two obedience classes (one individualized one on one for commands and another at a dog park that was more for socialization skills). He is very smart and did wonderfully. He follows his commands with no problem, EXCEPT for when he has to go to the vet. As soon as he enters the office, he forgets every command he's ever learned and acts like an idiot.
Yesterday I took him for his shots and to get his nails trimmed. He was excited, but did fairly well at first and I thought 'thank god, just maybe we'll get out of here without him embarrassing me again'. The vet has a table/scale that lowers and raises. Niko got on it fine, went down when I commanded him to, and stayed lying down while it was being raised. He stayed fairly still while the tech was weighing him and stayed down until she came back in with the clippers and syringes. As soon as she came in, he refused to lie down and started howling at the top of his voice like he was being killed. You could hear him all over the premises.
I held him by the collar while the tech tried to cut his nails and he continued to howl and tried to roll off the table. Another tech came in and made the comment, "Oh, it's wild Nico". She hugged him, played with him, and tried to get him to calm down. He did for just a minute, then started howling again, so she wrapped her arms around his neck petting him, while I kept trying to down him and held his leash. The original tech was laughing and just petting his side. By this point we had stopped messing with his nails and were just trying to calm him down. He was having none of it, kept his face pointed straight up to the ceiling howling, and acted like we were killing him. The vet finally came in to see what was going on. As soon as Nico saw him and the open door behind him, he easily threw all three of us off, and made a flying leap off the table to leap into the vet's arms. He didn't jump down. He jumped straight up and out with an expression on his face, like 'Help, catch me'. He and the vet both went into the wall with the vet letting Nico slide to the floor. Nico stood up on his hind legs and wrapped both front paws around the vet's neck, blubbering and howling the whole time. He then spotted the open door behind the vet and tried to make a run for it. Unfortunately the vet was in the way and Nico just buried his head in the vet's groin and tried to barrel his way through him with all four feet just spinning. The vet kept trying to push Nico's head out of his groin, saying, "you can't go through me Nico, you can't go through me", while everyone was roaring with laughter. The stupid dog never let up howling the entire time, like he was being killed. He never barked or tried to bite. He just howled and blubbered the entire time and kept trying to get free. My mom had gone with me to the vet's office and told me later that they could hear him all the way out in the lobby and he sounded like we were killing him. The vet finally slipped out and got a bag of dog treats that he fed him the entire time he was getting his shots and nails cut. That was the only way to stop his howling. He didn't give them any trouble after that, but I was so embarrassed by his behavior that I could have killed him. He did the exact same thing in Dec and again last March when he went in. I'd think it was this particular vet, except he acted the same way at his previous vet's. When I got him home yesterday, I took him walking and we went through every one of his commands with no problem. He was as calm and laid back as he could be, obeying every command instantly. I took him to the park where we met several other dogs and again he acted like a perfect gentleman. I took him home and messed with his feet and nails and he just calmly held the paws out to me. He can heel, sit, down, stay, come, fetch, shake, open doors, etc with absolutely no problem. I can take him anywhere else and he is perfectly quiet and well behaved. I get compliments on him all the time about how well behaved he is. I swear the only place he acts like a wild commanche is the vet's office!
Yesterday I took him for his shots and to get his nails trimmed. He was excited, but did fairly well at first and I thought 'thank god, just maybe we'll get out of here without him embarrassing me again'. The vet has a table/scale that lowers and raises. Niko got on it fine, went down when I commanded him to, and stayed lying down while it was being raised. He stayed fairly still while the tech was weighing him and stayed down until she came back in with the clippers and syringes. As soon as she came in, he refused to lie down and started howling at the top of his voice like he was being killed. You could hear him all over the premises. I held him by the collar while the tech tried to cut his nails and he continued to howl and tried to roll off the table. Another tech came in and made the comment, "Oh, it's wild Nico". She hugged him, played with him, and tried to get him to calm down. He did for just a minute, then started howling again, so she wrapped her arms around his neck petting him, while I kept trying to down him and held his leash. The original tech was laughing and just petting his side. By this point we had stopped messing with his nails and were just trying to calm him down. He was having none of it, kept his face pointed straight up to the ceiling howling, and acted like we were killing him. The vet finally came in to see what was going on. As soon as Nico saw him and the open door behind him, he easily threw all three of us off, and made a flying leap off the table to leap into the vet's arms. He didn't jump down. He jumped straight up and out with an expression on his face, like 'Help, catch me'. He and the vet both went into the wall with the vet letting Nico slide to the floor. Nico stood up on his hind legs and wrapped both front paws around the vet's neck, blubbering and howling the whole time. He then spotted the open door behind the vet and tried to make a run for it. Unfortunately the vet was in the way and Nico just buried his head in the vet's groin and tried to barrel his way through him with all four feet just spinning. The vet kept trying to push Nico's head out of his groin, saying, "you can't go through me Nico, you can't go through me", while everyone was roaring with laughter. The stupid dog never let up howling the entire time, like he was being killed. He never barked or tried to bite. He just howled and blubbered the entire time and kept trying to get free. My mom had gone with me to the vet's office and told me later that they could hear him all the way out in the lobby and he sounded like we were killing him. The vet finally slipped out and got a bag of dog treats that he fed him the entire time he was getting his shots and nails cut. That was the only way to stop his howling. He didn't give them any trouble after that, but I was so embarrassed by his behavior that I could have killed him. He did the exact same thing in Dec and again last March when he went in. I'd think it was this particular vet, except he acted the same way at his previous vet's. When I got him home yesterday, I took him walking and we went through every one of his commands with no problem. He was as calm and laid back as he could be, obeying every command instantly. I took him to the park where we met several other dogs and again he acted like a perfect gentleman. I took him home and messed with his feet and nails and he just calmly held the paws out to me. He can heel, sit, down, stay, come, fetch, shake, open doors, etc with absolutely no problem. I can take him anywhere else and he is perfectly quiet and well behaved. I get compliments on him all the time about how well behaved he is. I swear the only place he acts like a wild commanche is the vet's office!
Poor baby! We don't always have the vet clip our dogs' nails, but if they are already there, we have them do it. At our vet, they always do it behind the scenes when I'm not with them, I guess they think they act a little better about it if Mommy or Daddy aren't around - less histrionics. Kinda like kids, they throw less of a fit about certain things if the parents aren't around to make a scene for. 
One of my dogs acts like getting a shot is the worst thing ever, but mine are smaller so they don't get very far trying to make a break for it! 
It's just so embarassing. If anyone tried to enter my house without my permission, he'd eat them alive, out in public he's always a perfectly well behaved gentleman, but take him to the vet and he's just a big howling, coward.
Most dogs lose it a bit at the vet's, but losing it by howling and trying to get away is a whole different thing from losing it by snarling and trying to take the vet's arm off. I don't think the staff really minds a dog's misbehavior unless the dog's a biter. 
I think she must remember and fears it's going to happen again.
VES the vet! Simple, but true. He likes any opportunity to socialize. He actually kissed the vet one time after she gave him a shot! ...but my mother had a dog that hated the vet. I had to laugh at the OP's story, because he, too, leaped off the table and across the room into my arms! In addition, the dog that was afraid of everything at home, without fail, started a fight with another dog in the lobby every time he went!
(We lived in FL, and it was an outside kennel). The vet was next to an orange grove and thought that Peppie was in there, but he would not come to them. As soon as he heard my mom's car come down the lane in the grove, he came running out and stopped by the road to wait for us to pick him up. We took him back to the vet and saw that he had chewed through the wood door and jumped through the screen in the window. Needless to say....our animals were the talk of the vet that year
