Dr. Karen
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It's been a busy day at the clinic, and now there's a growling rottweiler with a squinty left eye in Room 2. The only fair
way to determine who'll take the history, of course, is to flip a coin, so your team member prepares to launch a nickel in
the air.
The door swings open and in comes Mrs. Takeudown. She says Fluffy's worse than ever after those last meds. Plus she was overcharged
on her bill, and no one has returned any of her phone calls today. She's really mad and is demanding to speak to someone.
Suddenly, the coin is snatched from mid-air and your team worker turns to you, "Please, please, let me help with the rottweiler,
and I'll buy you lunch every day next week."
Given the choice between a growling client and a growling dog, wouldn't we all take the dog? After all, our work is animals—we
know dogs. A crabby canine barely bumps our heart rate up, but an irate client can send us into panic mode. What are we supposed
to do with this species, anyway? Pacify them? Intimidate them? Offer them a treat? And it isn't just the grumpy ones who are difficult to understand. Clients are all so different. Some are cranky, like Mrs.
Takeudown, while others might simply stare at you while you're trying to explain interesting things like heartworm preventive.
Talkative folks can make taking a history feel more like running a marathon, while emotional people catch us off guard when
they burst into tears over a wood tick welt or an accidental extra charge.
But hang on a second! Why do we expect all clients to be the same when we certainly don't expect all dog breeds to act alike?
After all, none of us would get too excited if we were trimming a basset hound's nails and it started to howl. But if a golden
did that, we'd wonder what was going on. And if an opinionated schnauzer came in for a low dose dex test, we'd think he was
sick if he didn't bark all day. We don't fret about the differences among breeds; we expect them.
So now let's think outside the dog kennel. If we simply look at humans the way we look at dogs, we'll find that Homo sapiens actually come in different breeds, too. For instance, a Labrador client won't bat an eye if his dog shakes ear cleanser all
over his shirt, but don't get any of that icky stuff near your bichon client. The terrier client will crowd in beside the
doctor to see what goopy stuff is coming out of her cat's abscess, while the husky client will hold a hankie over her nose
and look away. These things shouldn't surprise us; we've been dealing with different breeds all of our professional lives.
So let's look at clients in a whole new light. Forget about what kind of pet they own for the moment—what kind of breed is
the owner?
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