Veterinarian · Canine Practice
The dog in front of me is somebody's whole family
I'm Sapir, a veterinarian working with dogs. This page is about how I practise, what an appointment with me is actually like, and why I chose this work.
Your photo goes here
A picture of you with a dog — in the clinic, mid-examination, or simply together. A real photo of you will do more for trust than anything else on this page.
Why dogs
Dogs cannot tell you where it hurts. They tell you in other ways — a changed gait, a skipped meal, a reluctance to take the stairs — and learning to read that language is most of the job. I found that I wanted to spend my career getting better at it rather than spreading my attention across every species that came through the door.
Working with one species means I see the same conditions often enough to catch them early, and to know the difference between a dog that is stoic and a dog that is fine.
How I work
Unhurried appointments. A dog that is rushed is a dog that is frightened, and a frightened dog is harder to examine and slower to recover. I would rather spend the first minutes letting a patient settle than fight it for the next twenty.
I explain what I am seeing as I see it, in plain language, including when the honest answer is that we should wait and watch rather than intervene. You should leave understanding your dog's situation well enough to explain it to someone else.
One species, in depth
A canine-only practice, so the patterns are familiar and the small changes get noticed.
Owners included
You stay in the room. You see what I see, and you hear the reasoning, not just the conclusion.
Honest about uncertainty
When something is unclear, I say so, and we agree on what would tell us more.