Dog's Expression Changing As He Realizes He's Going to the Vets Goes Viral

If you have ever wondered if a dog's face can drop when it is disappointed, then the answer is yes, it certainly can.

In a video with 2.3 million views, TikToker @tarynbankerd shared the hilarious moment Lange, an Anatolian Shepherd mix, realized they are going to the vets. Prior to pulling up at the clinic, the dog can be seen smiling from ear to ear and enjoying the car ride but less than a minute later, his trip was ruined.

The clip, captioned: "Poor guy, loves his car rides but hates the vet," has racked up over 300,000 likes since it was shared on August 8.

Newsweek reached out to veterinarian Dr. Anna Foreman to find out how pet owners can help reduce their pets' anxiety ahead of the vets.

U.K.-based Foreman, who works for Everypaw Pet Insurance, explained: "Just one negative experience can make an animal fearful of vets, a place where it is critical for professionals to be able to examine and treat an animal, and stay safe while doing so."

She told Newsweek: "As a profession we try to make these visits as stress free and enjoyable as possible for a pet, inevitably phenomena such as being examined, injections, being taken away from an owner etc. can make an animal anxious.

"Negative experiences at a young age can make an animal very adverse to being handled by strangers, or make them very anxious at the vets in general. This sort of behavior makes it difficult, and sometimes dangerous, for vets to examine and treat animals.

"For example, a dog treated for an ear infection from a young age may become adverse to having its ears handled later in life, which makes examining the dog's ears and treating subsequent ear infections much more challenging, and often expensive for the owner due to the need for sedation for examination."

Five Helpful Tips To Ease Your Pet's Anxiety

• Make sure an animal is well socialized with people and other animals from a young age—before 16 weeks old. This is the critical learning phase, where experiences will shape an animal's behavior. Many issues come when an animal has never been left by their owner before, or are unfamiliar with strangers or other dogs, and thus become anxious and even aggressive towards them.
• Often when a young or new animal comes into the vets, multiple visits are encouraged for weight checks, treats and fuss, as well as the inevitable vaccinations and neutering, to try and teach an animal that not all visits end up in discomfort or stress.
• Visit a vet who has separate cat and dog waiting areas and wards, as one of the reasons cats can become anxious at the vets is exposure to loud, barking dogs.
• If a dog or cat becomes very stressed at the vets regardless of attempts to desensitize them, be in contact with your practice before an appointment to speak about options to make the visit as stress free as possible. Medication can be given before an appointment or stress-event such as an operation or blood sample to calm them, premedication before an operation can be given with the owner present, and sometimes something as simple as the vet seeing an animal in the carpark rather than in a consulting room can change their behavior entirely.
• Keep calm yourself. Animals will read an owner's emotions, and often will act accordingly. If an owner is very stressed and anxious, inevitably an animal will read this behavior and act so too. Some animals are better behaved examined and treated away from their owners for this reason too. Do not be insulted if your animal needs to be examined away from you or requires a muzzle—this is simply for safety for the animals, vets and handlers, and to try and make the experience as stress free as possible for the animal. If an animal does snap or growl at the vets, muzzle training at home so that being muzzled in itself is not a stressful experience, is invaluable.

Over a thousand users have commented on the video, many of which are sympathizing with the dog. Lange's owner told one user that she treated her dog after the visit.

Another comment with 24,800 likes said: "You can see the 'wait a damn minute...' moment."

"Bro was having flashbacks," said another user.

Another person joked: "I think he can read."

It turns out it isn't just dogs who hate the vets but birds too, another user said: "My parrot Yells Nooooo!! and then honks like a duck lol."

Newsweek reached out to @tarynbankerd for comment via TikTok. We could not verify the details of the case.

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.