TLDR: Seem to have a business plan of hiring new veterinarians to save on labor costs without…read moreproviding vital oversight, support, or mentorship, leading to extremely dangerous care choices. This practice burns out young veterinarians, sets them up for failure, and harms patients.
I took my animals to this practice 2020-2023. Over that time I noticed a lot of staff turnover and unhappy techs. At a veterinary practice happy employees usually means high quality care. Workers can seldom do their best under harsh labor conditions.
Dr Phillips helped initially when my puppy started displaying consistent aggression that did not respond to training, management, sleep schedule changes, exercise changes, or redirection. She prescribed fluoxetine (which takes 6-10 weeks to kick in), and clonidine (a fast-acting med). When the clonidine peaked, my puppy could exist without profound inescapable terror for roughly an hour before once again becoming panicked and impossible to sooth. I requested more frequent clonidine so that both my dog and I could have a more reasonable quality of life while we waited 6 weeks for her UC Davis Veterinary Behavior appointment.
Although Dr Phillips has no behavior certifications beyond "fear free", she reviewed a few short videos of my puppy and confidently declared that my dog was "displaying mostly normal puppy behavior" and that "sometimes, as owners, we unintentionally encourage bad behavior." She pronounced my dog's body language to be "loose", ignoring her unmistakable whale eyes and tight face. Dr Phillips knew I had significant experience raising retriever puppies. She knew this dog's highly skilled training team was out of ideas. Yet, Dr Phillips knew more about my puppy's state of mind from a few short videos than either me or her training team knew from countless hours of direct care. Dr Phillips decided I caused these problems because I would rather sedate my "mostly normal" puppy than practice basic training and management.
After deciding my puppy's fear and aggression were simply handler error, Dr Phillips not only declined to increase her clonidine dose, but declined to refill it at all. I had three doses left of the only thing that made it possible to safely interact with my dog. But Dr Phillips had completed a few rotations with veterinary behaviorists during vet school (which she referred to as "a lot of training") and she thought it was appropriate to allow my puppy to experience extreme panic 24/7 for the next 6 weeks in case the clonidine "changed her brain chemistry". Never mind the brain chemistry changes that might occur from 6 weeks of extreme prolonged panic.
Luckily, a kind soul at another practice had mercy on us and prescribed enough clonidine for us to make it to the veterinary behavior appointment in one piece. The team at UC Davis diagnosed my puppy with generalized anxiety (based in territoriality, fear, overarousal, and resources) and interdog aggression (based in fear). They explained that my puppy's frequent bites were her way of coping with constant panic by redirecting it onto me as her primary caretaker. My puppy was a serious case for her age and would need significant management and medication for the rest of her life, otherwise she would be a danger to me and to the public. They explained that allowing her to panic throughout her puppyhood would have severe consequences for her brain chemistry, and they increased her clonidine dose to protect her from that fate.
To be clear: although Dr Phillips put myself, my puppy, and the public in danger with her reckless overconfidence, I do not hold her personally responsible for this mistake. Dr Phillips had been a practicing veterinarian for just over a year at the time and it was clear she had extremely limited mentorship and support. When I later shared my puppy's diagnoses and prognosis with Dr Phillips, I didn't even get a reply. This tells me that this practice doesn't have experienced veterinarians following up on concerning decisions made by new veterinarians. Nobody is walking new veterinarians through reflecting on cases that don't go well, learning from mistakes, or addressing issues that arise with clients who have been with the practice for years.
Thanks to the kind veterinarian who took over care urgently without any previous patient relationship, my dog did not seriously injure anyone in the six weeks Dr Phillips wanted her to be functionally unmedicated. But I am extremely concerned that this practice seeks out new veterinarians for cheap labor while ignoring their consequent mentorship responsibility. A less determined dog owner with fewer resources may have accepted Dr Phillips' assessment with potentially disastrous results. If you are considering taking your pet here, proceed with caution.
