The Animal Clinic has always been on the Mark for what the animals need in Talbot County. We have taken our Animals to them for 5 yrs and they are always so sweet and loving. I can see why they would not give any water to any dog walking down the street. First they have to been concerned for the safety of their staff and animals that are in the building. That is your responsibility as a pet owner to make sure you have what your pets need. Its not everyone responsibility to make sure YOUR pets are hydrated. I Love Animal Clinic even a little more now.

Easton, Maryland is a haven for art, music and dog lovers with one surprising exception--the Animal Clinic of Talbot. This past weekend I stayed at the Tidewater Inn that welcomed my two boxer/lab mixes and I walked them daily to the rails to trails path.The Red Hen served water to my dogs in porcelain. I was grateful and exuberant for the unsolicited pettings and offers of water to my dogs by merchants and even homeowners--one mother with her own gaggle of children to tend to asked her son to run bring a tub of water for my parched dogs. The only exception to this was the Animal Clinic of Talbot which happened to be the closest business establishment to the rails to trails path who refused my dogs water, ironically the only time I asked for any, and they refused saying "we don't do that". What is the "that"? All of the other merchants extended their hospitality freely without any expectation of repayment, except the one industry whose BUSINESS it is to care for animals.The animal clinic could learn from the other merchants about animal welfare-and good business. They claimed infection in sharing water bowls (do they only have one bowl or not wash it?) As a public health professional I know with very few exceptions(if my dog sneezed on the bowl and had a respiratory infection) that sharing water cannot transmit infections. I also know as a public health professional that it is misinformation about how diseases are spread that fosters stigma and discriminaition. The "that" that the vet tech or receptionist could not do that others did, was to show humanity to my animals--ironically the mainstay of her profession.