[tigoCeree]

Hershey has been under anesthetic only when we have done x-rays on his broken leg and then we clip his nails after those are taken, but normally I just put Hershey in a down position and then put up with his little hissy fit before I proceed to dremmel his toenails, sometimes I put his muzzle on if he's really acting up, but normally he settles down after a few minutes of me holding one of his feet and then he seems to put himself in some sort of trance (maybe his way of dealing with the stress). It did take a while to desensitize him to the dremmel and the noise it makes, but it was worth the time now that his fussing is limited to only a few minutes or so.
It sounds like your dog was given too much anesthetic, or that they didn't give him enough of the counter agent to wake him up, he was lethargic for too long a period of time. Hershey is normally back to his normal spastic self after an hour or so, but he gets the counter agent before we go home and he can walk out of the vets office, but I do have to lift him into my Yukon. My suggestion is to slowly desensitize your dog to the tools and then work on his downs and stays so that he will stay where you put him, it's going to be work, but will be well worth it. Good luck.