13 week old female pup

Question
I have 2 litter mates one male one female Chloe & I have a issues with the girl she is crying out in pain, she eats she p[lays she is sweet & pees Poops & drinks lots of water she is a great PUP I hand raised this litter my only litter & after her 1st shot she started crying when she does not want to be held or be moved or touched I am telling you she is smart she can sit stay wait 4 her treat & goes in a down position for treat other than the action of being in pain when nothing is wrong I am at a loss she & her brother play very hard but sweet together it will last 4 about 10 min after they eat her poos are fine & pee is fine they are also 98 % pee-pad trained I will run my hands up & down her body & nothing but when I clipped her nails awake again the crying she is a cross breed Full COCKER & King Charles ALL PUPS are great & I just want 2 understand this so I can re-direct this behavior please any help! They have all been seen by my vet & when he held her up by her arm pits again she cried he said nothing but I am not going to allow this to become a way of life 4 this GREAT puppy please help! Thanks Janice

Answer
Hi,

Before I even read your whole letter I was asking myself if this was a cocker spaniel and then you tell me she is half cocker.   This seems to be a trait that I have seen in several cockers.  It is a nervousness that develops.  She is probably not hurting but is more anxious.  She frightens easily when lifted, right?

First I would have some X-rays taken of her joints to make sure there is no physical reason for this such as dysplasia or arthritis.  Also, make sure you are picking her up properly, some dogs are more sensitive to lifting than others are.  Try lifting her different ways to see if there is one certain way you are lifting that triggers this reaction more than another way.  Try lifting her by encircling her whole body.  She may have added pressure to her young joints when you lift under the legs.

There are a couple of things that I have seen help this situation, although the dog will remain nervous or high strung, she will be much improved.



One is socialization and a lot of obedience training and then an activity like agility or fly ball.   Let her be with a lot of other people and dogs, BUT have her doing something that takes her focus off of herself and onto something else, like training for obedience or tricks  and also a very strenuous training as in hunting or agility, or fly ball.  She needs to be in a lot of situations.  

Your reaction to this crying should be a calmness.   DO NOT comfort her.  Try and distract her much the way a mother does when a child falls and you say  "Did you go boom and break the sidewalk? ok lets go play."      Tell her calmly "no" and then tell her to sit or down or make her do a trick.

Another thing is to study her carefully to see if there are certain situations or a tenseness in her that warns you this is going to be her reaction if you pick her up.  You can then give her a very favorite treat before you lift her so she is distracted.

The other thing you can do is to teach her to jump up into your arms.  She gets a very great treat when she gets there.  The association of fun and a treat when she gets there is, of course another, distraction, but it becomes fun.   

Clipping her nails:  do one nail only then drop it for another time to do the next nail.  Usually you can sneak one nail clip in before they know you are going to do it.  The idea here is to not let the anxiety escalate with each nail. so if you only do one then praise her non reaction  she will learn to relax.

There is also a hormone collar that can be put on the dog that has pheromone aroma that calms the dog.   There is also a plug in device that does the same.

Last but not least, but only if you see no improvement,  there is prozac that the vet can give you.
Do not use the last unless she has no improvement.  Remember you must stay calm and anyone who handles her should be warned she may do this crying, but they are not to react except to distract her with a game etc.

The dogs that are not worked with in this fashion will always be this way and some can actually become biters so you need to work very hard on this.

Good luck
and let me know how this works for you
nancy