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Picking up dog help!!!

4K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  Leenlikeajolo 
#1 ·
Hello! I am an owner of a 4 month old pup now named Juneau and he is very playful and smart. I had a question about picking him up. Of course when I pick him up now as a pup he doesn't mind but when he gets older and larger I want to know what is the proper way to pick him up? because my girlfriend has a pit/rottweiler who is honestly the friendliest dog in the world and I've known him since he was a pup but when I try to pick him up he starts growling and one time he almost bit me as if he was being defensive? I need help and I want to start early so my German Shepherd doesn't do this to me when he's older. Thank you!!
 

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#2 ·
Never thought about an actual proper way. Ive scooped them up with one arm under the chest and under the abdomen or under the chest and the other arm behind the upper rear legs. I haven't done this for some time, but I used to lift my smaller female over my shoulders. Not sure she'd still cooperate for that one anymore.
 
#3 ·
Handle him a lot and pick him up to get him used to being handled. The way Nigel said should be fine. Do it often so that way when he is older it is something he is used to.
Sounds like your other dog just isn't used to having that sort of intereaction with you and is uncomfortable with it, or he just wasn't held much as a puppy.
 
#4 ·
Each dog is different. Ideally a dog that has been positively handled and trusts you... should tolerate any method of lifting if one is more comfortable for them.

Most often, my dogs are positioned perpendicular to me and I wrap one arm abound their front of their chest and the other wraps around their rear and sort of scoops them up. If you google "how to pick up a large dog", this method comes right up.
 
#5 ·
Since your pup is OK with you picking him up now, he will probably always be fine. I got my hound mix at 12 weeks old. He clearly did not like to be picked up. In his case, I only pick him up if/when necessary. He trusts me to pick him up, even though he is clearly uncomfortable with it. He would probably bite anyone else. Additional handling would have made him worse. I know this, because my adult 'children' were insistent on wanting to pick him up. I told them they were pushing him past his threshold and he would bite them. I'm sure he did bite them, but not hard enough to break the skin. No sympathy from me. Twenty-somethings are old enough to know better. On the other hand, I did not push him and I am his favorite person in the whole world.

Shelby, the shepherd mix, is the complete opposite. She is tolerant of anything that is done to her. But again, that is her nature. She has always been that way.

Picking up my 30 pound dog, I put one arm under his front legs and support his rear, with my other arm. For my 67 pound dog, I put both arms underneath and lift. Fortunately, I seldom have a reason to lift either.
 
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