My dog has a favorite chew toy which he can never exhaust. It’s called my socks. I have noticed that when I pick him up gently with two hands he will become tense and drop the sock he was chewing on. When I pick him up by his scruff (the loose skin behind his neck) he will keep chewing as if nothing has happened and will continue to do so in the new spot I put him in. Is it OK do pick him up this way or is there a better way I have not thought about?
Picking up a dog by the scruff of the neck is the same way the dog’s mother would pick it up as a pup. This method is supposed to send the dog into a more tranquil state and it has good results when used to remove a small dog that instigated a fight with another dog. However, since it is already tranquilly enjoying chewing on your sock, the scruff method doesn’t alter the state of mind and it continues chewing.
The dog may drop the sock when picked up with both hands because this is a more unnatural method (in the dogs mind) thus eliminating the tranquility it was previously enjoying and its instinctual reaction is to drop the sock because its trying to figure out what’s going on.
Sadie loves socks too. She’s too big for the scruff treatment, but she’ll drop a sock if I slip her collar over her head. I don’t know if it’s because I’m touching her scruff area or if she’s more interested in her collar, but it works.
Scruffing a dog of 12 pounds might be too much – if the dog struggles suddenly, or as it ages its skin collagen breaks down, the skin can rip. If you want to scruff your dog, just squeeze the skin in that area without lifting. It’s not remotely a punishment action; it tells the dog, if anything (possibly only that you are randomly rough and violent and scary) that it is a mere puppy compared to you, which can calm some dogs and anger others.
Why are you wondering about the scruffing when picking up the dog shocks him into dropping it? If you want to stop the behavior, pick him up so he drops the sock, and set him down while taking the sock up and immediately give him an appropriate chewing object (one not remotely sock-colored, sock-textured, or he’ll think they’re socks). He’ll get the idea you want him to chew the new object and eventually prefer that. Also, try putting your socks into a tall hamper that your shih-tzu can’t get into?
The socks can be deadly if ingested in big enough strips to coil up and block the intestines, you don’t want them chewed, he wants SOMETHING to chew…so give him something else, and keep your socks in a drawer, on your feet, in the hamper, or in the laundry machines only. No need
I’m not a veteranian, and I don’t even play one on TV, but I wish you wouldn’t grab your dog by the scruff of his neck. Yes, momma-dogs carry their puppies by their scruffs, but the little critters weigh just a few ounces. A fully-grown dog shouldn’t be picked up by the flimsy skin on the back of his neck.
Just as you weigh considerably more now than you did at birth, so does an adult dog.
Have you tried supporting his bottom while holding his scruff? This could have the same psychological effect as holding him by the scruff without actually having all his weight hanging by his neck skin.
The puppy I had as a kid, you couldn’t even pick up by the scruff of the neck. Oh, you could grab the scruff, and lift it up, but the skin would be about three feet up and his feet would still be on the ground. He didn’t even look wrinkled normally; it just stretched incredibly.
