That Look

Does any one else's baby do this? Sometimes for no apparent reason at all, Ricky will get all mopey and go to his bed, tail between his legs and head down. He makes me feel awful. Sometimes when I call him to me, he does the same, tail and head down thing. A moment later, he will be all happy, running around with the tail wagging like crazy. No one in our house has ever yelled at him, hit him etc. and he is never outside with out a leash and one of us with him so he isn't abused. My Vet again says that Ricky is playing us like a true artist but what does he gain by it? :(

All our dogs sometimes put themselvs to bed.
But I never noticed them looking mopey.
Our terrier will sometimes put her head
down in a submissive way when she first greets us.

Ricky looks adorable.
When you travel he certainly doesn't
take up much room. :)

[ August 01, 2001: Message edited by: KYS ]

What do you do when Ricky looks upset and mopey?
At the very least you pay attention to him, look at him and I'd like to bet you either talk to him or give him some physical comfort?

That's Ricky's reward for his poor abused dog act and the reason it is worth doing.

Carrie,
I am sure you are right. We all go rushing over and do the "poor baby" routine. Like his Vet said, he is playing us but as long as I know he isn't really unhappy, what's the harm i guess.

MDMamma, if that makes Ricky happy why not?
I think most of us here spoil our dogs and love doing it. They are with us for such a short time, our two are so spoiled because we are always with them and they expcet it now.
I think Carrie is trying to teach us the proper way to treat our dogs and we will probably all fail. :D :D :D
Jackie

Um....er....and I thought I was being subtle!! I never was very good at it!

Seriously though (yes here I go again!) wouldn't you enjoy your dog doing something fun and enjoyable for you all to get the attention? At the moment the dog has you pretty well trained to give attention to him on demand when he feels like it. It could be fun to train him to do the "Oh poor me, nobody loves me!" routine on demand. He stills get the attention, you still get the laughs and the pack status is restored.

Hm..Cody's been singing the Rolling Stones song "Under My Paw" for almost 10 years. Maybe next time I'll do better! :D LOL!

I have a t-shirt that says, "My dog walks all over me", I thought it was a joke, however, maybe it's true??????? :rolleyes:

I had a dog who was very, very sensitive. We raised her from a puppy and she was born in our house, so I know she was always treated well, but if you got out a fly swatter to go after a fly, she would tuck her tail under her and hang her head and leave the room. She was NEVER hit, but seemed to know intuitively that such an instrument could be used that way. If we said something like "I smell poop", she would do the same thing, hang her head and tuck her tail between her legs. We had to be so careful not to in any way verbally correct this dog harshly, because everything was taken by her so personally. Thankfully other people didn't witness this behavior because you would swear this dog had been abused by her demeanor. So maybe Ricky is a sensitive soul as well and is responding to what he interprets as a harsh word or maybe, like me, everything ache or pain is preceived as a major medical crisis. :eek:

I think Ricky is very sensitive. His Vet even said that he is like a lot of Chihuahua he sees. He is very loving and loves to be held (we love holding him so that isn't a problem).
The only time he gets excited like he might attack someone is when he hears noises outside our house or motorhome or if some one goes to hug me and pats me on the back. He thinks they are hitting me and starts growling. I am trying to make him understand that pats on the back are not hits.
Ricky has never been hit, yelled at etc. He has never been left at a kennel or with anyone other than our family that lives in this house together. Everyone loves him so I think he may just be that way. He is the smallest from his litter and his brother from the same litter is 13 lbs so there were big size differences. Maybe that is where it started.

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/037/YI/8p/g6/sQ71754.jpg