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.