my dog is a Maltese x Shih Tzu dog, who is 4 years old. She is usually energetic and extremely playful, but during the last couple of weeks, she has been vomiting and been picked on by children. Since yesterday (22nd of July), I have not been able to pick her up without her yelping. I took a look at her and nothing looks wrong, so what could it be? I don't want to go to the vet if something alternative can be done...

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Originally Posted by Millydogz

my dog is a Maltese x Shih Tzu dog, who is 4 years old. She is usually energetic and extremely playful, but during the last couple of weeks, she has been vomiting and been picked on by children. Since yesterday (22nd of July), i have not been able to pick her up without her yelping. i took a look at her and nothing looks wrong, so what could it be? I don't want to go to the vet if something alternative can be done...

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There is no alternative - take her to the Vet. Now.

I took her to the vet and the vet said that there was nothing wrong with her, and that the yelping when she was picked up was just a nervous reaction. She seems to be fine now. I was only looking for an alternative because she does not like going to the vet. Every time I take her, she never wants to go in and pulls on her lead and starts shivering when we get in there.
Thanks for helping.

Well, just be careful... if anything is wrong... just take her to the vet.
It may look as if nothing is wrong.. you never know.
Cancer... is a sticky situation... happened to my lovely dog. :[ R.I.P pasha<3

Been picked on by children


I hope you have control over the children that is picking on her. Sometimes dogs will turn on the tormentors.

Thank you for posting your update.

I think a number of people were rather worried about your pooch!

I know that some dogs really do dislike going to the vet, but as we all know, sometimes there just aren't other options. As a matter of fact, a lot of people don't like going to the doctor either. Have you tried training your dog to like visiting the vet? It's not as hard as it sounds. Take some trips there without an appointment and have people there give her treats. Make it fun and light for her, and then go to the park. You can also bring treats with you when you go for her check-ups.

I would definitely keep any tormentors away from your dog! She could get seriously hurt or develop severe behavioral problems because of something like that. If you can't keep the kids away, make sure to speak with them and/or their parents to establish safe interactions with animals. Also, do not leave her with them unsupervised!

Take good care of your little dog! She entrusts her whole life and soul with you.

Thanks for those suggestions. She is a people loving dog, and if people push her away, she just comes running back for more with her tongue hanging out. The thing is that she loves being around those kids as well, no matter what they do. But they are only young. The older ones love playing with her and don't hurt her, but the younger kids (about 1-2 years old) don't know that it's bad. I will just keep her away from the younger ones until they are a bit older.

She is such a sweet little dog, she has not even attempted to bite any of them, only lick them. The thing is she licks too much. My siblings say that they would like her more if she didn't lick. When I went to the vet with her a couple of months ago for her injections I asked him about it and he said that I should pay her more attention to her when she stops licking and give her treats for it. I have been doing that but it has not had much effect as she still keeps licking (not licking herself, but licking everyone). I asked the vet again when I went a couple of days ago, but he said that was the best way to do it. Does anyone else have a suggestion? (because I have been doing the vet's one since April, and it hasn't worked very well). Because I want the rest of my family to love her as much as I do, they all say they would like her more if she stopped licking...

Milly I am not sure how to explain this... but I see the licking as a submissive behavior.
Does she sometimes pee from excitement or when someone bends over to pet her?

No, she doesn't. But she does get extremely excited and starts jumping up and down with her tail wagging. She knows that not many people like her licking them, and every time her tongue shoots out, she tries to bite it back in.

I have a little dog and have seen others that are nervous that lick too much... I just though that this may be part of her problem. I would think after 4 years of age she would be somewhat settled.
I would not let people come in and greet her, when they first arrived until she was settled down I would ignore her. When she startd the jumping and licking I would ignore her or to distract her from the bad behavior offer her a toy and get her.

My mil's dog goes insane when they have a vistor and she wants to lick everyone, feet, head, hands. We tell her no in a stern voice and put her down, offer her different toys to play with or ignore... she is about 15 months old and her behavior gets better each day but it is an on going process.

OK thanks for that. She was the dominant one from the litter though, because we got her straight from the breeder. Do you think that this could be a contributing factor? But even when she is settled down, if someone talks to her, without warning, she will just bolt over to them, sit at their feet and keep licking the air. I think that she can't control it...