I have a litter on the ground and the puppies are 6 weeks now. I have a very nice puppy in the litter and I have noticed that she sits a lot. I have checked her rear assembly and I find nothing wrong. She comes down square. I have checked her hocks and they are good. I have watched the Pupple Puzzle DVD thinking Pat Hastings mentioned something about the puppy that sits a lot, but she does not. This puppy has always been a little bit slower to develop than the others. When the others were up walking on all fours she was still dragging her back legs a little.

Does anyone have any thoughts or have they had a puppy that sits a lot in the litter? If so, can the puppy improve with time considering I cannot find anything wrong with her rear? Could it be something other than the rear causing this? Or could it be that this puppy is just slower at developing than the others?

TIA

In my experience, a dog that wants to sit a lot usually has a problem. I have seen dogs in the ring that I take notice of because they always want to sit(not an obedience/conformation conflict)Later, I will find out they did not pass hips. But, your pup is very young. May be something all together different.

Had her anal glands checked? Is she constipated?

Had her anal glands checked? No

Is she constipated? Not that I have noticed.

What is her temperament like? Is she more reserved, or just sitting back and watching things happen? I've had pups that 'sat in the back' to watch. These pups were typically softer as adults and were best with older couples, but did not have orthopedic issues that were clinical (not all pet people xray).

Has this pup been rewarded for sitting, even unknowingly to you? When she sits, do you go over to pet her, or check her out? The reason I ask is that when you are trying to teach pups to sit, you can clicker train, or simply reward with actions every time a pup sits. Perhaps this pup is smart and figured out when she sits, you give her special attention?

Sitting in the ring is not necessarily caused by a physical problem. My male who is running in Masters sits in the ring because he is trying to be a good dog, and he has always been a good dog when he sits. He is OFA good and does not sit around much at other times, but in a situation where he feels under pressure, the ingrained habit to sit comes out. He did not live with me as a puppy, so he did not learn the stand command along with the sit. So don't assume there is something wrong with a dog just because it sits in the ring!

I had a litter of 10 almost a year ago. There was one male that always sat back and observed. He had the most beautiful head piece on him, tons of bone but was rather reserved. He played a lot but when the other puppies came running to me he would sit back and watch...always. At 6 week evals he was not one of my favorites conformation wise but there was something about that boy I could not put my finger on. At 8 weeks he was drop dead gorgeous and I decided he was staying. He blossomed into the most well mannered, wants to please, happy, lovely boys. He absolutley LOVES the ring and there is nothing wrong with him, other than he was waiting for me to really see the beautiful boy he was. He had 3 points by the time he was 7 months old. I am eager to see him completely mature. Hang onto that one.

Worried about a puppy that sits? Is this for real?

Get a clue I am concerned about the structure of the puppy. It is a 6 week puppy who is growing with her litter maybe she has a structure defect and it is causing her to be more comfortable to sit than stand. This is not asking about a puppy being trained to sit. It is about trying to figure out if there is something wrong with the structure of the puppy. Your response shows your lack of experience.

If this response was directed at me, I wasn't responding to your initial question,but to the person who was assuming that there was something structurally wrong with a dog that sits in the ring.

I have had puppies that sat back and watched. The ones I've had have been "thinkers" and have grown into intelligent dogs who weigh a situation before acting, not always an advantage to the trainer. I think that as puppies they want to be able to see your face, so they sit far enough away to see you. The ones I had would respond when they made eye contact with you. I never got concerned that they were physically unsound. What happens when you make eye contact with this puppy? Perhaps there is something else that you are picking up on, other than the sitting, that makes you think this pup has a physical problem. You mentioned that she dragged her feet. Was this just that she was still doing something her litter mates used to do and they had stopped, or was it something they never did?

I believe the response was directed to "oh my".

I'm not a breeder but so far I have bought two puppies that I just thought were the "sit and think" type, but it turned out shortly after purchase that they did have internal issues, one with heart issues and one with kidney issues. I don't know about the one compared to her littermates, but the other was always a little behind in physical development, though beautiful. Sounds odd but I think that hind leg weakness sometimes associates with kidney problems.

So, sure it could be something other than structure, or nothing at all. If it worries you maybe have the vet do a complete blood panel to check kidneys, liver, blood counts, etc. With heart problems in the breed maybe a cardiologist auscultation would be something to do if she continues to lag.

I hope its nothing, good luck.