15/01/2026
It’s ok to pick up your little dog! 🐶💕
It’s OK to pick your small dog up
I see this come up a lot, people worry that “you should never pick a dog up” or “you’re reinforcing fear”.
For many small dogs, being picked up can be a completely appropriate, kind and sensible choice.
Small dogs live in a world where other dogs are physically much bigger than them. A well-meaning large dog, a bouncy adolescent running up can feel overwhelming or genuinely unsafe when you’re tiny. They are also at much more risk in an actual dog attack. If you know your tiny dog will feel scared, picking them dog can reduce stress if faced with genuine threat, they are probably safer being lifted than on the floor
Picking a dog up is not “spoiling” them. It can be management.
If your small dog is already worried, asking them to cope when they’re over threshold doesn’t build confidence. It just teaches them that their feelings aren’t being listened to. Lifting them out of a situation they can’t cope with can actually reduce the need for distance-increasing behaviours like barking or snapping.
The key is how and when you do it.
✔️ Pick up before your dog is panicking
✔️ Use it as a temporary safety strategy, not a way to avoid all exposure forever
✔️ Get them used to being picked up and teach them a cue
✔️ Combine it with longer-term work to build confidence at your dog’s pace
Be aware that other dogs may jump up at you if you pick your dog up, hopefully by that point the other owner has appeared to control their dog!
For some dogs, being picked up is a safe place. For others it isn’t. As always, ‘it depends!’ and the individual dog matters more than blanket rules.
If you’ve never had a tiny vulnerable dog, it may be hard to empathise. Now that I have a tiny dog with awful legs who could be really hurt by a dog jumping on her, I really do get it.
If picking your small dog up helps them feel safer in that moment, you’re not doing anything wrong. You’re responding to the dog in front of you. You may have to learn to ignore comments from other dog owners but your own dogs safely is the priority! ❤️
