Chow won't let me lift her anymore, possible back issue?

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iainh
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Chow won't let me lift her anymore, possible back issue?

Post by iainh »

Hello! I have a five year old chow. She's always been a bit touchy with her lower half, but has always allowed us to pick her up until recently, when she started becoming aggressive and has almost bitten me a few times whenever I try to lift her.

To lift her, I always approach her from the side, put one arm behind her front legs and one in front of her back legs. Now whenever I try to put the arm around her back legs she panic and becomes enraged and tries to bite and it's made me nervous to try again.

She won't let us look at her, she desperately needs a haircut, particularly around her back legs, which could be a factor but she only lets us cut her in the shower and I need to lift her to put her in. I can't take her to the vet because I need to lift her to put her in the car, and if a vet came to visit there's no way she'd let them look at her anyway.

I'm at a loss for what to do. I've thought about getting a muzzle but I'm worried that would set a bad precedent and she could become more aggressive because of it. I wonder if maybe something hurts that will feel better when she rests but unsure how long that could take if that's the case until she'd be ok with being lifted again.

Has anyone had a similar situation to this? And if so what did you do? Any suggestions are welcome.

Also, I'm in the UK if that makes a difference to my options.

Thanks!
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