[bellasmomok]

Right after I got Bella, I read in a Yorkie book that being so small and being lifted (sometimes without warning) up into the air can be frightening for them. The solution, the author said, was to say "Lift up" or some other short command just before you pick them up.....but you must do it EVERY time BEFORE you pick them up. I started doing that with Bella right away--she liked to be held but from her sort of grabbing on to me, I could tell was a little afraid of being up so high and being hoisted up there too. Now whenever I say "Lift up" or "Let's go" (when I have my coat and shoes on....she knows I'm going somewhere and hopes she gets to go too), she turns around so her rear is towards me and sort of shuffles backward or she puts her paws on my leg to make it easier for me to pick her up!! I don't even have to give the "command" all the time anymore....she reads my body language and knows, but it was good to start off that way, so she had a little warning. And, now when I'm holding her, she thinks she can flop any which way and her mom won't drop her! (sometimes it's hard to keep hold when she's excited!) Also, she used to HATE it when I'd bend over to pick something up when I was holding her, but now it doesn't bother her at all! The only time she does what you described....come up to me and then start walking or hopping backwards is after I've re-fixed her top knot or after I've tried clothes on her--she doesn't like either and is sort of gun shy that I might be doing it again!

I don't know if that would work for you, but it would be worth a try. (The book said that everyone who picks her up needs to say the command before they lift her in the air, but that may be harder to get everyone to say it. I think it will still work for you if only you say it.)