[SharonSnowbird]

Lacy is a real sweetie, but will NEVER let me pick her up if she can help it. This is really bothering me. I do not know if this is common behavior for puppies as I have only ever had one puppy before, about 20 years ago.

She sleeps in her Iris pen at night next to my bed. When I get up in the morning, and go over to her, she is so excited and jumps up against the pen to touch my hand. But as soon as I go to pick her up, she backs away to the far side of the pen where I can't reach her. And if I walk away, she immediately cries, she does not want me to leave without her, but if I go back to pick her up she backs away again. When we are in the kitchen, and I go to her to pick her up, she backs away, all the time. She will never let me pat her, she will never let me pick her up. If I sit on the floor and hold out a treat for her, after about a minute of coaxing, she will come and get the treat, but is very tentative, she always seems scared. When she is about to get the treat, if I put up my other hand to pick her up, she immediately backs away. And then she cries, because she wants the treat. When I am on the computer, she is constantly putting her paws on my leg as if she wants me to pick her up, but as soon as I reach down to her she backs away. I know she WANTS to come to me, especially when I have a treat in my hand, but she seems really scared of being picked up. I just do not understand it. Am totally baffled.

I know she is not scared of ME, as when I sit and watch TV, I put her in the chair next to mine, which has a very soft blanket and her treats, and she always jumps over onto my lap and will not leave my lap while I watch tv. So she is very comfortable being in my lap, and will stay there for a couple of hours, even if I put her back on her chair, she refuses to stay there, and jumps back on my lap. She is just afraid for me to pick her up. When we had to leave for the vet's yesterday, it took me a good 5 minutes before I was able to pick her up, as she runs under the kitchen table and I cannot get to her. This is very frustrating. And very upsetting as I want to pick her up many times a day for a cuddle, like I did with Chanel, but she always runs away. So we never get any cuddles. I don't understand this behavior!

Is this just normal puppy behavior??? How can I get her to be comfortable with me picking her up? Has anyone experienced this with their puppy?