Sitting up

[Con&Finn'smom]

I have always heard that sitting up (or sitting pretty, as it is sometimes called) is bad for dachshund backs. I do not allow my boys to do that. Recently, I read a post from someone on another board saying that she allows her dog to jump on and off of furniture and climb stairs, but that she has never had a back problem because she makes her dogs sit up for treats - as this strengthens their backs and protects them from potential problems. I have never, ever heard of this before, and I am not inclined to believe it. Does anybody have some sort of references that indicate the extent to which sitting up can either lead to injury or help prevent it?
Thanks!

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Gotta love these looooong dogs!
http://www.geocities.com/clarese_l

[Mark]

We do not encourage it either. It seems to me that sitting would compress the spine.

There is a mention of it being bad here http://acmepet.petsmart.com/content/breeds/dog/dachshund.html

I'm sure there are other sites/references, but this was the first one I found in searching the net.

Mark

[pkmiddler]

We never have had a sitter till now Guy has sit up on his own we never encourged it at all on his own since he was about 7 weeks old and it is funny since his Grandfather did it too.Granddad was not our dog and lived to be 15 with no back problems and he did for everything he wanted just like Guy even to ask to go outside.By the way NONE of our others have ever done it nor do Guy's children but his sister also does it for the same reasons and she does not live with us.<IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm6.gif" border=0>

<FONT COLOR="#00FFFF" SIZE="1" FACE="Verdana, Arial">This message has been edited by pkmiddler on May 16, 2001 at 02:42 PM</font>