I know it is a strange heading lol but I am having a problem with my 6mth mal he kind of spreads himself like a flattened frog and then starts crying because he cannot get up :( now he done this for the first time at ringcraft and I stood there like a idiot not knowing what to do :( 2 brilliant ladies rushed over to him and picked him up they put him onto the mat and massaged his hips untill he was ready to stand they advised some thing to put on his feet to stop him losing his grip on wood flooring :) but he will every now and again just put himself like a frog and start screaming untill i rush to pick him :( should I take him to my vet really worried that there is a problem with his hips? but somebody told me it was a sign he had good hips? What do u guys think?

Nina

Although my two dogs with excellent hips do this they do not cry and can get straight up into a stand from this my position (even my 11 yr old).  I would be taking to vets as it doesn't sound right.

Agree with P, unless it was the complete shock of not being able to grip that scared him. Did any of the other dogs find the floor hard to walk on? Could it have been overly polished, did it feel slippery to you?

I know that some dogs do find the transit from carpet to wooden/laminate flooring a bit daunting to start with and find it difficult to walk on and may slip, but to go spread eagled and not be able to get up again...............

After a vet check, (just to make sure) try to go to places where he can practice walking on wood and laminate so that he can get used to it, he may just be being a baby and frightened of slipping so is not trying to get up by himself, but if he does this on carpet too as you do say he does it every now and again, not a good sign IMO, so do please get him to the vet.

Yes, I've had 8 week old pups lounging in this position but they can always get up easily and never cry out. I also have an oldie with arthritis who can recover from this position fairly easily.

Would certainly get this checked out for your own peace of mind. Get the medical all clear, although he is too young to have his hips scored and then you can start on the flooring :)

He's not to young to have them pennHIP scored - that can be done (with considerably more reliability than OFA) from 16 weeks.  Might be worth it.

http://www.mikeguilliard.co.uk/

This is the bloke that pioneered the procedure in the UK - he designed the actual process to make it acceptable here (health and safety gumf I think he said).  Lovely bloke too :-)

Thank you for all your advise :)  will be taking him to the vet and I will def look at the peeHIP score.

Nina