Hello! We have had our Welsh Springer pup for a week now and she is just 9 weeks old. I had read up a lot beforehand and planned to socialise her straight away by carrying her around the small market town where we live. I had reckoned without one thing! She is SO lively and excited that she wriggles and wriggles in my arms and I feel she just wants to be on the ground (Which isn't possible until she finishes her immunisation in about 2 weeks' time) and we haven't got very far at all... just outside the front door was all we managed.
A second and perhaps contributory factor is that she was raised in a very rural area and is wary of cars - I am tackling this by sitting with her on our doorstep (which faces the road although there is probably a good 30 feet between us and it) and feeding her and allowing her to run back into the house if she feels it's too much - and she is getting a bit better and almost fell asleep there this afternoon in spite of the occasional car trundling past.
Obviously she might be calmer in my arms when the car fear goes away - but I suspect then she will just want to leap out through sheer exuberance as she is such a bouncy, waggy little girl and when I have carried her around in 'new' areas without traffic such as the upper floor of our house or the area behind our back garden she scrabbles around just as much trying to get down but in these cases seems to want to explore rather than shy away.
Are some puppies just not suited to being carried? I guess very large breeds might be a problem as well as lively ones. Is there anything I could try and am I going about things the right way? I'm happy to receive any advice as she is my first puppy and I want to do right by her - she is such a bright, active little thing.
Thankyou!
 

I had a wriggly one once - I had to carry her with a firm grip on her scruff as well as having my arms around her and her tucked under my arm. She tried to go over my shoulder once! It got easier though, and she ended up bombproof. Good luck with yours.
:)

I have problems with some of my Griffs being extremely wriggly when carried.  I always ensure that however young they are they wear a collar and lead which I am firmly holding, or is attached to me, just in case they manage to wriggle out of my arms.

You sound as if you are doing the right things with her, it will get easier.

Joan
Take the rough with the smooth

Hello..
This pup of mine now 12 weeks old is extremly wriggly :) in fact so much so I ended up having to put a collar and lead on her just to have something to hold. I was soooooooo glad when she could finally put four feet to the floor and walk :D
Mine is totally relaxed around everything so far so obviously it worked for us, I'm sure it will for you too.

Good luck; has yours realised yet she can use her back feet to push against you and sort of propel herself forward. :)

Karen
  

Some dogs just like being with all four feet on the ground, and don't do this 'observing' life - they want to be 'doing' - sounds like a typical Springer to me ;)  The collar and lead is probably your best idea - or even a little body harness to save any damage to her should she actually fall.......

Thanks for the reassurance and advice! Yes I will try with collar and lead (or harness) although she does tend to think her collar is a hula hoop at the moment and likes to spin it round vigorously! Jeangenie, she is constantly trying to go in all directions including over my shoulder - eek! And yes Karen she uses her back feet very effectively! Well, I did want a lively dog and I have got one... never a dull moment! :-)
Helen.

Emmy was a wriggly puppy when she was little. Quite a big girl too so I know how hard it is to hang on to them, especially when you are out socialising, the last thing you want is an escaped puppy running riot around the market place!

I wrapped Emmy in a small towel before taking her out in my arms. Obviously not too tight, but enough to keep her from throwing her paws around every where! She would wriggle at first, but when she realised she wasn't getting any where she soon settled.

Regarding the second point with the cars, My puppy was born on a dairy farm with no passing traffic and came here to a town (mind you, the fact of where she was raised probably didn't make a difference as she'd never been outside before anyway until the day we picked her up) and she was scared of cars too.  I never even took her out in my arms before she was vaccinated because there were warnings of parvovirus being around everywhere - newspaper warnings, posters in the vets etc., and they made me paranoid by saying how it is airborne, and that you can pick it up on your shoes when you go out and you should change your shoes and trousers every time you come in from outside before going near your dog   I didn't go that far, by the way!

Anyway, when we did finally take her out, she used to cower and panic every time a car went passed and it was really frustrating....for a week or two until it stopped and I couldn't even tell; you when she stopped being scared, she just did.  She then remained scared of big lorries and building sites for about a further month or so, but eventually that stopped to, by perseverance and constantly putting her in the situations where she'd encounter them.  Next it was trains, and main roads, even though she could handle cars in the locality, she wouldn't go up to the main road where there were trains, and lorries and cars all at once lol. This lasted a couple of months, now she doesn't bat an eyelid.

It doesn't happen overnight and you may start to think that you are never going to get your puppy used to traffic, but then one day they're like Millie - cars are so trivial she refuses to wait for them to pass if she wants to cross!

Thanks for all your replies. Joules, I may try the towel idea - although I have a vision of me walking round the town with a thrashing towel in my arms! I suppose I will just have to see if she settles. And it's good to know they eventually get the hang of traffic - will persevere and I'm sure it will all come together. Nice to know others have been in the same boat and it worked out. :-)