Is it dangerous to pick your dog up by the scruff

I think at some point it would start being bad for you to carry your dog by their scruff because, well, just naturally most things that parents do when children are little become detrimental at some point. I feel like it becomes detrimental in a different way than most things, though, and I think it is a weight issue rather than an age thing. For example, my dogs weigh ten pounds each and they both have ample skin for me to easily lift them off the ground. I do not yank them up or anything like that, if I am picking them up b the scruff, I ease them off the ground so it is not a surprise and they are not shocked. Neither of my dogs have never had an issue with this, they do not cry about it, they do nothing. Being said, I only pick them up in emergencies like that.

I think, when a puppy starts getting pretty big, then it would be time to stop that behavior. You just would not be carrying a 30 pound puppy by the scruff of their neck, you wouldn’t, that can really be painful. I am sure, also, it is the same way in the wild. I do know that the smaller the dog, the more puppy-ish behavior they keep. For example, Titus still has that sweet baby kind of smell to him, he still has a lot of extra skin, a domed head, soft eyes, all puppy traits. A 60lbs dog is unlikely to have that extra skin for one and for two you would almost be tearing their skin off if you picked them up like such.

I’m kind of rambling, but my theory would be that the more weight on the dog, the less likely it is to be a good idea to pick them up at their scruff. Ten pounds = okay; 40 pounds = probably not.

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