Last night was ring craft night and I have to confess after the last session at Pentrefelin I was nervous, which isn't helpful. Darryl was taking the first class and before it started he made a point of stroking Beti over her head .. one low grumble was jumped on with one sharp reprimand, but then we quickly moved on with Darryl spending time getting her to go forward to him for treats, it worked. I have to tell her it's unacceptable, but I don't want to make her worse by making her nervous either. By the time we were doing our individual we had a plan, and it worked. It was the only grumble of the night, but everyone watching could see she was still unsettled by strangers touching her head. The good thing is her love of sprats may well be enough to get her through this and get her to relax even when something in the back of her mind is still obviously concerning her. 
I've said before that sometimes I wish I was wrong, this is one of these circumstances. I saw there was an issue the day I picked Beti up, a subdued manner, a ducking head, and the whites of her eyes showing as she was stroked on the head. The heavy-handed handling was not anything other than lack of understanding from someone at an age when puppies are susceptible to being influenced positively or negatively, by everything and anything. Up to about 12 weeks puppies brains are like sponges that absorb everything, though changes can be made later, often behaviour learned at this age is deeply imprinted. I saw the same discomfort from her several times as we socialised her, the first time at Pentrefelin and I particularly remember a couple of ladies at Pets At Home who spent time with her after she'd backed off. It was nice to hear Jackie say that I was really on the ball and observant, she commented that most people would have missed the subtle signs of discomfort that she was showing early on. Reading body signals is so important isn't it, but I still wish I was wrong!!!
As regards to the leg/limp, I'm still unsure what going on. My gut is telling me that something isn't right, but when you have a puppy charging around and full of fun, well it's hard to make a decision. At the moment I'm thinking that if she is as she is now at 6 months old then I will discuss the options with a vet, (I would love it if Beth was back by then) if I have less concern then I'll leave it till she's a year old, but obviously if there is something more worrying then we'll go straight to the vets!
