I have the cutest little chihuahua named Jackson and he is a psycho . I am the only one he will let touch him , he is jealous of my husband (pees on his boots ),he hides under the cover when he is afraid which is all the time , I have been house training him for 7 mos and he still doesn't get it , he has bit several people who have tried to pet him , he humps my pom who is also male ,he barks constantly with this real shrill bark ,and so on .I have put a huge amount of effort into training him and he is a smart little guy ,I just think he has a personality disorder .My husband does not like him and gives me a lot of grief over his behavior . I was wondering if this is a chihuahua thing (Jackson is my 1st chi ) or is the dog just a little nut ? Have any of you experienced anything like this with any of your animals ? I love him to bits he is the sweetest dog to me . I would really like to learn how to help him chill out a little bit .
Actually.. I have chihuahua and he never behaves like that. He barks when people pull in our drive way, but I think that is a good thing. I was surprised by his bark and always thought it was a bit deep for such a little dog! I think one thing that really helped my dog be good around people (and one thing I've read) is he was always surrounded by a lot of people. Although he is mine, he gets attention from a lot of other people as well. He still is very faithful and protective of me.. but he wouldn't hurt a fly. He likes to chew on people for fun.. but he doesn't bite out of anger. When he does try to bite when playing around we say "no bites!" and tap his nose when he doesn't listen to the voice command (rare.) A few things I would suggest is to maybe watch a couple shows on the animal channel about hard to train pets. There's a show called "Me or The Dog." It's amazing how well she trains those dogs.. I picked up a lot of tricks on there and Elliott responded VERY well from them. Regardless to what people believe, not all chihuahuas are the same. They need A LOT of love and attention and they will be your best friend and extremely faithful. I don't think your puppy is crazy.. I think he's just a rascal. Maybe some crate training and other behavioral training and he'll be okay. (Also.. unless you're planning on breeding or completely against it.. a lot of times neutering can calm a dog down a bit.. But of course there are better reasons to do it than that, and everyone has their own feelings towards those decisions.) Sorry for the LONG post!
Obedience classes- preferably with someone who is really GOOD with behavioral stuff, and NOT heavy-handed. In the mean time, you might enjoy the book "Click to Calm", the Patricia McConnell behavioral booklets (including "how to be the leader of the pack and have your dog love you for it"), For the Love of A Dog (also by McConnell) , and possibly Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed (which is a litlte technical)
Thank you bluedragonfly ! I will watch that show and see if I can get some helpful info .He is a rascal lol!! I just wish he was a bit more social .I also wish he would quit peeing on my hubby's boots .That is causing some friction at home needless to say .I think he does it out of jealousy .Anytime my husband shows me some affection he just loses it .I love him despite all he does .I just wish he would calm down .
That sounds similar to the situation that my parents have--they've got a psychotic Lhasa Apso--ever since this dog was a puppy, she has attacked my dad for no apparent reason (and he puts up with it!)--one time she ripped his hand open and he had to go to the emergency room at 3:00 in the morning--I keep telling them to put her down, but the suggestion falls on deaf ears--and the height of ridiculousness is that they've got her on Prozac! Anyway, I don't know the backstory on your dog, cherryberry (whether or not he was abused in the past or was a shelter dog), but I hope you can help him come around--he sounds like he'd be a good dog! As for the subject of dog training, you might want to check out Cesar Millan--I've watched a few episodes of The Dog Whisperer, and he does wonders with a lot of dogs! Peace and blessings to you and your dog!
I'd be careful about Cesar Milan. The dog trainers and breeders who I follow on another forum (and know a few IRL) are by and large not convinced by some of his methods. He's a bit unsubtle and heavy-handed. While it's true that many Chihuahuas have difficult traits like these, not all do. I'd agree with the other posters on the training and socialisation front. Some aspects are best started young though (particularly socialisation). How old is he now? (Disclaimer, I don't yet have a dog, I'm just in a multi-decade research phase )
Yes. Chihuahua's are like that, and are prone to be even more like that, like yours. I expect it can be trained out of him to a reasonable degree, try different methods, I suppose? I can't imagine he's THAT unfixable.
