I am biting terrier76, my chihuaua if that is how you spell it, drove me crazy this past weekend, I had my great granddaughter, her Mom and boyfriend and his daughter both of them 3-4 years old, I took the dog out to greet them as he seems better then his usual self if I do that, otherwise he goes nuts when someone enters the house. He immediately bit the little girl, he did not break the skin however, he did bruise her, and all the while they stayed which amounted to 4 hours, he was a holy terror, I had him confined to the bedroom and whenever I would take him out he would growl and bark, I tried his muzzle but that didn't work well either, he has been a angel for a long time now, not biting or being aggressive like he used to me at first. I know he is tempermental and someone told me you can never trust a dog that fits that agenda, is this true? HELP!!!!!!!!!!!
I am sorry to hear that your chihuahua bit the little kids. From your past postings I understand that he has a tendency to bark at and nip people coming inside the house.
Small children seem totally different creatures than adults to dogs that are not socialized well with them and I understand that. They are not predictable and their voices are high pitched and loud sometimes. Even calmer dogs try to avoid get too close to children, let alone your fearful chihuahua
It will be very difficult and take a lot of time and patience, and cooperation from children's side, and even some risks to get your dog used to small children so it is very unfortunate but I would just keep him separate from them.
You can have him on your lap (on a leash if necessary) and just try to make him used to be around the children without interacting with them. If he can only ignore the children, that will be a great progress and I would be very happy
If you cannot watch him, put him in a crate or in a different room. This is a good solution for both your dog and the children. If he bites again and draw blood, his life might be terminated depending on how bad the bite is.
Not all dogs like children and especially smaller breeds like yours have some fear towards unpredictable behaviors of children so please don't overwhelm him. He is already 8 and he had a terrible experience in his past according to your past posting.
I have to agree. While he was showing good progress (yay!) up til now, interacting with much younger people is hard on a lot of dogs. Some dogs choose to just get away, while others, as you found out, act out upon kids. Its certainly not the child's fault usually, nor the dogs by any means - its just some dogs don't know how to act around children, so they react fearfully.
I will simply echo MHN in advising that you keep your chihuahua away from kids - at least detain him from approaching them when they are over. As MHN said, have him on your lap or in a pen or on a lead. Otherwise, confine him to a seperate room or outside when kids are around - that way its much less stressful for everyone involved.
Hello and thank you both for you posting, yes I agree he is going to someday be in trouble for his actions, normally when people visit, mostly adults he seems okay if I greet them outside then walk inside with him and the guests, however, when someone knocks on the door he goes nuts also, I am sure this is his way of protecting me and I try to be calm and not react to him but as any chihuahua owner knows there bark tends to annoy and hurt the ears, lol. My one big quest would be to teach him that I am the alpha, but with his nature it is almost impossible to give him time outs or do other things suggested as he cannot be held or grabbed, he has fears of this from his former life. Oh well I will keep trying, he does give me lots of love and sits on my lap and puts his head under my chin for me to kiss his head, only when he wants this though, he is a little puzzle but gives me lots of love too. What else can I say???????????
Its understandable that you're having some trouble with training due to your dogs history - but with patience and repetition I'm sure you'll start to see progress.
Start by working on being able to pet him when you want - not just when he asks for it. Its all about trust so move slowly, speak in calming tones, no sudden movements, and stop if he becomes distressed or aggressive. Just try to pat him lightly at first, then work your way up to being able to put your hands all over his body eventually. You just need to work on your bond with him - progress will happen in time!
It may be worth keeping a lead on him while he's in the house - so that if you need to grab him to put him in time out, you don't actually have to grab a hold of him, you can get the lead instead and gradually work to being able to pick him up. I would strongly suggest lots of training on the command "come" with your dog - so he gets better at responding to you when you call him. Time outs are a good way to train dogs not to bark at the door, so if you can work some way to get this happening, it will likely help you.
I hope he learns to trust you more and more with time, I'm sure you'll get good results! Please keep us updated with how you're going!
Hello again and thank you for your response, I have been having trouble getting a harness to fit my dog, I have finally been able to get him to eat normal dog food, wet type and he seems to be gaining more weight then when I fed him my food, he seems to be in between the medium and large, so no matter where I try to buy one they do not have this little guys size, he had a harness on him all his life with his previous owner but I am guilty of making him heavy to begin with so now I have that problem also. I know I am at fault for this, any dogs we had in the past only lived on people food, so this is what I did for him and guess that shouldn't have been good for him, as he gained lots of weight now. I have been slowly getting to scratch him just about everywhere, but now last week, I tried to pick him up by his front paws and he growled like a vicious animal and kept growling for a few seconds. I will keep trying though as he is well worth it for sure.
Hello me again, my little chihuahua did it again, he has been so wonderful and loving the past weeks and tonight, when I tried to wipe the snow off his paws, something I have done all the time with no fears, he suddenly started growling like a vicious dog, and he kept it up, I turned my back on him and he kept growling and coming around to the front, I almost feared he would lash out and bite my leg he was so vicious, growling back hasn't worked before so I tried the ignore factor. When he calmed down I walked to the bedroom, under the bed is his safe place, and locked him in there for a good while, he came out acting as if nothing happened. My best friend told me that there is no hope for dogs that are tempermental, is this true??????????????????? I wonder if I am always going to have to fear him because he is tempermental, she said a dog expert told her if they are that they cannot ever be trained.
Sad to hear of the bad episode - but I would count it as just that - a bad one-off. I certainly dont think tempermental dogs are hopeless - especially when its a dog with a history that makes the behaviour a bit more understandable!
I think you handled the situation very well - its exactly what I would have done, ignored, then time out. I would say do this if a similar situation happens in the future. Dogs with bad history, as I'm sure you know, just take a bit more time, effort, love, and patience to get back to 100% with anyone, and even after all that you may have bad days. Its understandable.
I simply say, keep up the good work! You're doing great!
Hello, I had another growl fest with my dog, who was lovinly sitting by my side and or lap most of the afternoon, wanting kisses and so forth, then my sister called and I touched behind his ear and he just went nuts, he growled so bad, my sister thought I had a tv channel with someone going crazy on, she could not believe how long and aggressive he growled, I growled louder and he just growled louder too, then as quick as is happened, he got all gee mom what did I do, don't you love me anymore, I must say I do get afraid of him, when this happens and I am sure he feels the fear I am showing. It seems like he just snaps and then acts like I should forgive him right away, I didn't and ignored him for a 1/2 hour before I touched him again. Oh woe is me, lol?????????????????
