My 4.5 month old chihuahua is growling at people. Never at me. But other people, if they come over to us while she's laying with me or come up on her while she's laying down, she starts growling and snapping at them. She was laying on my brother's lap napping and when he went to move her off of him, she growled at him. She has done this to two brothers. She even growled at my mom when my mom playfully tugged her ear while she was sleeping. No, I don't think mom should do that, but she did and my dog reacted badly. So what's going on? I try to shush her by putting my mouth against her and whispering "shh, its okay, its okay" or putting my hand in front of her face so she can't see the person anymore. Sometimes this works, sometimes it don't. Everybody is telling me she'll start biting people. Will she? Am I encouraging bad behavior? What do I do? She's only 3 lbs. And the training class is too expensive for me. :( Any advice?
Answers:
It sounds like the way you're reacting to her bad behavior is encouraging her instead of communicating to her that it's NOT okay with you. Be more firm with your command. By cuddling her and telling her 'its okay,' is actually the body language of a person ENCOURAGING, not repramanding. That's how a mom would act if their 3 year old got hurt. If I did something like punched a kid at school, my mom would have been like, 'that is NOT okay!!' This is no different. She's growling and snapping at people for no reason other than she doesn't want anyone else being around you. You are sending her the wrong signals on accident.
I'll just give you tips based on what I've experienced. As an example, if she was a kid and was sitting by you and your brother sat next to you and she starting yelling at him telling him to back off from you and shoving him, what would you do? Would you hug them and say, 'shhh its okayy..'? Personally, I would be like, excuse me, that's my brother and you CAN'T do that! Obviously you can't talk to her because she can't understand you. So you have to communicate like dogs communicate to eachother! Don't be afraid that you're hurting her feelings or she will NEVER learn. She's being possessive of you and that is definitely a sign of aggression, and being at that age she has a really high potential of being a biter. She needs to learn simple manners.
At the first moment she even looks at a person in an aggressive way [you can tell this by her ears going back, and their lips starting to turn up like when she's growling], you firmly put your hand on her and tell her, 'NO.' Don't yell, but you have to say this in a loud enough voice to where she understands that you DON'T like what she's doing. I have a higher voice, and I found that if I make my voice a little deeper, dogs will listen a LOT better! If she goes back to growling, immediately say, 'NO' again and keep your hand on her firmly until she has a calm, submissive behavior. She will understand that her behavior is unacceptable to you. You must be consistant if you don't want a biter on your hands!! If you let her go once, she will know that you're not serious.
Definitely get her socialized right away with dogs and people. Take her everywhere you can take dogs when you can, take her to a dog park, and take her to obedience classes. Its like having a kid and not letting them meet anyone for their whole life! Of course they'll have weird quirks! :] But don't be afraid to be her leader - she needs to understand that what she's doing isn't right. And she'll love you more for teaching her to be a smart dog.
You should let it socialize more.
Maybe take it for a walk? Or see a specialist. Chances are they wont charge very much for plain advice.
G'luck!
She doesn't understand shh it's okay. When a dog is misbehaving, you tell it NO and correct it.
And why would you put your hand in front of her face? Do you want bitten someday?
If you can't afford the training class, try purina.com. They usually have a lot of online training options.
Well first of all by telling her ' it's okay ' you are encouraging her to act like that even more.. You should correct her, not empower her more and encourage that behaviour. She is bugged easily she shows her teeth and people back off.. Works for her.. You are letting her get away with that, and everyone is encouraging the behaviour by not correcting her and backing off when she does it.
I think you pup may be a good judge of character (JK!!!)
seems she is very protective of you ( I would be, TOO!)
I like the socialize part - perhaps a doggie day care
for a few days - maybe $5-10 and she gets to play with other dogs
DOH - never wake a sleeping dog - Mom should have known better
best of luck
PS have seen this breed even become protective of a house guest, when they were on the guest's lap - and I tried to shake hands with the guest - nearly took my arm off - if I would have been closer LOL !
I have two dogs and have both reasonably well trained. It may not be fun for you, but when your puppy starts getting aggressive with another person, you need to step in. You can start off by saying in a mildly loud, firm voice, "NO." This may surprise your dog and cause it to stop growling. If so, praise it immediately. If your dog keeps growling, repeat the "NO", a little louder. If you need to, you can lightly slap it on the rump. Not hard, just enough to surprise it and hopefully get it to stop growling. Another method that usually works with a puppy is, if it starts being aggressive, kneel down beside it. Flip it over so its belly is in the air and its head and upper back are rested on your knees and lower legs as you kneel. Then slightly push down on its chest area while saying "NO." This is what momma dog does when the puppy gets out of hand. She usually pins it on its belly, applies some quick pressure to the chest, and barks out a warning to calm down. The kneeling action followed by it being in a submissive "belly up" position followed by the quick pressure and "NO" kick up the dog instincts and remind the puppy to calm down. Again, you don't want to jerk or push hard enough to hurt it, just firmly. All of these methods worked with my dogs. Now they do nothing but wag their tails and show affection. :) Good luck with your dog! They really are the best companions you can have.
You do not have a puppy you now have a baby! And a baby that is your families leader 3lbs of terror. Shh, its okay its okay Oh My God it is not OK!!! You are praising her in every way and she probably will start biting next, start by putting the dog on the ground, then give dog a job and only feed when dog does work. You do not have to be mean but you have to take back your house and give you dog some direction and training consistent and fair lots of play and treats and praise. Stop picking this dog up unless it is in danger period. If you want a baby have one but the dog is a dog too may little dogs get fussed over and babied and get all these problems. Save your pennies and get a library card read all the books I did, then find a local dog club and join, cheaper lessens that way. Good luck
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment