Chihuahuas are one of America’s little darlings. Most Chihuahua owners are content with their pets as they are. They don’t give much thought about training them or improving their behavior, considering that they are so small and they seem incapable of inflicting harm. But cute and little as they are, they have a reputation of being aggressive and hardy. You need to train your them after all, and you need to do it while they are young.
Why You Should Know How to Train a Chihuahua
Chihuahuas were bred to be just pets with no additional skills. They had been treated this way for many years. As such, the they have developed the nature of being content with being mere companions. Although this can do some good to the owner in terms of stress reduction, this has a downside because it can lead to aggression. Thus, training the Chihuahua is necessary to socialize it and to arrest future aggression problems.
Most Chihuahuas do not know that they are small, a large percentage of them act bigger than they actually are. This will put the it at risk for obvious reasons. These little creatures are known to be unfriendly and hostile against other dogs and kids. They easily get excited even with slight commotion.
How to Train a Chihuahua
The Chihuahua is a small dog, but thinks that it’s the one in control of the house. Training a Chihuahua should start by letting it know that you are in control and that you are the leader of the pack. It must take its own place in the house and you, as the leader should establish boundaries for it to observe.
Take control of your Chihuahua’s feeding schedule and let it know that it can only eat at your disposition. This is one way of getting its allegiance.
Exercise it two times per day to prevent it from getting bored. Choose which way to go. Do not allow it to dictate which direction you should take, as this can also trigger its sense of control. Use the leash as a signal that you are its leader.
Again, defining boundaries is very important in keeping your Chihuahua’s behavior in check. You should not allow it to go just about anywhere in your house.
Do not pet it every time you arrive or depart from your house as this can reinforce anxiety. You can attend to it as it relaxes about 10 minutes later.
It takes an alpha leader to train a Chihuahua. They need to submit in order to remove their tendency to dominate.
Optimizing Mental Stimulation
Chihuahuas are small and they easily get tired, but most of them lack sufficient exercise because their owners don’t give them the chance. Stimulate it mentally by training it to perform basic commands like sit, stay, speak, quiet, fetch and other tricks.
Setting the rules and being consistent with them will make training easier for the Chihuahua. By all means, do not allow it to impose dominance. Make it perform the tricks you taught it in a consistent manner. Training the Chihuahua is improving its behavior as well.
Stan Beck is a dog training expert whose free Dog Training Guide/’ can help improve your dog’s behavior. Visit his website and get very useful insights on simplified Dog Training Ways.
