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Pupforum presents your training questions answered by professional dog trainers.
Jean is a graduate of Animal Behavior College and teaches basic obedience using positive motivation training techniques. She is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers and has been teaching family dog basic obedience for three years. Jean is also a graduate of Northeastern University and is the co-founder of pupforum.com.
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7/6/2006
I recently adopted a chihuahua from a rescue in Pennsylvania.
He's 3 years old this week and has some serious issues.
The rescue was told by the family that gave him up, that
he wouldn't house train and was too protective of the
children in the family.
However he is completely house trained and very mannerly inside.
So I've come to the conclusion that the housetraining excuse was a
complete fabrication. So far I've noticed he is fearful of men to the
point of aggression, as well as bigger dogs. He is fine with my husband
and men that he is used to being around, but he has in fact tried to
bite several of our male friends...and 2 female friends with short boy cuts.
I am desperate for help, he is an absolute love when we are somewhere he is comfortable...
but when he's out of his comfort zone, or there's a strange guy or dog around...he's a nightmare.
The foster home he was in had about 1/2 dozen dogs of all sizes and he was fine with all of
them when I went there. So I know he CAN do it, I am just clueless as to how. (Renee' Belov)
Hello Renee,
Glad to give you my 2 cents...
This type of behavior is not at all surprising coming from a Chihuahua.
They very often do not get along with other dogs and can be fear
aggressive. Getting along with dogs he lived with is very different from
getting along with strange dogs. I know several dog aggressive dogs who
live with other dogs. Dogs he lives with are "part of the pack". Other
dogs are just other dogs.
Perhaps he did have a bad experience with a man,
or it could be just that he has only ever been around women. If a dog is
not exposed to something as a puppy, chances are he will fear it once he
reaches adulthood. Either way, your goal is to associate men with very
good things in your dog's mind.
Dealing with this problem will take a mix of management (avoiding the
problem altogether) and training (teaching a more desirable behavior). The
management is the easy part, the training may take many many months, even
years since he is already an adult dog. I train/manage dogs with behavior
modification in mind.
***You can accomplish behavior modification by rewarding the behaviors you
like, and so you will see more of them. You avoid or ignore the behaviors
you don't like, and so you will see them fade out.***
To manage these issues, tether your dog to something when you have a male
guest come over. You can attach him (your dog) by a leash to the coffee
table, a stairwell, the couch, anything. This way you can keep your dog
from rushing your guests or biting anyone (avoid). Don't have anyone speak
to, look at or otherwise acknowledge your dog at first (ignore).
If for one moment he is quiet, ha
ve the man toss a treat to the dog (reward). If
your dog gets so worked up that you just can't stand to wait for him to be
quiet for a moment, either tether him at a greater distance from your
guest, or take him out of the room and into a crate. It's important to at
least give your dog the chance to do the right thing, it make take a few
trials for him to give you the opportunity to reward him.
As for reacting to strange dogs, start taking treats with you when you go
for walks. The moment you see another dog at a distance, hopefully before
your little guy starts to react, pop a treat in his mouth, turn around and
go the other way. With a dog as small as yours, you can load up a wooden
spoon with peanut butter, and when you see the other dog put it within
reach, rather then leaning way down to give a treat. Over many, many
repetitions of this, what you want to see is when your dog sees another
dog at a distance, he looks to you for that treat. Once you start to see
that kind of reaction, you can gradually work your way closer to another
dog.
If you are in a situation where he needs to be in the same house as
another dog and is reacting, treat this the same way as I described having
a male guest over. Tether him at a distance, reward any momentary silence,
and remove him from the area if he just can't settle down.
Some other things that might help:
A training class. Chihuahuas don't tend to be the star students, but this
will help him become more interested in responding to you. Please make
sure you find a class based on positive motivation and uses treats. Do not
let anyone put a corrective collar of any kind on your dog. It will make
his fear aggression worse.
DAP http://www.pupforum.com/store/marketplace.cfm?keywords=Pheromone this
comes in either a plug-in air freshener type model, or a spray bottle. It
is bottled up pheromones that a nursing mother dog gives off. When your
dog breathes this in, it effectively calms him a bit. This is magical
stuff that works on fear aggression, mean aggression, separation anxiety,
overactive puppies, and really any excessive excitement of any kind. It's
one of my favorite tools.
Any toy he likes to carry around. If you can get him to carry something
around a lot, then you can pop it in his mouth when you're in a situation
where he's like to bark. He can't bark with his mouth full. Also carrying
something around can boost a dog's confidence and just give them something
else to concentrate on when they are uncomfortable. Some dogs take to this
and some don't.
Try this out and feel free to call me or email if you have any questions.
Good luck!
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