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3:13 pm |
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For every step forward... Oscar did very well at the dog wash today. He was in such shock about being wet he didn't even notice all of the other dogs and people. However, when we were drying him off, he finally took a look around and started barking a bit. Fortunately, he was pretty much dry so we were able to take him right out of the store before it got out of hand. The rest of the afternoon hasn't been so easy. We stopped by the pet store to pick up a few things and left him in the truck. He got himself so wound up I could barely walk him when we got home. Then, as we were walking, a horse came walking down our street. A horse! I thought he was going to have an aneurysm. Somehow, I managed to get him home. I was hoping he would have a little rawhide chew and lie down for a nap. Wishful thinking. I made the mistake of trying to remove his harness while he was noshing. He thought I was trying to take his snack and came down with what we're calling "the chihuahua crazies" - growling, snarling, acting all aggressive. Even though that's not what I was doing, I couldn't let him think I was backing down so we had to submit him. We got the chew away from him, rolled him over and held him for a while until he calmed down. It sounds horrible, but it's what needs to be done if he's ever going to stop. And this was the second time we had to do it today. We bought him some mini tennis balls at the store, which he loves to retrieve. He's never learned to drop though. Cue more growling and snarling and another submit. Sigh. This poor dog. It really leaves us wondering what's happened to him over the past five years. He's got a lot of issues and needs a lot of training. We picked up the obedience class schedule from the pet store and will be signing up for the next session we can fit into our schedule. We've got a long road ahead of us, but we're determined to do right by him. |
Do you know anything about her/his past history? Who had him before you? Was he a stray? etc. |
KNIKKEE: |
Congrats on the new dog! I am not sure what kind of training your planning on doing but clicker training has worked wonders for our dog Jenny. Take it slow with eating issues. Work up to her trusting you touching her while she is eating. That's a dog thing. |
Do some reading up on chihuahua's, I rescued one (was only 5 months old, not 5 yrs)...They are very possessive of their toys,food, etc. I have 2 cats and haven't had problems unless one of the cats lays on her toys, she will growl, snatch the toy and walk away. They also tend to connect to one person, and keep by that person all the time. I was told my puppy was potty trained.. NOT, that was a task in itself, I almost gave her back,I even caught her urinating on my couch,She is now potty trained, but it is hard to potty train chihuahua's to go out side (every one I talked to for help in training, said they mostly get paper trained, but I kept on with it. She goes outside and if I am gone for too long, she will use papers(but that is rare)I have had her now for 3 yrs. She does great, but if she gets a good raw hide bone, she will growl at the cats if they come too close, and she will growl at me, of course, I take it from her and tell her to be nice, or it (bone) is history.. that usually works (only threw one bone away and she remembers it) I too had to cage my puppy when I first got her too for the first 4 months, She has turned out to be a great dog, but it took lots of work.. Keep up with it and hopefully you too will have a great dog.