Content
- Chihuahua Characteristics
- The importance of socialization
- set the rules
- Teach him where to go
- How to Train a Chihuahua: Basic Commands
- Other commands
Are you tired that your chihuahua dog do not obey his orders? If your little companion still doesn't understand the "NO", there is no way to learn to take care of himself outside the house, he doesn't sit or be quiet when he puts on his collar or wants to cut his nails, then he's here right!
At PeritoAnimal.com.br we give you some tips to learn how to train your Chihuahua correctly. Despite being one of the most possessive and dominant races, train a Chihuahua to teach you the basics is not that complicated if you know how to proceed to get a good teaching from your puppy.
Chihuahua Characteristics
In order to immerse yourself in Chihuahua training techniques, it is essential that you know the character traits of this breed of dog. Therefore, the Chihuahua is characterized by having a dominant and possessive character, so it is not in his nature to be submissive, he is a natural leader. In addition, he is capricious, energetic, intelligent and very active, he is always ready to play with his owner and other dogs of his breed.
Knowing this, what attitude should we have to properly educate our Chihuahua?
- We must show a authoritarian attitude without being aggressive and always standing firm. If we say that we don't want our little companion to climb onto the couch, we must stick to that decision and not let them do it even once. Remember: the pack leader has to be you.
- The authority must always be accompanied by the safety. While sticking to your decision, your Chihuahua sees the insecurity you may have, believing he is the leader.
- We shouldn't give our Chihuahua all the whims he wants. Its sweet and sweet muzzle cannot make you lower your guard, if you want your dog to be well educated you must teach him to earn those whims.
Being authoritarian is not synonymous with being aggressive. This means that we must never yell at our dog, hit or educate through negative conditioning. With this, the only thing you will achieve is for your Chihuahua to be fearful, to be always on the defensive and even to be aggressive. Small and toy dogs, especially, are highly sensitive to this type of behavior and quickly become suspicious, associating people with something negative.
The importance of socialization
Now that we know how to tackle our Chihuahua's education, where do we start? Without a doubt, one of the most important aspects of training any dog is socialization. Although all breeds need a correct relationship with the rest of the dogs, people and environment, it is certain that there are dogs with more predisposition than others and, therefore, that need more attention at this point.
As we mentioned in the previous point, Chihuahuas are dogs that prefer to relate to dogs of their breed and, therefore, if we don't socialize them correctly, they can have aggressive or skittish attitudes with the rest of the dogs. To prevent this from happening, we must start the socialization process as soon as possible.
During the puppy stage it is when dogs are more receptive, create their personality and adopt a series of behaviors that we must guide if we want to get a happy, healthy and, above all, balanced dog. To properly socialize our Chihuahua we must take into account the following factors:
- To start relating the Chihuahua with other dogs or animals of other species, you have to choose calm, well-educated and balanced specimens. A bad choice can trigger a negative encounter, with serious consequences that can mark our Chihuahua for life.
- May its small size not influence it. Although part of the smallest dog breeds in the world, the Chihuahua is perfectly prepared to bond with larger dogs. Denying him that relationship will only make him adopt an aggressive attitude when he "stumbles" with these races.
- Prepare the meeting in a pleasant environment, where you feel comfortable and safe.
- Although small, the Chihuahua is not a toy. Why do we say this? When socializing with children, it is essential that we make them understand that they should not treat it like their toys, they should respect and take care of it. Not raising awareness in the little ones can cause our Chihuahua to have a bad experience with them and, therefore, to be afraid of them, even biting to defend himself.
For more details, see the following article from PeritoAnimal where we explain the techniques to socialize your puppy with other dogs, people and animals in its surroundings.
set the rules
Before continuing with Chihuahua training, we must be very clear what do we want to teach you and what rules we want to impose. In this sense, it is crucial that you meet with the family or the rest of the members who live with you and decide these points together.
To educate our dog correctly it is essential that all members who will participate in its education are in agreement and act in the same way. This means that everyone should use the same words to teach you orders and be equally firm.If one person uses the word "sit" and the other "sit" to teach the Chihuahua to sit, the dog will never internalize that order. In addition, they must decide which spaces in the house they have access to, whether or not they can climb onto the sofa, mealtimes and walks, etc.
Remember that dogs are routine animals and need fixed schedules to achieve inner stability. On the other hand, as it is a possessive and territorial race, it is essential to give it a space just for him, where you can put your bowls of food and water, bedding and toys. If you don't have this space, the Chihuahua will believe you have free access throughout the house and, again, will think you are the leader of the pack.
correct bad behavior
Every time your Chihuahua doesn't follow established rules or adopts bad behavior, don't yell or scold him, simply say a resounding "NO" and correct said behavior. Thus, it establishes a sanction according to what happened, such as the removal of a toy, leaving the park, etc. Very importantly, said sanction cannot last forever, nor can we establish it without correcting the misconduct, otherwise it will have no effect.
Teach him where to go
Teaching your Chihuahua hygiene habits is very important both to keep your home clean and to keep your dog well educated. If your Chihuahua is not yet vaccinated, you should teach him how to do your needs on newsprint or sanitary towels for dogs. To do this, you must follow these steps:
- choose a corner from your home wherever he does his needs. Then place several sheets of newsprint or large paper tablecloths.
- A few minutes after eating or drinking water, take the dog to that corner and place it on the paper.
- Wait as long as necessary until he urinates or defecates and congratulate him with enthusiasm. If the veterinarian allows it, offer him a reward as a reward for good behavior.
- After a long period of sleep, you should also take your puppy to the newspaper so that he can take care of his needs.
- Remove dirty newsprint and replace with new ones. When changing the sheets, he should rub the dirty papers over the new ones so that the odor of his urine is impregnated and he remembers that this is where he should go. Another trick is to leave one of the dirty sheets on top of the other clean sheets.
Chihuahuas have a much smaller bladder and excretory system than larger breeds, so the waiting time between eating or drinking and urinating or defecating is much shorter. During the first months of life, you should always be vigilant in order to be able to teach them to do their own thing and correct each time you don't do it in the corner you chose for that purpose.
In this sense, if you catch someone pissed out of the newspaper, you should gently pick him up and take him immediately to the corner, so that he can continue his needs there. Remember to disinfect the area to eliminate the smell and prevent the Chihuahua from re-needing in that area.
After vaccinating the puppy, we can start teaching him how to take care of your needs outside the home:
- As you did with the newspaper, ten or fifteen minutes after eating or drinking water, take the Chihuahua for a walk so that he can take care of his needs.
- Every time you urinate during the walk, congratulate him and give him a reward for his good behavior.
- If your puppy doesn't want to urinate during the first few walks, there's a very effective trick that doesn't fail. As Chihuahuas are very territorial dogs, try taking them to areas where other dogs may have urinated. Their instinct will make them mark the territory and be "forced" to urinate.
- Remember that you should also take him outside after he sleeps.
During the first few months you should take your Chihuahua for walks four to five times a day and, little by little, reduce the walks until the animal learns to control itself and wait until it leaves to do its needs. As you can see, outings are related to the times you should eat a day. If you still don't know the ideal amount of food your Chihuahua needs, don't miss this article.
How to Train a Chihuahua: Basic Commands
Once the rules are established and the learning of hygiene habits begins, we can start with the education process. Let's start with the basic commands: "come", "together" and "quiet". To better educate the Chihuahua, professionals recommend using the clicker. If you still don't know what it is or how to use it, find out in this article a lot of information about the training clicker.
Teach the Chihuahua to come here
Without a doubt, this is one of the first commands that we must teach our dog, regardless of its breed. If you don't have a clicker, you can use treats. To get started, you should take the following steps into account:
- It is best to practice this order outdoors, in a large, fenced place. The house is full of distractions like toys and food.
- Place the dog at a point in space and move away from it. Put a treat at your feet and firmly say "come" (or whatever word you choose). The animal will automatically collect the food.
- When he comes, congratulate him with enthusiasm and give the said reward.
- Repeat the process but without the treat, simply walk away from him and say "come". If he comes, remember to give him an award for good conduct. If it doesn't come, put the treat back on until he associates "comes" with the act of going.
- Little by little, increase the distance and reduce the treats.
Teach Chihuahua to walk with me
This command has two parts that we must carry out to get him to internalize it. Before teaching him to walk with you, you must make him understand that we do not want him to pull on the strap or move away. To do this, follow these steps:
- Whenever you pull away or pull on the strap, stop. Without saying "No", or scolding, just stop walking.
- When the Chihuahua stops, congratulate him and get back on his feet. So, that's it!
Once the dog understands that we don't want him to pull on the leash, we can move on to the second part of the training. Take the clicker with you or the treats (or both), walk with space to be able to observe the dog well and react immediately. Each time the dog approaches you, say the word "together", click the clicker and give the reward. Repeat the process, reducing more and more treats until he internalizes the command.
Teach Chihuahua to be quiet
To teach this command we must follow practically the same steps as for the previous command:
- To make it easier, start during the tour.
- Once in a while, stop walking. when you see the Chihuahua become quiet, say the word "quiet", click the clicker, congratulate him, and give him a treat as a reward.
- Repeat this process until your dog associates the word "quiet" with the act of stopping, reducing the treats little by little.
- Try giving the order in different contexts so that you internalize it and reward it whenever you do the order well.
To teach your Chihuahua any of these commands, you must be patient, as this is not a task that can be accomplished in two days.
Other commands
after learning the previous commands, we can begin to teach our Chihuahua to sit, paw, play dead, bring the ball, etc. Continue browsing PeritoAnimal.com.br to discover the steps to follow and the tips to take into account to educate your dog in the best possible way. remember that the positive conditioning it is essential to get a happy and balanced dog. On the other hand, be sure to check out our article on Chihuahua care and make sure you comply with them all.
Also read our article with 10 fun facts about chihuahuas.
