Wee Chi Chihuahua's

Tips on Training your Chihuahua

(This page was written & submitted by Christina Harpe! Thanks so much for taking the time to write this. You are a very special chihuahua owner! Great Job on raising a great dog!!)

First off before buying any breed of dog you should do your research, all dogs have different characteristics so you should do your research to see if their characteristics match your personality.  Now that you have decided you can start looking for your new puppy.  Do not go with the very first place you see a dog, look around, talk to different breeders, and get a feel of the type of environment your puppy is coming from.  I am a firm believer that the dog chooses its owner not the other way around. 

Now you have brought your baby home, now what! Raising a Chihuahua can be very challenging, my Chihuahua was 4 months old when I took him home and oh was it a challenge!!  Here are some of my tips that have helped me raise a very well disciplined, obedient dog.

·         Buy a Kennel; find a place that will now become your dog’s space.  I put my dog’s kennel in my laundry room because it had a door that closed and lots of space for him.  Also there was nothing he could get into there.  I put the bed in the kennel and his papers next to his kennel.  I also put his food and water dish in there.

·         Do not give your puppy full run of the house.  That is giving them too much freedom.  Whenever I was busy doing something ie. Cooking, doing dishes etc my dog was in his room.  Whenever I left the house I left him in his room.  The only time he was out was when I was able to keep my eye on him.  When it came time to go to bed he did not sleep with us, we put him in his kennel.  We did this until he was about a year old.  The next thing we did was tested him.  We allowed him in bed with us at night.  But during the day he still stayed in his room.  Get your pup a set of those doggie steps for the bed they are great.  Then we started him room by room and anytime he had an accident he went to his room the next day.  Eventually he learned that if he used his paper then he didn’t have to go to his room!

·         Another good thing about the kennel is it is also used as a discipline spot.  Whenever my dog had an accident we would not say “BAD DOG” we said “What did you do?” in a very stern voice. Then we would point to his room and say “Go to your room”.  He would then go to his bed in his kennel.  We would decide when we would let him out. I know it sounds so harsh, it broke my heart each time I had to discipline him.  It was very hard not to let him have his own way.  But believe me in the long run it is worth it, my dog does not have a kennel anymore and he does not use his bed he has his spot in our bed and on the couch.  He has not been to his room in a year and a half. He is now 3yrs old.

·         Never carry your dog to its paper or to their bed when they have been bad, lead them there, mine I would have to give him a little push towards the door and he eventually caught on.  If you keep carrying them, they may start to depend on you to do that all the time.

·         Ahh paper training!  That is the one thing I struggled with the most.  Hang in there; they will eventually do it on their own.  It took me 3 months before he used the papers on his own all of a sudden I got up one morning and let him out of his kennel and he came to the living room to greet me and then all of sudden he turned around and ran to his room.  He then came to get me and led me to his room to show me what he did.  Since then he has been using his papers without a problem.  You have to have a lot of patience when it comes to training.  If that is anything my dog taught me was patience.  If you get frustrated or angry, your dog can sense that.  Keep it very positive.  I timed my dog for example:  15 min after he woke up I would lead him to his paper and he was not allowed to come off of it until he did his business and I always said to him “Hurry up!” in a happy voice.  When he did I praised him and gave him a treat.  I do not give a treat each time because he might have expected it all the time.  So put your dog on a routine ie: 15min after waking up, 15-30 min after drinking or eating, 30-60min after playing.  Watch him, get to know their schedule, make sure you look for signs that they need to use the bathroom ie.sniffing around etc.

·         The first trick that every dog should know is stay, it teaches them who is boss.  It also helps when paper training because I did not let my dog off his paper until he went.  I stood there and waited for him.  The next is sit, this is how your dog is going to say please!  If a dog cannot sit for its treat it is not a well mannered dog.  Then you can teach your dog all the other fun tricks.  My dog stays, sits, shakes each paw, goes in circles and he even high five’s you (that one is my favourite).

I know first hand how hard it is training it takes a lot of time and commitment, but like I said in the long run it is worth it.  My dog is now 3 years old and I can truly say he is very well behaved.  Learn your dog’s personality and be patient with them, remember they are just babies and don’t know any better it is up to you to show them.   

Good luck to all of you with your new puppy!!