Learn Secrets Most PeopleWill Never Know About Training Chihuahuas ...

Stop your Chihuahua from destroying the carpet, barking at your friends, peeing all over the place... To learn more Click Here...

Chihuahua training is much like training any other breed of dog. The difference is the small size of the dogs and the great care you must take in handling the dogs. Gentle handling works well with most any dog, but is especially important with toy breeds. 

Here's the deal. Either train your Chihuahua OR you may end up with what might be kindly called a brat. Many Chihuahuas end up in rescue organizations and there's a reason for that. Chihuahua's have a terrier disposition and can become terrors if not trained. You as a pet owner owe it to your dog to teach the basics of good behavior. Shirk your responsibility and you'll be looking for another home for your dog. That's a shame for you and your pet. Train your dog.

Gentle training can be firm too. You are the leader in the relationship with your pet. Decide what is acceptable behavior and gently, but persistently demand that behavior.

Socialization

For your dog to be well balanced and sensible, they must learn to deal with many different situations. Under ideal situations, any dog will grow up interacting with other dogs and will learn to give and take and interact with other animals. If you get a small puppy that puppy may miss out on that interaction. So it's up to you to provide an environment that teaches your dog to learn how to get along with unfamiliar situations including other people.

Make sure early experiences for a puppy are not frightening and scary. For tiny dogs this is a challenge. Big dogs can learn by playing with other dogs, but you must be very careful with other dogs around your toy size dogs. Bigger dogs can quickly injure a Chihuahua and are scary to the Chihuahua too. Do as much as possible expose your puppy to whatever experiences you expect your dog will need to learn to handle including car trips, visits from friends, trips to the vet and so forth.

Chihuahua Potty Training

Housebreaking a Chihuahua puppy should be started early, but make sure you wait until your puppy can control elimination. Consult the dog breeder about the best time. Paper training or crate training can both work fairly quickly to stop accidents and get your dog started right. In either case, close supervision of a puppy and quick action when elimination is about to start lets you whisk your puppy to the right spot. Crate training includes confining the dog in a crate with very close supervision. Most dogs will try to avoid elimination where they spend most of the time. So you get adequate signs to let you get the dog from the crate to the proper place for elimination.

Wait until you're sure your dog is ready for potty training, and in just a few days of intense effort your puppy can be house trained. For an inside dog like a Chihuahua, house training is a must. If it doesn't happen, the dog will go to another home!

Barking Training

Many Chihuahuas are noisy. Now not all barking is bad. Sometimes you want your dog to bark, but uncontrolled, excess barking excess barking is no good. You can train your Chihuahua to control the barking. The best way to teach barking control is to start by understanding the cause for the barking. Often dogs that are too much alone bark constantly. A possible solution is just spending more time with your dog. That may be all it takes to stop the barking. Another common cause of barking is inactivity. Your Chihuahua needs regular exercise. Too little exercise and you have a bundle of energy expressing that pent-up energy as noise.

You can get devices to help with barking control, but usually some observation will help you see what the cause is and help your dog deal with the cause of the noise.

Obedience Training

Simple basic obedience training can greatly improve your relationship with your dog. Just "come", "sit", and "stay" commands can help you handle your dog in a way that may even help your dog be safer and happier. Anything beyond the basics can be fun, but just the basic commands are a great plus.

Remember that with dog training, the training of the trainer must come first. If you're going to train your dog, you need some training first so you know what to expect and how to communicate with your dog. Get the early training wrong and you may be in trouble. 

Remember that every Chihuahua is different and you must learn your dog. But every Chihuahua will respond to a gentle owner, who consistently expects good behavior. You can have a well-behaved Chihuahua that's a pleasant companion and a joy to be around.

Read more Chihuahua Tips at the links to the right.