[1234]

My nearly 8mnth old chihuahua is so nasty to people!!

When i take him for a walk he will growl at people if they come to close or jump up at me to pick him up, and if anyone is wearing a hat or has there hood up, he goes mental, it is soo embarrasing!!

He is scared of other dogs though and if he hears one bark when were out he will jump up at me.

Also if ive got hold of him and someone goes to stroke him he will move his head and is terrified and im worried he might snap at them.

Does anyone know why this is??

I havent brought him up to be like this and he is so loving with me and my family, its just with strangers he is nasty.

Everybody elses chi's on here sound as if they are nice around other people and love attention, is it just mine that is nasty lol??


xx

 

[catz4m8z]

Have you had him from a small puppy??
coz it sounds like he might have missed out on some primary socialisation when he was small TBH. I started taking mine out a couple of days after I got them (in a bag or carried at first). I accosted several strangers and children to feed them treats and make a fuss of them and spent many hours sitting around bus/train stations and town centres rewarding them when they were well behaved around people/dogs/noises/etc.
Maybe your boy needs abit more reward based socialising??

 

[1234]

Have you had him from a small puppy??
coz it sounds like he might have missed out on some primary socialisation when he was small TBH. I started taking mine out a couple of days after I got them (in a bag or carried at first). I accosted several strangers and children to feed them treats and make a fuss of them and spent many hours sitting around bus/train stations and town centres rewarding them when they were well behaved around people/dogs/noises/etc.
Maybe your boy needs abit more reward based socialising??

Yeah ive had him since he was two months old and i made sure he was socialised right from the start, i took him everywhere i could and he had constant attention from people, its only the past few months he has started doing it

x

 

[catz4m8z]

I think around that age alot of dogs go through a secondary fear period where they see everything as a threat. I can remember Adam at that age suddenly growling and spooking at plastic bags, shopping trolleys, all sorts!!
Hopefully he will grow out of it, just try not to reinforce his behaviour and show him there is nothing to be scared of.

 

[susan davis]

I think this pup might be having the secondary fear problem, AND testosterone is starting to come in also. It sounds as if he is 'guarding' you. If he is not neutered maybe this is the time. I second having people feeding him. It might first start out with you giving some treat/kibble to a stranger and having them toss him a few. When he is comfy picking up the kibble, then have stranger try handing him some. Might take awhile. Keep up the socialization. I wouldn't force him to interact, and I wouldn't let people pet him right now. Too much too soon! Good luck. Sue

 

[mooberry]

The fact that he is afraid of people in hats and hoodies is a clear indication that he has not be socialized as much as he needs. Each dog is different and need different amounts of socialization.

This is fixable take him out all the time. When someone is walking by DO NOT pick him up that is him getting what he wants. Since he is growling thats a very bad sign but not as bad as if he was biting

Take him to the side when people are walking by, put him in a sit, if he growls correct him a quick No and tap him on the side. These taps need to have some force it has to snap him out of his aggresive mode and let him know you are not pleased with this.

When he stays in his sit give a treat let him know that because he didn't growl you are pleased. The key is balance he should know what you don't want equal to what you do want.

Please please take him everywhere and do not let him get away with this it is not what you have worked hard to raise him to be. And with alot of socialization and being treated as a dog -always walking- he will get over this he is becoming aggressive instead of fearful.

The best you can do for him right now is to offer tough love.

 

[20887]

Another thing, if he is scared of people petting him.. Don't force him to be petted while you are holding him! It only reinforces his fear of people because he feels trapped. You should allow him to approach people and then let them pet him.

 

[kimr]

2 of my 3 were 'older' when I rescued them. Pedro was 3 years, and Gracie was 5 months. Pedro has always been (and always will be) terrible with strangers outside our home. (Once we let them in, if we hold him until everyone settles in, he's fine with everyone except my son - for some reason he tries to nip at his heels everytime he stands up and walks away from Pedro.)

Gracie wasn't too bad when we got her, but because of Pedro's behaviour, it's been hard to keep her from barking and growling at strangers. She is fine with everyone who walks through our door, so I guess we're fortunate in that respect.

Now, we've got little 4 month old Diesel, and it's a real challenge to curb his barking with the other two being the way they are.

Pedro was abused. I think it went on so long that the damage can't be undone completely, although he has come a very, very long way. He was abused by children (and probably a man) and we really have to watch him around them. He seems to be totally fine with my 3 month old grandson, but I NEVER leave them unsupervised together.

I don't know Gracie's history, but I suspect abuse, because she was surrendered because her owners claimed she was 'stupid' and they couldn't do anything with her. (We had her house trained in 2 weeks and she can do so many tricks that I've lost count...)

We've had Diesel since he was 10 weeks. We're doing our best to socialize him - taking him out on a leash alone (without the other two) and even though he's a bit standoffish, we expose him to strangers and allowing them to pet him. But, it's hard when you've got two dogs that he looks up to teaching him just the opposite.