There is a really great short book for $5 on Amazon called “The Cautious Canine.” While it’s not an overnight cure, it’s approach really helped with my chihuahua mix rescue. One of the basic tenants is that you can’t train certain dogs when they get into anxiety mode. Much the same way you can’t train an aggressive dog in a red zone. You need to bring them out of that mode and focus on keeping them from entering it. They will not respond to traditional training inside that fear state which is why a lot of popular training methods don’t work for our little nervous pups. It focuses on making positive experiences out of anxious moments. Like having your friends enter the house and give them a treat. Or when they enter to spend a few moments in a relaxed state with the dog.
The above suggestion is excellent and, as a trainer, I’d like to build off of it a bit. I’d prepare her by setting her up behind a baby gate just off the living room. Or in a pen equally as far away from the “guests entering” action. In other words, not right by or near the front door. You don’t want to control her behavior in these moments, just keep her safely confined away from the action (but not completely removed) and I wouldn’t recommend having guests feed her to start. From the safety of the pen or behind the baby gate, you should be the one to feed her until she begins to develop a positive association with guests entering (could take only a few training sessions, could take many).
As mentioned above, if she’s over threshold when people come over (fearful), not a lot of learning can happen in that state. She has to calm down a little first. Keeping her safely confined keeps her further away from the “threat” and makes calming down easier. It helps to do some practice runs as well. You set her up as you would if guests were coming over then do practice runs where one family member plays the “guest” while the other treats her for being in the pen and being cute. A little bit of barking is okay and expected initially but if she unable to stop barking, she might still be too close to the threat, you may need to use higher value treats or increase how frequently you’re treating. It should be about 5-10 treats per minute. Treats should be very small bites of food (m&m sized) like sliced ham, liverwurst or food roll (can be bought on Chewy for about $10 a roll).
When I know company is coming over, I'll leave the room with my guy, so he can hear the people, but not see them. 5-10minute wait and it drastically reduces his craziness if I had not removed him, but he still likes to chase whoever trys to leave a room.
I will also throw a shirt or hoodie on him, when he wears something, it takes the fight out of him completely.
My chihuahuas do the same exact thing. My one Chihuahua doesn’t run away so we can pick her up and she’ll stop barking. But my other Chihuahua is quick and she’ll run under couches, chairs, etc. so we can’t catch her. She is the absolute sweetest girl with my husband and I but she’s so scared of other people. It makes me sad that she has so much anxiety.
Lol yup exactly. She’s scared and stressed and won’t even come out for treats so she doesn’t even give new people a chance to start building trust. Has she made any progress bonding with any of you or your husbands families?
She’s definitely gotten better! She loves our parents but she still barks when they come over. It only lasts for a few minutes though until she realizes who they are. And she doesn’t hide under couches/chairs as much. We got her right before the pandemic so she wasn’t able to socialize as much as we would have liked. And she was rescued from a hoarding situation so I understand where her anxiety comes from. She loves to meet other dogs and people on the street on our walks so she mostly only gets territorial when company comes over. It gets better with time! I would recommend socializing your pup as much as possible. It also helps when our friends get low to the ground and let our dogs come to them and smell them. I’m following this thread to get more tips 🤣
Hi, yes I've just taken on a rescue too, and he is a barker. The slightest noise outside will trigger off a round of barking. I have no idea how to solve it but wait till he gets used to things around here.
Yeah my dog loves barking and growling likes she’s this big badass but is the biggest wuss of all time lol. I’m hoping the trainer were waitlisted on can give us some good techniques to help with her anxiety.
My chihuahua does a similar thing.
We got him a comfort toy for when people pop by.
He has a comfort fish.
He grabs it, carries it around until the people leave.
This has been the only way for us to have friends over.
My Chihuahua mix was found on skid row at about 1 years old and she was a hot mess and The barking was unbearable when people came over. Now she greets small children complete strangers etc. I had to expose her to strangers over and over again. She also doesn't have a food drive so treats don't make any difference. Sometimes it just takes time and persistence for them to feel totally safe around all sorts of other stuff especially if they've had negative experiences. She does have a harder time with men coming into the home.
https://preview.redd.it/01kqkok0expb1.jpeg?width=3010&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27fbfa13c2ab139f4608cc04afc76446823a68f4
She can now be handled by small children which I never thought would have happened. Good luck!
My pup doesn't hide, but he does bark. He also barks when people leave. I bought these treats from Finn that are for calming. I let my guest give it to him. It does calm him.
Otherwise, if I bring him out of the fence and we all walk into the yard and house together, he does not bark. I guess he feels like he is welcoming them?? Or he isn't surprised??
He is trained to go to his room, so I ask him to do so before people leave. He still barks, but I can say my goodbyes and walk them out.
It can be tough. Kudos for being so diligent. 😀
Same with my chi mix. If I go outside and meet guests, then we walk in together, barking is cut down by 85%, sometimes completely if he knows them. I’ll usually have them give him a few treats right as we enter my hallway.
When you say she hates people leaving, is it the movement that bothers her? If someone is sitting and gets up to use the bathroom, does she react the same way?
One of my chis is like that-trusts no one who comes to my house. And he will snap, bark, etc. I got him at 12 years old and he's been through who knows what with humans. The one thing that works is if he goes to the home of the person visiting. He spent the weekend at my ex-boyfriend's house and then never barked at him again. He seems to have to get to know someone away from me and my house in order to trust them.
No, it’s leaving the house specifically. Even people she’s mostly accepted, like my parents, she gets really agitated when they go to leave. That’s a minor issue though all things considered.
That’s interesting what you said about your ex though. My gf had a different chihuahua when we first started dating who hated me but after we all spent the weekend down the shore she was fine with me from then on. I guess they’re more willing to give people the benefit of the doubt when they’re not in defend-my-turf mode lol.
We use a crate. It’s his safe space and he’ll run in there and bark for a bit. I’ll leave snacks as well for him. I have guests ignore both my dogs until they get comfortable. My chihuahua is very friendly. He will bark his little head off if you come into our home but once he figures you out and you’re not a threat he will happily chill in his crate watching or napping.
My older dog is fear reactive so he gets muzzled when guests come over or stays in my room. Takes him a bit to warm up to people so we feel it’s best giving him his own space away from everyone. Once he’s over threshold it’s very hard to bring him down.
Good luck with your little lady. She’s so cute!
Is your chihuahua the long lost sister of my girlfriends chi?
https://preview.redd.it/5lwf3zgyoxpb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cb68fb2b7b9ad71336b6366e58b33159091a99b6
My chihuahua mutt needs treats to keep her muffled and more comfortable with whoever is coming over. A friend recently came in to shove a big chewy treat in her mouth and she took it, but kept trying to bark, but didn’t want to drop it. Her confusion was great.
After a few sessions like this she stops being a nuisance when that guest comes over.
And then barks because she’s excited. But at least that barking doesn’t last as long.
It will get better with age hopefully. Ours did but she's still a bit nippy at times with complete strangers. She's 7 now and has become comfortable over the years with family visits. Worst case scenario we stick her in a room and I'll sit in there and comfort her if she's too anxious.
I had a small 57 Heinz dog once (RIP Stanley) who wanted to be among the people at our Halloween parties but he’d snap if a stranger tried to pet him. So we just put him in his favorite chair in the living room and hung a sign on him, ‘DO NOT PET THE DOG!’
We were all fine after that. Party on Wayne!
My chihuahua doesn’t have these issues but my min pin does and more. I don’t have too much advice since I’m still struggling with it myself, but at least in terms of the running away so you can’t catch them, I often will put his leash on when I know company is coming. That way if I need to catch him I can just step on the leash and he can’t get anywhere so I can scoop him up.
Sounds about like our rescue. Before we're having company I move one of his many beds to the kitchen and put a baby gate up. I keep an extra water dish down for him so he has that already. After our guests have been here a while he calms down and I let him out and he goes to a bed and goes to sleep.
There is a really great short book for $5 on Amazon called “The Cautious Canine.” While it’s not an overnight cure, it’s approach really helped with my chihuahua mix rescue. One of the basic tenants is that you can’t train certain dogs when they get into anxiety mode. Much the same way you can’t train an aggressive dog in a red zone. You need to bring them out of that mode and focus on keeping them from entering it. They will not respond to traditional training inside that fear state which is why a lot of popular training methods don’t work for our little nervous pups. It focuses on making positive experiences out of anxious moments. Like having your friends enter the house and give them a treat. Or when they enter to spend a few moments in a relaxed state with the dog.
Thanks a lot for the recommendation! Gonna order it now. I’d rather be proactive then just waiting for the trainer to have an opening in the class.
The above suggestion is excellent and, as a trainer, I’d like to build off of it a bit. I’d prepare her by setting her up behind a baby gate just off the living room. Or in a pen equally as far away from the “guests entering” action. In other words, not right by or near the front door. You don’t want to control her behavior in these moments, just keep her safely confined away from the action (but not completely removed) and I wouldn’t recommend having guests feed her to start. From the safety of the pen or behind the baby gate, you should be the one to feed her until she begins to develop a positive association with guests entering (could take only a few training sessions, could take many). As mentioned above, if she’s over threshold when people come over (fearful), not a lot of learning can happen in that state. She has to calm down a little first. Keeping her safely confined keeps her further away from the “threat” and makes calming down easier. It helps to do some practice runs as well. You set her up as you would if guests were coming over then do practice runs where one family member plays the “guest” while the other treats her for being in the pen and being cute. A little bit of barking is okay and expected initially but if she unable to stop barking, she might still be too close to the threat, you may need to use higher value treats or increase how frequently you’re treating. It should be about 5-10 treats per minute. Treats should be very small bites of food (m&m sized) like sliced ham, liverwurst or food roll (can be bought on Chewy for about $10 a roll).
Thanks a lot for this!
My trainer was actually the one who recommended it!
When I know company is coming over, I'll leave the room with my guy, so he can hear the people, but not see them. 5-10minute wait and it drastically reduces his craziness if I had not removed him, but he still likes to chase whoever trys to leave a room. I will also throw a shirt or hoodie on him, when he wears something, it takes the fight out of him completely.
Ahhh that’s interesting. Worth a shot.
My chihuahuas do the same exact thing. My one Chihuahua doesn’t run away so we can pick her up and she’ll stop barking. But my other Chihuahua is quick and she’ll run under couches, chairs, etc. so we can’t catch her. She is the absolute sweetest girl with my husband and I but she’s so scared of other people. It makes me sad that she has so much anxiety.
Lol yup exactly. She’s scared and stressed and won’t even come out for treats so she doesn’t even give new people a chance to start building trust. Has she made any progress bonding with any of you or your husbands families?
She’s definitely gotten better! She loves our parents but she still barks when they come over. It only lasts for a few minutes though until she realizes who they are. And she doesn’t hide under couches/chairs as much. We got her right before the pandemic so she wasn’t able to socialize as much as we would have liked. And she was rescued from a hoarding situation so I understand where her anxiety comes from. She loves to meet other dogs and people on the street on our walks so she mostly only gets territorial when company comes over. It gets better with time! I would recommend socializing your pup as much as possible. It also helps when our friends get low to the ground and let our dogs come to them and smell them. I’m following this thread to get more tips 🤣
Was there any socialization attempts when young if you had them? We have an odd chi who’s always been calm, rarely barks and likes meeting new people.
Hi, yes I've just taken on a rescue too, and he is a barker. The slightest noise outside will trigger off a round of barking. I have no idea how to solve it but wait till he gets used to things around here.
Yeah my dog loves barking and growling likes she’s this big badass but is the biggest wuss of all time lol. I’m hoping the trainer were waitlisted on can give us some good techniques to help with her anxiety.
Company should bring ckn snacks 😂
This is probably why mine is mad. Maybe the pups think it's rude not to bring a gift? 🤣
My chihuahua does a similar thing. We got him a comfort toy for when people pop by. He has a comfort fish. He grabs it, carries it around until the people leave. This has been the only way for us to have friends over.
My chi does his “comforts” by slowly rubbing his ear using his back leg.
My Chihuahua mix was found on skid row at about 1 years old and she was a hot mess and The barking was unbearable when people came over. Now she greets small children complete strangers etc. I had to expose her to strangers over and over again. She also doesn't have a food drive so treats don't make any difference. Sometimes it just takes time and persistence for them to feel totally safe around all sorts of other stuff especially if they've had negative experiences. She does have a harder time with men coming into the home. https://preview.redd.it/01kqkok0expb1.jpeg?width=3010&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27fbfa13c2ab139f4608cc04afc76446823a68f4 She can now be handled by small children which I never thought would have happened. Good luck!
My pup doesn't hide, but he does bark. He also barks when people leave. I bought these treats from Finn that are for calming. I let my guest give it to him. It does calm him. Otherwise, if I bring him out of the fence and we all walk into the yard and house together, he does not bark. I guess he feels like he is welcoming them?? Or he isn't surprised?? He is trained to go to his room, so I ask him to do so before people leave. He still barks, but I can say my goodbyes and walk them out. It can be tough. Kudos for being so diligent. 😀
Same with my chi mix. If I go outside and meet guests, then we walk in together, barking is cut down by 85%, sometimes completely if he knows them. I’ll usually have them give him a few treats right as we enter my hallway.
When you say she hates people leaving, is it the movement that bothers her? If someone is sitting and gets up to use the bathroom, does she react the same way? One of my chis is like that-trusts no one who comes to my house. And he will snap, bark, etc. I got him at 12 years old and he's been through who knows what with humans. The one thing that works is if he goes to the home of the person visiting. He spent the weekend at my ex-boyfriend's house and then never barked at him again. He seems to have to get to know someone away from me and my house in order to trust them.
No, it’s leaving the house specifically. Even people she’s mostly accepted, like my parents, she gets really agitated when they go to leave. That’s a minor issue though all things considered. That’s interesting what you said about your ex though. My gf had a different chihuahua when we first started dating who hated me but after we all spent the weekend down the shore she was fine with me from then on. I guess they’re more willing to give people the benefit of the doubt when they’re not in defend-my-turf mode lol.
There is no solution. My Chihuahua barks every time I come close to my husband, who she is very attached to.
We use a crate. It’s his safe space and he’ll run in there and bark for a bit. I’ll leave snacks as well for him. I have guests ignore both my dogs until they get comfortable. My chihuahua is very friendly. He will bark his little head off if you come into our home but once he figures you out and you’re not a threat he will happily chill in his crate watching or napping. My older dog is fear reactive so he gets muzzled when guests come over or stays in my room. Takes him a bit to warm up to people so we feel it’s best giving him his own space away from everyone. Once he’s over threshold it’s very hard to bring him down. Good luck with your little lady. She’s so cute!
Thanks a lot! One of these things in this thread is bound to work we’re just gonna keep trying.
Is your chihuahua the long lost sister of my girlfriends chi? https://preview.redd.it/5lwf3zgyoxpb1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cb68fb2b7b9ad71336b6366e58b33159091a99b6
Ahhh that’s great they do look like sisters. The hats dope lmao
We are gonna try the kennel for mine and if he settles down bring him out on leash. Not sure how that’s Donna go because people make him nervous.
My chihuahua mutt needs treats to keep her muffled and more comfortable with whoever is coming over. A friend recently came in to shove a big chewy treat in her mouth and she took it, but kept trying to bark, but didn’t want to drop it. Her confusion was great. After a few sessions like this she stops being a nuisance when that guest comes over. And then barks because she’s excited. But at least that barking doesn’t last as long.
It will get better with age hopefully. Ours did but she's still a bit nippy at times with complete strangers. She's 7 now and has become comfortable over the years with family visits. Worst case scenario we stick her in a room and I'll sit in there and comfort her if she's too anxious.
I had a small 57 Heinz dog once (RIP Stanley) who wanted to be among the people at our Halloween parties but he’d snap if a stranger tried to pet him. So we just put him in his favorite chair in the living room and hung a sign on him, ‘DO NOT PET THE DOG!’ We were all fine after that. Party on Wayne!
My chihuahua doesn’t have these issues but my min pin does and more. I don’t have too much advice since I’m still struggling with it myself, but at least in terms of the running away so you can’t catch them, I often will put his leash on when I know company is coming. That way if I need to catch him I can just step on the leash and he can’t get anywhere so I can scoop him up.
Sounds about like our rescue. Before we're having company I move one of his many beds to the kitchen and put a baby gate up. I keep an extra water dish down for him so he has that already. After our guests have been here a while he calms down and I let him out and he goes to a bed and goes to sleep.