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You may be wondering if
Chihuahua training is easy or hard. Well, from my
experience it is very easy! If you've already
managed to raise a dog with behavioral problems (this is
easy too!) you can correct them in a very natural way by
following a few simple recommendations.
There is one book that I
highly recommend (I wish I had written it!) that goes well
beyond what most dog trainers talk about and gets to the
heart of how your dog feels about and experiences
life. In the book The Dog Listener by Jan
Fennell, you'll read that dogs naturally feel like
they still belong to a pack and they want to interract
with you as part of the pack.
Our Chihuahua is named Yoda
(our son is a huge Star Wars fan) and he's so
happy now that he doesn't have to worry about leading the
pack anymore. He's no longer "top dog"
...unless of course we change our behavior in a way that
promotes him up to leader of the pack again. But then it's
easy enough to change positions again by performing our
newly learned Chihuahua training methods!
You can try some simple
things the book recommends yourself to see how they work,
like making it look like you've eaten some food first and
then giving your dog his/her food to eat. Then, if
after 5 minutes or so the dog hasn't eaten the food, take
it away. This lets the dog know that you're in control of
the food supply...a classic top dog role! And the
next time you feed your precious pet they wil be sure to
gobble up whatever leftovers you've provided for them.
With a small breed like the Chihuahua it's also important
not to overfeed them, but that's a subject for a Chihuahua
Health article.
Another thing to try is to
ignore (this can be very hard with Chihuahuas since
they're so cute!) your dog for the first 5 minutes after
you come home. The top dog never makes a fuss over the
pack when returning home. But it's OK to worry about and
make a fuss over your Chi when it returns home (like after
going outside to "do it's duty").
It's amazing to see the
difference in Yoda's behavior when we follow a few simple
rules of how to live life in a [Chihuahua] dog pack.
Chihuahua training becomes easy!
If you're like me (I'm not
known to be a patient shopper...I want it now!) you'll
want to go out and pick up the book at your local
bookstore today or check out your local library to see if
they have a copy. I don't know the author and the
only reason this was written is we both feel it can do so
much good for so many people and their pets.
Especially if you may be thinking your dog is out of
control and may have to be put down. Please, please
read this book before taking any such drastic action!
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About
The Author
Joan
& David Anderson are creators of a
site dedicated to pictures of Chihuahuas, plus
Chihuahua resources. Visitors and
Chihuahua picture submissions are welcome.
Please visit http://www.chihuahua-pictures.com |
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