Dog Obedience Training Tips

If you did not know this about the Chihuahua before you brought your precious puppy home, you probably fully understand it now. Chihuahua’s like to bark and his or her barks can often time be a high-pitched bark, one that could drive anyone crazy. No matter how much you love your puppy, you might find that the barking has become just a little too much to handle.
While you cannot completely stop the barking, especially because you have selected a breed of dog that is know for barking, there are things you can do to limit the barking if it has completely gotten out of control.

The first thing you will want to do is to figure out why your dog is barking so much. Does he only bark extra when there are strangers around, even after they have been sitting in your home for an hour? Does he only bark when he is left to play outside? Does he only bark when he is left at home alone? On the other hand, does he bark all the time, at anything and everything including the air?

Once you have determined just what it is that is causing your dog to bark, you can take action to solve the problem. If your dog was not properly socialized with other people from outside of the family and other animals, this could very well be the reason for the extra barking.
To correct this problem, you can work on socializing your puppy. Take him to the local pet store that allows pets in. Take him to the dog park, or any park for that matter. Walk him around the neighborhood and make sure that you are letting him meet and greet with other pets and people. The more socialization your pet gets, the less likely he is going to bark like mad every time someone new comes around the house or walks past your yard.

If the barking is only crazy when you leave the house, you probably only know about it because your neighbors have complained. If this is the case than you want to make sure that you are addressing the problem so that it does not turn into a bigger one. You could try making sure that your departure is as easy for your pet as possible. Do not make a big deal about leaving the house. In fact, try to sneak out when the dog is occupied by something.

You can also try leaving the television or the radio on low, just so your pet can hear human voices and it will not feel so alone. As you can see, there are many things that you can do in order to make sure that your dog does not spend all day and all night barking.
Just whatever you do, no matter how desperate you get, make sure that you are not using any spray or shock collars on your dog. These devices always end up doing more harm than good so you want to completely avoid them. Your goal should be to solve the barking problem without creating new problems, like emotional distress and trauma, in the meantime.

When you decided to bring a new dog into your home, you probably thought about all of the rational stuff like purchasing a dog bed, feeding bowls, getting him to a vet and maybe even purchasing him some dog toys. What you may not have thought about was that your dog might be one that will love to dig up your yard. You probably did not think about it until it became a problem.
You certainly do not want to restrict your dog from being allowed to play in the yard but you certainly do not want him digging up all of your garden and nice green grass. There are some things you can do though to make sure that your dog is allowed to dig, without messing up your yard.
Stopping your dog from digging all together is something easier said than done. And you most certainly do not want to stop your dog from enjoying something that comes very natural to him, especially since the list of hobbies he can take up are going to be very limited.

The first thing you need to do is to decide whether you will allow your little dog to have a small section of earth in your yard that he can call his own for digging purposes or whether you would like to create a digging location for him that would not affect the land. If you want to allow him to dig the grass and soil, you might want to look for a corner of the backyard that no one really pays any attention to.

If you would prefer to go another route, you could always build or purchase a sandbox. Fill the box with non-toxic sand or fill it with soil. You could even plant grass there so that your dog will feel as though he is digging in a regular spot in the yard, but you will be all the wiser.

For those who want to get a little more creative, you can bury a bone or some of your pet’s favorite toys in there so that he has something he can go after. Make sure that you are carefully watching your puppy when he goes out into the yard. You have to be there so that you can direct him to the proper digging location if he starts to dig in an undesirable location.

Make sure that you are using the “NO” command but that you are not hitting or striking the dog in any manner. When your dog begins to dig in the special spot that you have selected for him, make sure that you are praising him. The praise will help ensure that your dog will repeat the pattern of digging in the desired location. After all, your dog wants more than anything to have your approval.

You may have thought you took enough time to think everything through. However, if you come home one day to find that your little Chihuahua has chewed anything and everything in sight, it is time to jump into action to make sure that this is not a behavior that continues. The last thing you want to do is to ignore the situation, as the chewing will only get worse.
Trying to simply keep things out of reach of your little Chihuahua may at first sound like a good idea but you will probably soon see that it is not. Your little puppy will be able to get around even the toughest of obstacles and he will, without a doubt, find something to chew on.

Even if you completely empty a room, there is still the carpet, the baseboards, the walls and the door that could look mighty tasty if there is nothing else around. As you can see, it is important to make sure that you are looking over all of your options for how to stop the chewing, instead of just trying to modify your home around the bad behavior of your pet.
The first thing you will want to do is to try and figure out just why it is that your dog is chewing. If he seems to only chew when you leave him alone in the house, the chewing could very well be a sign of emotional distress. If this is the case, you might want to try leaving a television or a radio on low, so that your pet can hear the voices of people. Also, try to make sure that when you are leaving that you are not making a big deal out of it. Sneak out of the house without a word as this will help make sure that your little guy will not become overly worked up by your leaving.

If the chewing just seems to be out of boredom more than anything else, you will need to try to want to make sure that you are playing with the puppy more often. Get all of that extra energy out of him so that later on, when you are busy with other things, he will not be so worried about finding things to chew on for fun.
There is also the chance that your Chihuahua is chewing because he is teething. Check to see if this is the case. If this proves to be true, then you are going to want to allow him to chew but to chew on something like a dog toy rather than the legs of your dining room table. Try freezing a dog toy in your freezer. Just as the cold teething ring helps a baby feel relief from the pain of the teething, the frozen dog toy will do the same for the dog.

Once you have discovered what the problem is, you will be able to address it. Make sure that you are addressing the problem sooner rather than later so that your personal belongings can stay in tact.

When you thought about all of the fun things you would be doing with your new puppy, one of the last things you probably thought about was that you were going to have to spend your days teaching your puppy not to bite. No one thinks that biting is an issue, until it is too late because it started not working out so well.
The best thing to do is to always work on this issue before it becomes one. Of course, that is not always possible, because many people do not think about the problem until it makes it self known. Then they find themselves scrambling looking for answers.

One of the things that you will need to pay attention to is just how hard you are playing with your little Chihuahua. It may be a lot of fun to play a game of tug and war and see how fierce your little puppy can get, but that fierceness can oftentimes backfire and become something that is more trouble than cute.

When you play tug or war games or you play a little wrestling game where you allow the puppy to bite your hands, arms and legs. Again, this may be cute at first but you are teaching this puppy that biting is okay as it will not understand the difference between biting when you say it is okay and not biting when you say not to. It is either one way or another. Either you allow the dog to bite or you do not. You simply cannot have it both ways.

When your little dog bites, you will want to make sure that you are lowering your voice in more of a stern tone any either saying “NO” or “STOP”. Pick a certain command and stick with it. Each time you have to give a command to instruct the dog to stop biting, you will want to use the same command so that you are not confusing him.

It is important to make sure that you are consistent with this. If you do not correct the dog each and every time he bites, the training process will take much longer. You might even find that you need a little outside help.

Do not feel ashamed if you have to seek out the professional advice of a dog trainer. If you are not able to get the biting under control, you have to seek help. The last thing you want or need is for your little dog to bite someone and end up being put down because of it.

Make sure that you are looking at the trainer’s credentials though and make sure that you are getting references. Do not pick the trainer solely on the price that they charge. Also, make sure that you are completely following all of the advice given to you by the trainer. If you do not, the trainer’s time with your dog will do nothing but cost you money.