My Very Anxious Chihuahua.

[Ash1203]

I have a 3 year old male chihuahua who has been with me since about 14 weeks old. He has always been very well looked after and so I am finding it hard to understand why he is so terrified of anyone he meets. Even people who he has been socialized with on various occasions will try to

Pat him and he will run and hide behind my legs.(I am the only person able to go near him and play with him, he shows no

Anxiety towards me) When anyone enters the house he will usually go and hide in my room and stay in there until they leave. And as soon as they leave he is running around the house chasing his toys like normal. He dosnt really like other dogs and growls at them because of his fear. Just wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions or opinions as to what could be causing him to be so fearful and

Ideas on how to help my little man.

[toy dog]

I have a 3 year old male chihuahua who has been with me since about 14 weeks old. He has always been very well looked after and so I am finding it hard to understand why he is so terrified of anyone he meets. Even people who he has been socialized with on various occasions will try to

Pat him and he will run and hide behind my legs.(I am the only person able to go near him and play with him, he shows no

Anxiety towards me) When anyone enters the house he will usually go and hide in my room and stay in there until they leave. And as soon as they leave he is running around the house chasing his toys like normal. He dosnt really like other dogs and growls at them because of his fear. Just wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions or opinions as to what could be causing him to be so fearful and

Ideas on how to help my little man.

hi welcome to DOL i notice this is your first post?

basically, some chihuahuas are just made this way and no matter how much socialising you do with them as pups they still end up fearful and timid. unfortunately. it is to do with their make up and genetics, if the parents were fearful timid dogs the pups most of them end up this way too. we've proven that with our breeding of our showdogs for many years. my frist dogs were very timid but still i managed to show them and people would come and say they thought they were friendly dogs they would not flinch on the table when the judge went over them. clever handling this is what i say about "masking" the temperament but at the end of the day they are what they are and you can't really change their temperament. as i say i have successfully trained some timid chihuahuas of ours to behave in a manner that can only be described as indifference to people and dogs. it requires alot of training to get them to this stage.

if i was you, i'd see about maybe getting in a personal trainer to work with you and the dog. or you can try arming your guests with yummy treats and encouraging your little dog that way but this takes many months, when they are fearful like that they do sometimes tend to start nipping or biting or going through those motions too.

there is a chi thread in the sub forums under general if you would like to come on in you are most welcome, and see if other chi lovers can help you

[Ash1203]

Hello andThanks for replying it's nice to know that he isn't timid from the way I have brought him up, I have hAd many chihuahuas before him and all of them were very friendly and quite the opposite. A few weeks ago my mother was over and was trying to temp him with bits of chicken but he was to scared to go Close enough to get the treat. Ohwell I love him All the same.