What do i do when my chihuahua barks at big dogs?

Question

Shes pretty good with little dogs...but as soon as a bigger dog is around..look out. She turns into "Kujo" ! Other than that...shes sweet:)

Answer 1

Laugh!!! I have a Pug who I take to work with me. She watched out the window in my office and barks and anyone who goes by. We all just laugh at her. And my daughter has a chihuahua who barks and snarls at my pug to get her to play. We all just laugh hysterically. The thing with small dogs it that they are just trying to prove they're big even though they're not. But they do provide us with a lot of entertainment!

Answer 2

My chihuahua is the same way, and honestly there is really nothing you can do. Chihuahuas are known to be big barkers, I guess they do it to make up for being so small. Mine barked and growled at our rottweiler when we first brought the chihuahua home from the rescue....my rottie put up with it for about three days until he had enough. He gently picked up the chihuahua, and tossed him onto the coach...my chihuahua NEVER growled or barked at my rottie again. It's an ALPHA dog thing. Your chihuahua wants the bigger dog to know, he is protecting you, but it can be annoying.

Answer 3

Her barking is not a laughing matter! It is because she is afraid of them and she thinks that you aren't going to protect her.

I just spent 2 hours with a trainer about this because my dog (Maltese X) does the same thing. He barks, lunges and tries to get at the big dogs. The trainer told me I need to identify "his space", teach him to trust me, that I have the situation under control and that I won't let him get hurt. She taught me to do this by teaching the dog to "check in". In your yard or a fairly big room in your house, with no other dogs around, have a huge handful of teeny tiny treats. Keep your dog on leash, and fairly close, so that when she does the right thing, you can reward her. Don't call her, make noises or do anything out of the ordinary. Everytime your dog looks at you, even for a second, give her huge praise and a treat. Pretty soon she'll clue in that looking at you means treats. Then you need to get a piece of paper and put it in the middle of your yard/big room and put a few treats on it. Keep your dog on leash and close, and try to walk her past it. When she starts to pull towards the treats, stop and don't let her get the treats. When she looks at you, praise her and give her a treat from your hand, and then take a few more steps. Circle and come back at the treats from a different angle. Do this for awhile until your dog starts to look at you everytime the leash gets tight. Then let her have the treats on the paper. Then you need to have a person with a dog come into the room/yard and both of them stand facing away from you. Your goal is to walk her past them without her barking and pulling and going crazy. Everytime she starts barking or pulling, you stand still and wait for her to look at you, then reward her. Go a few more steps (or until she barks/pulls again) and wait for her to look at you again. Eventually you'll be able to walk right past the dog (within inches) and her not bark. Then what you need to do is go to a different room with your dog, and just be standing there, say having a conversation with a friend (though you'll be watching your dog). Have the other person with the other dog come into the room and try to walk around you (make sure the dogs can't get to each other, and make sure the other dog doesn't enter her "space"). Your job is to keep an eye on her and reward her when she looks at you, and also to keep your body between her and the other dog. This will mean pivoting and holding your dog's leash short and in front of you. If she stays calm and looks at you and ignores the other dog, you've done it! Then you just have to practice, practice, practice! Do this when you're walking, when you see other dogs coming, just go a few feet to the side and turn your back to the other dog(s), and reward her for looking at you. You won't be able to go to an offleash park for a long time, unless you can go when there's almost no dogs there, because you can't prevent the other dogs from coming right up into her space when they're off leash. Eventually she'll be a good girl and you'll be able to let her go and meet the other dogs, but you will still have to reassure her that you're handling it and that you will protect her.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Sit back and enjoy the show. I have a Miniature Pinscher and a full size Doberman Pinscher (Also a Boston Terrier) and whenever the little one sees a big dog, he goes nuts. All he wants to do it play but he's so loud about it!!

Answer 5

Uhhhhh you let her bark beacuse thats what dogs do! Are you serious? What kind of answer are you looking for....ummmmm tie her mouth up with duct tape, get the voice box removed, shoot the big dogs with a 32 caliber??? Serioulsy

Answer 6

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Answer 7

Go here for an awesome dog training program http://OnlineDogTraining.enle.info/?98w3

Since it is obvious that you do not have a clue about obedience training, your services should be for free. You cannot train even an adult dog for 8 hours a day. About the most that can be done at any one time is 10 - 20 minutes and that is with an adult dog and not a puppy. The attention span on this baby is extremely short and training session should be no more than 10 minutes and twice a day. Additionally, there isn t going to be much learned if you will only be training for 5 days. Obedience training is cumulative and is done over a much longer period of at least several weeks to several months.
What you can charge is determined by your experience, reputation, and accomplishments and in a case like this, should also include guaranteed expectations. Just working with dogs over several years, is not the experience that is necessary to be a dog trainer. There are too many people who are putting that title to their name and fleecing the public. Don t be one of them.

Answer 8

Its in a chihuahua's nature to be mean.
Best thing for you to do is watch your dog because it will snap at any dog and will be basically torn up by any dog because of their size.

Answer 9

The bigger dogs intimidate her and she is showing that just because she is small you shouldn't mess with her.

Answer 10

she is jealous that the dogs are bigger than her so she feels the need to tell them off!!!! its like when girls are jealous of other girls taht are prettier than them, they are mean to the pretty girl.