Why does my dog hate people and other dogs so much?

Question

My husband and I have a 6 lb Chihuahua/Pomeranian mix. He just turned a year old last month and we have had him since he was 3 months old. Ever since he was about 5 months old and on he has hated other people and dogs. He will bark uncontrollably and is just very nasty. We can't have anyone over to our house because he will bark non-stop and nothing we have done has helped. We have tried having the visitor give him a treat, but that does not work. Is he beyond hope or is there something we can do. I realize that this is probably our fault since he was not very well socialized as a puppy. He came from a home where he lived with his sister, mom and dad, so he has lived with other dogs before. Is this a breed thing? I have had another small dog in the past that was the same mix and he was not like this. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

its called short mans disease little little people and things want to be bigger than they are so they have a big attitude to make up for their short size

Answer 2

Hi, I understand that you are looking for some advice or resources to help fully train your dog or fix behavior problems. If a professional dog trainer is not an option at this time, or if you want to trt training your dog on your own (a great way to bond), I'd suggest you https://biturl.im/aUMxz

A friend recommened it to me a few years ago, and I was amazed how quickly it worked, which is why I recommend it to others. The dog training academy also has as an excellent home training course.

Answer 3

This is definently a socialization problem. i have a friend with an "unsocial" dog, it's quite annoying. It might help to get another dog of the same breed, this can help. Also, try introducing your dog to other people, try to get him comfortable with others. The more you get your dog out, the more social he'll become! If the dog starts barking at company, leave him alone, he'll probably shut up. Hitting will not work, it'll probably just agrivate your dog even more, making him want to meet people less just because he think they'll hit him! Small dogs are naturally, well, snappy and unsocial. My friends unsocial dog is a small dog,too. If it comes to a measure of being unbearable, I recomend getting rid of the dog. I hope I helped!

Answer 4

Socialization is very important, your dog didn't need to learn those skills at the prior owners because he had dog friends to play with and the alpha order was set, now he is at your house, alone, without his pack. You are his pack now, and he is trying to tell you that he wants to be the alpha male by holding you hostage in your own home(no visitors)You need to show him that you are the alpha, when visitors come over and he misbehaves, put him in another room for a time out. After a few minutes, return and let him out, if he promptly runs over to the visitor and barks, remove him again, do this over and over until he decides "hey, they feed me, they play with me, they aren't so bad after all". He will "get it", he wants to be around people and other dogs, they are social by nature, he just needs to learn where his spot is in the family, be firm but gentle, don't HIT or raise your hand to the dog, that will instill fear into him. That would be a sad thing.

Answer 5

Please do NOT listen to the people who suggest punishments like hitting or shock collars. Do you want to train your dog to be afraid of you?

This is a socialization problem. It's also an attention problem. When there is another dog around or another person around, he is not getting all the attention and is barking to draw you back to him. And what do you do? Probably what a lot of people would do -- go to him and try to get him to quiet down. He's getting attention and therefore you are inadvertently rewarding him. Just like everyone has to learn to ignore the crying baby so he'll settle down and sleep, you need to ignore your dog when he goes into a barking frenzy. When he finally exhausts himself and quiets down, reward him for that...a treat, praise. Eventually he'll learn that quietness gets him attention, not noise.

When he's a little bit older, you could try taking him to obendience school -- that might help even more.

Answer 6

this is a socialization problem...I think i would start with taking your dog to a neutral space and concentrate on having him feel comfortable with new surroundings then slowly introduce another dog(maybe a good friend with a dog the same size) with both on leashes. At home I would crate train and whenever someone comes over crate the dog. If the dog is first comfortable in the crate it will be a safe place to be while company is there. I wouldn't worry yet about introducing him to company. Your dogs brain is in overdrive during these situations and you first need to get him to be calm(on the inside) to handle normal situations. My feeling is that your dog was not the pack leader when he lived with his dog pack and now he feels he is pack leader and goes in to a panic. If you become pack leaders he should be able to mentally relax and enjoy these parts of life that he has been having trouble with. This is not a "breed thing" it is a training thing.

Answer 7

You failed to say what kind of dog you have. Breed makes a big difference. Sounds like you need to read some training books and educate yourself. There is not a simple way to the training, but before you do any training you need to learn the complexities, reasons, how to handle your dog before you can do any training. You cannot teach something that you know nothing about. Nor can you apply human emotion &/or feelings to a dog. Their thought pattern is not like ours. You have to think like a pack of dogs/wolves with you being Alpha.

Answer 8

A dog should be trained on how to eat, walk with you, not to bark, potty training and sleep on its place etc. You can teach anything to your puppy, dogs get trained easily with some good instructions. If you want some good training tips visit https://tr.im/Oy0xT

If properly trained, they should also understand whistle and gesture equivalents for all the relevant commands, e.g. short whistle or finger raised sit, long whistle or flat hand lay down, and so on.

It's important that they also get gestures and whistles as voice may not be sufficient over long distances and under certain circumstances.

Answer 9

both sides of the mix you have a very family oriented and very protective. Maybe try placing the dog in another room when company comes over and if worse comes to worse you can get temperment shots from your local vet if you want to take it that far.

Answer 10

This sounds like a really nasty little dog! This maight ruffle a few collars, but why not try a training (shock) collar? Seriously, a few jolts of that would probably make him think twice about what he is doing. At this point, it's probably hat or just let him run everything. He sounds like a loose cannon, he might bite somebody.

Answer 11

Well, have you ever tried a shock collar? I mean you don't have to make it so that it hurts him really bad just so he knows that when you say stop he stops. And maybe the dogs that he has lived with before weren't very gentle with him.