I have three Chi's - all wear collars. I have one who has some breathing
trouble once in a while but she is seldom on a leash because she never leaves
my side. If the Grooomer (if you can call her that) has that much problem with
a Chi get another groomer! My three go to Petsmart in Akron, Oh and the girls
there don't even want the collars I don't think my three ever even get caged.
Oh the longhair needs blown dry and I think the two shorthairs are too. They
all get their nails done because I am to uncoordinated to do it by myself. I
have never had a problem there. Maybe you should talk to the manager at the
store. It sounds like she was giving you a hard time. They do require a copy
of the shot record on the pup. Not Rabies per se. As a matter of fact
depending upon the age of the dog, rabies in my state isn't required until 3mos
of age and with a little chi they will let you wait til they are a bit bigger.
marsha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
It is often unsafe to use muzzles on ANY short nosed breed. So, the safety of
it with YOUR chi would depend a lot of the size of the snout. It isn't a breed
thing, per se, as a nose thing. For instance, it really isn't much different
with a deer faced chi than with any other long nosed dog. But today's chis are
getting smaller and smaller noses, and that can cause a muzzle to interfere
with breathing, not to mention it is hard to put a muzzle on something that
practically aint there! lol.
As for the comment that chis are nervous, ect....sounds like the lady is just
ignorant of the chi breed. Some chis are nervous and some are very outgoing,
but most people with no chi experience do tend to picture a nervous shaking
little rat, lol
I would try a harness instead of a leash. Much safer! I would also learn to
do the nails yourself. Why pay good money for something that is so simple for
you to do yourself? You could place all the saved money in an "emergency vet
care fund" :-)
Marsha
----- Original Message -----
From: Amanda.
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 6:45 PM
Subject: [Chihuahuas] Went To Petsmart..
I was in petsmart today, and I looked into getting Chaz's nails done.
He's a boston terrier/chihuahua mix. The lady in the grooming
department said she can't groom him unless he's had his rabies shot. I
KNOW rabies shots are mandatory, but right now I'm waiting to get it
until I get him fixed so everything can be done at once (before
someone rips my head off) - she told me that he'd have to have his
rabies shot being a chihuahua, because she cannot put a muzzle on him.
I asked her why and she told me that chihuahuas are prone to squeezing
or a flat trachea and it's because putting him in a muzzle may put him
under stress since Chihuahua's are very nervous animals. So, I was
wondering has anyone heard anything about this? I've never read
anything about it. Also are there some alternatives that I can go
through at home to getting his nails down? I take him for walks quite
a bit around the blacktop basketball court around my neighborhood, and
his nails are still so long.
Also, I looked into leash training him now that I know about the
trachea problem - I'm just wondering what methods people suggest. I
only use a leash currently when he needs to go pee (even though we
have a fenced in backyard, we have dogs that stay outside all day and
bark when he's out so of course he tries to run towards it) and when I
take him into pet stores. The method I read about is just stopping in
place when he tries to tug you, so he can't go anywhere. I'm just
wondering if there's any other alternative that may work better.
-Amanda
