First, there are plenty of mixed breed chis on this group! There is nothing wrong with having a mixed chi (as long as you aint breeding him) and they are as lovable as any fullbred chi!
As for the rawhide.....if he isn't getting anything bit off then it wont hurt him. Supervise at all times because if he does get a part bit off and swallowed, it can cause major problems. It isn't just smaller dogs that have a problem with rawhides, but all dogs in general. Raw hide swells when it gets wet. If a piece is swallowed, it can swell inside the body and cause blockage. A bigger dog will just bite a bigger piece, but the end results are the same. I too have all of my chis trained to NOT need a leash. My chis will walk with me and come when I call and I have no need for a leash once they are trained. But, even so, if we are out in public or near a road or something....I don't take a chance. Better safe than sorry. They will be on a leash, needed or not, if they are in a location where there are cars. It has been my personal experience that neutering does not stop them from going after the girls! MY Pepper is neutered, but he is always the first to "get lucky" when one of my girls are in heat! IT is no different than humans...a guy may have a vasectomy, but that doesn't take away his desire to be sexually active. Neutering prevents pregnancies, not playing :-) Chihuahuas can become very protective over their person. To some extent, this is good that they will protect you, but for the most part, you definitely need to get the aggression under control. There are so many ways to go about this that I wont go into it (maybe others will address this), but it is something that does need to be worked on and CAN be fixed with patience and the right approach. Marsha ----- Original Message ----- From: Amanda. To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, February 03, 2007 12:35 AM Subject: [Chihuahuas] Some questions.. First, I have a half Chihuahua. I know alot of people in this group are strictly chihuahua people and will frown upon me for even mentioning that he's not a full bred Chi, but he's an amazing dog otherwise, and there's a few things I need help on being that he's such a small dog. I shop constantly at petsmart for anything I need to buy for him, toys, food.. everything. I don't buy the most expensive stuff or anything like that but I like to make sure he's healthy and happy and I tend to spoil him. A month or so ago he walked right up and jerked out this HUGE beef or ham flavored bone, I believe it IS a rawhide, and even with chewing or gnawing on it constantly everyday since he's gotten it he can't much break it - after I bought it for him, someone had mentioned that rawhides in smaller dogs cause blockage and can kill them. I'm wondering if this would be one of those "rawhides", and is there anything I can give him to gnaw on that won't hurt him in the long run? Second, he's not fixed yet.. I HAD him trained perfectly to walk around without his leash, but everytime I get comfortable with him doing it - he makes me look like a fool and takes off. I believe it's because he can smell the female dogs in the neighborhood.. but he's had a close call with almost getting hit (I realize this makes me sound like a horrible pet owner); I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue, and if getting him fixed would help alot of his behavior rebellion against listening to me? Third. In the past 2 months he has become OVERLY posessive of me. If I'm sleeping no one can come within 5 feet of me without him acting like it's the end of the world. He gets really mean, and it bothers me to a great extent. I know that Chihuahua's are like that sometimes, and I love that he's MY dog and doesn't take to anyone else, but it's embarassing when he does things like snipping at people just for touching me.. I have a feeling in the future it will cause great problems - so I wanted to know what I could do it help out in breaking him of being so aggressive over me.
