Trying to "trick" train him, ei, sit, lay, down, ect, is not even in the cards untill he is first socialized. When we say "train" him, we do not mean teach him tricks, we mean teach him to be a good boy, lol. To try to waste time teaching him tricks, even the simplelest of things such as sit, would actually be counter productive because it would further frustrate an already frustrated dog and his equally frustrated person. So forget obedience or tricks for now. Worry only about socialization. I agree with others who say this is fear biting going on and the only way to get past fear biting is to ease the fear. In order to ease the fear, unfortunately, you gonna have to do stuff that initially scares him. Such as forced petting. Yea, it SCARES him when someone picks him up or pets him from behind, thus he responds in an understandable self defense fashion. He does the only thing he knows to do to protect himself from the fear....which is bite.
My suggestion for you, and at this point only you should be doing it.....is to protect your hands (gloves, a towel, ect) and pick him up, carry him, do whatever it is that scares him. When he bites, just let him bites since you are protected, lol.....the point right now is not to correct the behavior but to simple ease the fear by letting him know that no matter what he does, he is still not going to be harmed. So if you pick him up and he is growling biting ect....just hold on and wait it out. Once he wears himself out and calms down a bit, reassure him, baby talk him, just keep holding him. letting him know he has no reason to be scared and try to bite. Some will say that this re-enforces his belief that he is allowed to bite. I would agree if he was doing alpha biting, but like I said, I think this is fear biting and handled quiet differently than alpha biting You HAVE to get past the fear before you can move on to anything else. I would also certainly keep others away from him. Some day in the future, BF, daughter, hubby, ect may all be able to hold or pet him, but not yet....they need to leave him completely alone till he gains some sense of security.... Marsha > Hi Peggy > > I so appreciate your post. The problem I have is no one else wants to > try to train / work with him. they are afraid of him. If Ricky does not > like something, he will bite you. That includes trying to train him to > sit and lay down. If you push on his backend (easy) he will swirl around > and try to bite you. the lay down is the same way.. if you try to get > his front legs down, he will try to bite you. This is with a yummy treat > too that he loves!. I believe I saw that "dog whisper" program on the > Chi. I could never see Ricky being nice to anyone strange that came near > him. If I remember correctly, the chi in the program was back in a > corner at one point. Ricky would never be in a corner. He will just come > at you and attack. He is not afraid, and that is the problem. Also, > ricky will not allow you to put him on his back! He never rolls on his > back. I have tried to hold him on his back but he will get upset. He > needs to be trained by someone who knows Chi's. > There is no use in the other members to try to train him if we do not > know the correct way to train. We could make it worse. > > My husband who has been able to pet him, suddenly the other day, he went > to pet him and Ricky tried to bite him! I was shocked. I will try to > find a qualified chi trainer in my area. > > Shanna > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >  > > > > > --- On Sat, 10/23/10, Peggy <[email protected]> wrote: > > > From: Peggy <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] Ricky Needs A New Home, He Is To Aggressive > With Family :( To: [email protected] > Date: Saturday, October 23, 2010, 8:30 PM > > >  > > > > > > Hi Shanna, >  > I am so sorry to hear that you have to make this choice. First, beware > that the ASPCA will put him down because he will be deemed unadoptable. > Some times, depending on what state that you live in they may have > volunteers who will re train Ricky once you give him up, but not all > ASPCA's will do that. I know a lot of people think that the ASPCA > doesn't destroy dogs, but that is totally untrue, they do it if they > feel it is necessay and or if they are already overloaded with dogs.  > Some times a dog can act aggressive if something is bothering them and > it may seem like anger to the inexperienced eye. The first step is to > make sure to give Ricky a complete medical check up, especially blood > work. Since you have only had him for three months you may have not done > that. If he has diabetes, or a heart problem, or pain in his knees etc, > etc., any type of pain or just feeling not themselves can and will make > a dog irritable, especially in a new environment.  > If everything is okay physically, then you can work on the training. > Bear in mind, that three months is not a lot of time for a dog to feel > secure in a new home, especially when he has to adjust to so many new > masters all at the same time. Each member of the family has to > establish their own rank as an alpha leader, not just you. The best > way to start is to put him on a leash and collar, not a harness. Train > him to do the basic commands, sit, stay, lie down. Each time he listens > and does them, give him a reward. If he doesn't listen and do it each > time you tell him to, then hold the leash and walk back and forth with > him a couple of times and then stop and tell him to sit again. It > doesn't matter if he sits to your left or in front of you at this point, > you just want him to be tuned into and do as you ask. If he doesn't > listen, do not reprimand him, but rather ignore him and start all over > again...first walking back and forth (this teaches him that > he has to follow you and not do his own thing or ignore you) and then > the sit command again. Once he listens the first time with the sit > command, reward him, then walk back and forth again, say sit, reward, > and now give the down command. The down command is very important, > because most dogs feel more submissive in this position, which is what > you want. >  > Once you have him listening to you, then each member of the family > should also do a one on one training session with him. I advise that no > else is in the room for each session. You want him to understand that he > has to obey each member and he is at the bottom of the totem pole in the > pack. The lesson should only be for 15 minutes  twice a day by each > family member. Most dogs respond within two to three weeks and learn > that they are not the alpha member of the pack. Even if Ricky knows > these commands already, it is still important to do the training.  > Also their is a great video with the Dog Whisperer called "Killer Chi" > within an hour he had this very bad biting dog submit and love the > owners son. He did it with pretty much the same method of reward good > behavior and ignore bad behavior. I used this method on my Eskie, who > can also be one person dogs, and she was originally deemed to be out > down because of her aggression. Today she loves  people and you > wouldn't know that she is the same dog. It doesn't matter what breed a > dog is, all dogs can be trained to understand their place in a family > pack, even Chi's. It also helps during the training period that you do > not over mommy Ricky. (I know that this can be difficult because they > are so done cute and you want to cuddle them all the time) but you want > to establish that Ricky is a dog first, then the xtra cuddles and > pampering can come later. Also, I wouldn't give him any treats except to > use them for trining time only.  > Hope this helps, and keep us posted on whatever you decide to do. >  > Peggy & The Girls > > > > > > From: Kavi <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Sat, October 23, 2010 8:41:09 PM > Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] Ricky Needs A New Home, He Is To Aggressive > With Family :( > >  > > > > > > > > Hi > > when we went to the ASAP to get a dog, we wanted a family dog. Ricky was > not aggressive to us in any way at the shelter. only when we got him > home and since then. > > I read up on the Alfa dog right away... and I became the alfa to Ricky. > He knows not to mess with me. I have never and will never hit or harm > Ricky. Just using voice / noise controls Ricky with me. This is very > very hard for me. My husband keeps saying just work / train with him > more. We are not talking little nips here, we are talking full bloom > unpredictable biting & breaking skin! > > If I had to find him a home, it will kill me, cause I love Ricky he is > my baby... but I love my family too. > > I have to give this some thought... maybe talk to a dog trainer about it > to see if they have ideas as to how to stop his aggressive biting. > > thanks > Shanna > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >  > > > > > --- On Sat, 10/23/10, Darcy Jacobs <[email protected]> wrote: > > > From: Darcy Jacobs <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] Ricky Needs A New Home, He Is To Aggressive > With Family :( To: [email protected] > Date: Saturday, October 23, 2010, 5:22 PM > > >  > > > > > > > cant the family just leave him be and only you be his master? > darcy > > --- On Sat, 10/23/10, Kavi <[email protected]> wrote: > > > From: Kavi <[email protected]> > Subject: [Chihuahuas] Ricky Needs A New Home, He Is To Aggressive With > Family :( To: "Chihuahuas" <[email protected]> > Date: Saturday, October 23, 2010, 8:17 PM > > >  > > > > > > Hi Everyone > > Well, I have tried to work with Ricky for his aggressive behavior > towards family members, but its gone to far today. My 19 year old > daughter was putting his t-shirt on, then went to pick him up and he > totally became angry and grabbed her hand between the thumb and finger > and would not let go. He broke the skin on her hand. The other day he > tried to bite my husband when he went to pet him. I am the ONLY one > Ricky will not be angry with. But my family can not live in fear of a > dog. I have never had a chihuahua before, or a dog that was aggressive > in any way. I will be looking for a qualified home for him where its > just one adult that does not have much company. That is about the only > place he could live. He is just unpredictable as to what will set him > off. I will not take him back to the ASPCA... I am not sure if I can > find the right home for him even. As much as I love him, my family must > come first. If anyone has any ideas or places I can call, please let me > know. He is 4 years old and I guess just set in his ways. I have had > him not even 3 months yet. I might see about a chihuahua rescue. :):) > > Shanna > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >  > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > This email contains correspondence from an attorney and may contain privileged information. If you are not the intended receipient, please delete. Do not tell god how big your storm is. Tell the storm how big your God is. http://taylorstots.tripod.com/ ------------------------------------ " Lets talk about our wonderful little friends! Join today! " Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Chihuahuas/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Chihuahuas/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
