Chihuahuas have a strong will and a unique personality. This means that they will not always want to listen and would rather do things their own way, on their own terms.

The good news however is that if you know what you are doing during training, and approach the problem from the right angle – you are guaranteed to have an obedient and well trained Chihuahua!

Chihuahua Trick Training Tips

When training your dog new tricks, there are few things that are very important to remember, no matter which trick you are trying to train your puppy:

• Don’t get frustrated when training your dog
• If the dog fails to learn a trick, try and teach him again and again
• If the dog does the trick correctly, praise him and ALWAYS reward him with a treat or a toy
• Not all dogs are good at performing all tricks
• Be patient!

Here are few examples on how to train a certain trick:

Teaching Your Chihuahua to Crawl

Have your Chihuahua doggie lay down and hold some sort of a treat right in front of its nose and say, “Crawl.”. After saying this, move the treat away from him, keeping the treat low just above the ground and say again, “Crawl”. Repeat it few times if needed.

When the doggie moves even just an inch or two without standing up, praise him, but don’t give him the treat yet, instead, just a praise and again repeat, “Craaaaaaawl.” The dog should get this one very quickly, and when it final crawls a bit more than few inches, let him have the treat.

Training Your Chihuahua to Sit

Step 1 – Take a treat in your hand, make sure it’s a small treat like a small biscuit

Step 2 – Stand right in front of your dog and raise your hand holding the treat right above the dog’s head so that the dog looks up

Step 3 – Say “Sit” without saying the dog’s name right afterwards (this might confuse the dog)

Step 4 – Wait to see if the dog actually does sit watching your hand. If he does, he can have the treat and a praise, if he doesn’t, do it all over again and keep performing the procedure until your new Chihuahua trick training ends up with success.

Eskimo kisses

Get your dog in a sitting position, facing you. Put a tiny dub of something the dog likes (like peanut butter) on the tip of your nose and let the dog lick it off. The second the dog’s tongue touches your nose say your praise word, or click your clicker, and say the word, “Eskimo”, or “Kiss”, or whichever you like.

Once the puppy learns how to do it without the butter, start using a hand signal, say the word you have chosen for this trick and touch your nose with your fingers. It might take some time and the dog might not be sure at once it is your nose you want him to lick, but with patience and time, each time you use the prompt word, you will get an Eskimo kiss!

It really isn’t THAT difficult if you know how to train a trick, and Chihuahua puppy tricks can be very fun and enjoyable for both of you, as long as you’re patient and persistent. So have fun with it!

Chihuahuas are known as temperamental dogs, so Chihuahua disobedience is not an unexpected thing – especially if the dog is not trained properly from early age. Lack of good leadership and training will lead you to an angry, disobedient little dog that gets aggressive, chews on everything and overall doesn’t respect you or your house rules.

The easiest way to prevent this is to start training your Chihuahua puppy at a young age. While the dog is still young and doesn’t have any well established bad habits, you will have a much easier time training and shaping your Chihuahuas future behavior.

What to do With a Disobedient Chihuahua Dog

If however your dog is beyond that point and already shows signs of bad behavior, don’t stress over it too much. Contrary to popular belief, you actually can teach an old dog new trick. To correct any disobedience problems in your chihuahua, you must first establish your role as the “alpha-dog” of the pack.

Alpha dogs are leaders of the pack. They decide who does what and their responsibility is to keep everyone in check and teach any new ones how to behave if they want to stay within the pack. Your goal is to show your dog that you fit that role, or else your dog will try to fill it in himself.

Now it doesn’t mean you should challenge your chihuahua to a wrestling match to show that you’re the boss. That is a very cruel and ineffective way to get your dog to respect you. Instead you should display the qualities that a pack leader would.

Once you do that, you will have no trouble training your Chihuahua to respect your house rules. Curing even the toughest obedience problems will be a breeze and you will own a happy, obedient and stress free Chihuahua dog.

Common Chihuahua Disobedience Problems

Owners that neglect proper training often experience very common disobedience problems with their Chihuahuas. They include things like:

Destructive Chewing - This includes chewing of furniture, shows, clothes and other personal belongings.

Aggressive and Dominant Behavior - Chihuahuas may not be as dangerous as larger dog breeds -  but having a dog that disobeys, never listens to you and is always barking and growling can be a real headache.

Peeing and Pooping Indoors - The smelliest and grossest problem of them all. Housebreaking your Chihuahua should be your first priority because no one wants to constantly clean up the stinky mess.

Begging and Whining - Having to listen to your dog crying and whining all time will get annoying quick. The worst part? Giving in and addressing the crying will only worsen the problem.

House training a Chihuahua puppy can be downright difficult and stressful, but if you know what you are doing, you will have no trouble training your dog to go potty where he should (and not on your living room carpet).

So lets get started before we have another mess to clean up on our hands.

Chihuahua House Training Basics

Housebreaking is teaching your puppy, or an adult dog if he isn’t housebroken yet, to do his pooping and peeing outside. It could be anywhere outside or in a specific designated area. It’s really up to you, just be sure to be consistent when training your puppy.

You do this by rewarding your dog every time he goes potty where he should. At the same time, you must do your best to prevent any accidents from happening indoors. Going to the bathroom on your kitchen floor, bedroom carpet or even your bed is NOT acceptable so it shouldn’t even be an option in your dogs mind.

If the pup learns that he can go potty whenever he wants, wherever he wants then why would he even bother holding it in if he you will be right there to clean it up for him. So be sure you do everything you can to prevent him from going potty where he is not supposed to!

Chihuahua Housebreaking Tips to Get You Started:

Now these tips will work for both, an adult dog and a puppy with an exclusion of the first one. The only real difference between house training a puppy and an adult Chihuahua dog is that the puppy won’t be able to hold it in as long as an adult dog.

• Chihuahua puppy can’t hold it in for more than 4 hours - This means that you should walk your dog out as often as possible to prevent any accidents indoors. If you are at work  or at school and can’t walk your dog, ask your neighbors or friend to check up on your dog while you’re gone.
• Take your dog outside regularly – There is no such thing as walking your dog too often.Your puppy will love spending some time  playing and running outside, and you will appreciate the fact that you won’t have a to scrub your carpet for the third time that day.
• Set up a feeding schedule - What goes in must come out. Simple as that. Your puppy will need to poop or pee around 30 minutes after it’s meal, so you should create a schedule and feed him at the same time every day, and be prepared do take him outside 30 minutes after that.
• Remove all odors - Your Chihuahua dog has a great sense of smell and can easily pick up on the lingering urine older if it wasn’t cleaned up right. So when he feels the urge to go potty, if he senses that the area smells like a “bathroom” he will most likely will go potty again in that same spot thinking it’s alright because he’s done it there before.  So clean up any mess as soon as you can.

Chihuahua puppies are loving companions, but they demand lots of attention. Your Chihuahua puppy will love and enjoy nothing more than spending time with his beloved owner, as they tend to grow very attached to their owners. The temperament of your Chihuahua puppy depends on how early you start with your puppy’s socialization and obedience training.

You should start as soon as possible, while the dog’s brain is still developing, and you should make him learn his habits properly at a young age. Chihuahuas that are still young and haven’t fully developed any strong habits are much easier to train into the dogs that you want them to be.

When You Should Start Training a Chihuahua Puppy

Now there is no specific perfect age or time to start training your pup. All dogs are different and some catch on to whats expected of them much sooner than others.

As a general rule however, Chihuahua pups can start with their training when they are around 8 weeks old. At this age, they are capable of learning and you can train them some simple obedience commands with no problems. One thing you should always keep in mind- the younger the puppy, the shorter his attention span will be, so you will have to be very persistent.

Puppies, just as children, have a “lack of attention problem”, they are curious about the environment, and as we all know, they don’t get born pre-programmed, so the puppy has to learn everything, and you will have to be the one to teach him everything with a lot of patience and persistence.

Chihuahuas don’t respond good to aggression and yelling, and they can get pretty naughty themselves, so keep this in mind when your puppy doesn’t obey you. Once they are set with one particular behavior, it will be very difficult to change it, so start making rules and don’t allow your Chihuahua puppy to do whatever he wants. Sometimes you just have to be firm

The sooner you start training, the easier it will be for you to get rid of, and at the same time prevent, bad behavior. But don’t worry, if your Chihuahua already managed to find a way to misbehave, it’s never too late to start obedience training.

Chihuahua Puppy Training Tips:

Just how to train a Chihuahua puppy?- Pretty simple actually.

• Be Consistent From Day One! if you start using the word “Come” as a command, then be sure to always use it when you’re calling for your puppy. Don’t change your word to “Come here” or something similar, always use the same phrase.
• Learn when to say NO! The fact is, puppies can get messy, and you will have to let the puppy know you don’t like the particular thing he’s doing. Do this by using voice modulations. If for example your puppy starts chewing on a something, use a stern voice, but don’t be cruel and angry. Use the word “No.” short and clear with a stern voice, making your voice louder than normal, but still not being angry or frustrated.
• Praise, don’t yell! Praise your puppy for every good job done and for every new good habit he might develop. Never forget about praising, it lets the puppy know he has done something right.

The best time to start training your Chihuahua is at an early age. You can still train an adult Chihuahua dog, but you will have a much easier time while they are still young. So with this particular breed start obedience training early to prevent bad behavior before it even begins.

What is Obedience Training

Obedience training is essentially training your Chihuahua your house rules and establishing your role as the “Pack Leader”. If you want a predictable and well behaved dog on your hands then you can’t neglect obedience training. You will be teaching your dog to follow the set rules and commands and also showing your Chihuahua your expectations.

Examples of some of the “rules” that owners teach their dogs include things like:

• Staying off Furniture
• Not dashing out the door
• Greeting guests with all four paws on the floor (no jumping!)
• Going potty outdoors, not indoors
• No begging or whining for table scraps
• No barking

… and so on.

Why Chihuahua Obedience Training Is Important

Chihuahuas start to learn things from the moment they enter your home. If you aren’t training good behavior from the start, they are bound to pick up a few bad habits right off the bat.

It is important that you start teaching your Chihuahua obedience from a very early age. Setting up good behavior while they are still young puppies will give you more control over training throughout their whole lives.

Through obedience training, you are also showing the puppy that you fit the role of the “pack leader”. Since all dogs are “pack” animals, it’s important that you display the same qualities that an alpha dog would – and being the one to guide your dog throughout his life is a great way to do that.

Well Adjusted Chihuahua is a Happy Chihuahua

A Chihuahua dog that is well adjusted in the family and knows the rules quite clearly is a much happier dog and tends to worry a lot less. You don’t want your puppy to be constantly guessing if what he is doing is right or wrong.

Your want your dog to know his role in the family and understand what you expect of him. Your reward will be a much happier, calmer and predictable dog that strives to please his or her owner.