Tags
Animals, Chihuahua, Dog, Dog training, Dog tricks, Dog Walking, Pet
For some reason there seems to be a perception that chihuahuas (or any tiny breed for that matter) are untrainable, stupid, call it what you will, but incapable of learning to do things that a larger dog can be taught. I’ve read in loads of breed descriptions that chihuahuas are difficult to train.
I appreciate that some breeds are easier than others, and that within breeds each individual dog will be different in terms of it’s ability and interest in learning, and desire to be obedient versus being an independent thinker. But to categorise a dog as stupid just because of its size just doesn’t make any sense to me.
I was still relieved when at Ted’s first puppy class at Pawsitive Simone said that chihuahuas are generally very smart, learn very quickly and as a companion breed tend to be keen to please. And that has certainly been true with Ted, he really seems to enjoy learning.
His first day home he learned to sit and before long worked out that sitting was the way to get what he wanted. Here’s an early example:
Sight of the clicker gets him very excited as he loves training sessions. He knows sit, down, head down (super cute), come, leave it (he will even spit out anything in his mouth on this command), beg, paw, other paw, touch (with nose), high five, spin, jump through my legs, jump over my outstretched leg, run around me, stay, get it (chase something), wait, heel, quick (run with me), say hello (go and greet that person/dog).
I’m sure there are ones I’ve forgotten and I am certain that the list would be longer if I spent more time on training. All of our training has been done using positive reinforcement, including clicker training.
Don’t get more wrong, he doesn’t always do as he is told, he is, when all is said and done, a sentient being. Our current area of focus is not running up to other dogs until released to do so and sometimes I can see him really weighing up staying with me versus going off to meet and greet but it just makes it all the better when he makes the right decision.
Here he is the second day that we took his stay training outside. It’s a couple of months ago and I no longer need to back steadily away but I think he did pretty well for how new the command was and how much he loves the beach!
So unless I have some quirk of the chihuahua world on my hands I would say that chihuahuas are highly trainable.
This is such a lovely post. I hope that my Chi will become as well trained as yours, ha.
I highly recommend Jean Donaldson’s Train Your Dog Like a Pro book (includes a DVD). It provides a great structure for positive reinforcement training and explains things really well.
Good luck with your Chi x
Thank you for your reccommendation. I will be sure to get that. x
Hiya.
When I got my puppy (a lab x) the first thing I did was start training him to sit. He is very food orientated and it didnt take him long to figure it out and get rewarded for it.
Within a couple of months he knew both sit and paw and did both on command.
Then about a month or so ago (when he was 7 months old) I taught him stay. And can now make him sit and stay, put food down, and he will not go eat it til I say he can. He is very clever.
When my Chi came to me in April, aged almost 2 years old, he knew nohing, had never been trained. Unfotunately he is not so fod-centric, so it’s harder to make it worth his while, but I will keep trying.
We pretty much have ‘sit’ all sorted. Going to keep trying with him
It sounds like your Chi had never had any training at all
In this case I think it takes dogs a while to learn how to learn (if that makes sense) and hence they are just generally slower to pick things up. Each time I teach Ted something new it gets easier and easier because he knows we are learning. Do you do clicker training? I’d really recommend this for building a dog’s confidence and teaching new things. Also does your Chi like toys? You can train using play as a reward. Plus two months is nothing for a rescue dog, he may still be settling in. I’d focus on making training fun for the little one 
Looking forward to seeing getting photos of your fur babies