How to help a small dog with aggression issues?
How to help a small dog with aggression issues? Dogs Training Discussions
My mother has a 4 chihuahuas. The 4 year old unfixed male chihuahua is extremely aggressive. It is possessive over the female chihuahua. It dominant humps the other dogs in the household, including its son and daughter. It is also unnecessarily protective of the other chihuahuas. If you are petting the other chihuahuas and they are fine with it but he gets aggressive. He will growl, bare teeth, bark, and nip. I have the pleasure of watching this dog for a week while my mother is on vacation, along with the son chihuahua. The son seems to have developed some of the same traits as the father, but on a lesser scale. He is generally accepting of petting, and is usually friendly. But he is skittish around other dogs, and he fear bites. I am a very strong advocate of positive renforcement. I use clicker training to train my dogs. My dogs are wonderful. They listen, they know a handful of tricks, they are sociable and are well socialized, with people and animals. So I figured I would give positive renforcement and clicker training a try. But the dog will not accept any treats from me. It turns its nose up at anything I give to it, its own kibble, chicken flavoured dog treats, and even peanut butter wasn't enticing enough. So since I figured I would have a difficult time with clicker training, I just wanted things to run smoothly. So he has a schedule now, for going pee, food, and walks. I wanted to include training/playing in the schedule, but he won't play. He won't chase or tug toys, he doesn't play 'tag' like my dogs do. He acts like he is going to be attacked if I try to entice him with a rope toy. And when I bring him back in from outside, mind you it is slushy/snowy outside, I lead him to his crate so he doesn't track mud everywhere. He growls at me when pointed to his crate. He even nipped at fingers, and bite my shoe (two separate occasions). I called my mom about his behaviour. She says it's "normal" for him to act like that. I strongly disagree. I think his behaviour should be curbed somehow. Any suggestions? My boyfriend has been biten 4 times by them already, I've been luckier as they never made contact on my skin. The two dogs together act like they are a team against the world. Everyone is an enemy. I try to feed, play or train them, and one or both will growl at me, 'defending' themselves or each other. They act like their entire world is coming to an end if they are separated. Yet they will fight like mad with each other when together. They growl and snap at each other if one is too close or doesn't something else that angers them.