Re: {SPAMFILTER} Re: {SPAMFILTER} [Chihuahuas] My Chihuahua is mean and aggressive

[Jennifer & T'Pina Rasch]

I see what you are saying Marsha, but I have used the tectneck(sp) discribed on abused, and neglected dogs. It has worked perfectly. The key is not to move to fast, squeeze to hard, or use the wrong tone/noise level of voice. If you move to fast it scares the dog, and he/she thinks you are going to hit them. You squeeze to hard, and you hurt them, and prove to him/her that all humans are going to hurt him/her. To harsh of a tone, or to loud of a noise level of the voice does the same as moving to fast. I use everything on my dogs, and turned up with nothing on everything. Ignoring the bad behavior (which is what you are doing when you do not get after him/her for their bad behavor) only made things worse. In fact I got into big trouble for ignoring my female shepards bad behavior of going potty on my floor. She was abused, and neglected before I got her. When I ignored her bad behavior I woke up to a house full of feces, and urine. I got caght with my house like
 that. I stated to use the method I explained before and she got better at it. Now she potties outside. Even a dog that has been abused, and/or neglected will at least try to be the dominate dog if it is not shown other wise. It is just in their nature. Now I have never had a Chihuahua so it might be diffrent for them.                                                                 Jennifer.           marsha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:           It has been my experience after years of rescue work, that this does not work with abused animals. The whole idea of the pack mentality is lost on a dog that has seen nothing but abuse. I have worked with a lot of abused animals over the years, and have found that pretty much all the normal behavior we humans use with a normal dog will backfire with an abused dog. Of course, this is just my experience. Maybe it has been different for others.     I have also found the same to apply to humans. As a
 foster parent I found that kids that came from abusive homes did not respond well to any type of negative reinforcement. Even the kids that acted totally out of control would respond better to unconditional love but would act even worse when physically disciplined or when negative attitudes were used. In other words, if my child came up to me and called me a foul name, I would absolutely bust his/her behind and he/she would NEVER attempt that again. But if a foster child came up to me and did the same, they would do it again if they were disciplined for it, but if I talked to them and showed that I had been hurt as a result of their words, they were more likely to understand my pain (since they had felt the same in the past) and would be less likely to repeat in the future. Whereas my child had never experienced that pain and thus could have no empathy for it.     The abused dogs I have had, if I had picked
 it up and squeezed it or grabbed its nozzle or anything, it would have cowed in fear or else become aggressive toward me, where as if I held it in my arms, baby talked it and petted it, it came to trust me and want to please me. Now, on the otherhand, should one of my dogs, whom I know has not been abused, were to growl or snap at me, I would not hesitate to correct it.      My preferred choice of correction for aggression in a "normal dog" is to take the dogs face between my hands, look them straight in the eye (a sign of dominance) and sternly say no! and continue to hold the dog in this position until he or she stops struggling. That is just what works for me on the normal ones, lol     Marsha         
 ----- Original Message -----   From: Jennifer & T'Pina Rasch   To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]ups.com   Sent: Sunday, August 20, 2006 11:07 AM  Subject: {SPAMFILTER} Re: {SPAMFILTER} [Chihuahuas] My Chihuahua is mean and aggressive        There are ways of showing that you are alpha dog without scarring, or harming a dog in any way. You will need to show you are alpha even if the dog has a abusive past. Treating a dog as though you are equal with them will not work. Dogs have retained the pack mentality of it's wolf anscetors, and
 there are no equals in a wolf pack. If you don't show you are alpha, then the dog will become alpha as there are no equals in a wolf pack there are no equals in a human/dog pack. A stern voice should not scare a abused dog as long as it is used quietly without any raise in the voice. Normally it is the yelling, and screaming that scares the dog not the tone of voice. However there will be dogs that a stern voice does scare. My advice is every time your dogs do something you want to correct slowly, gently, and quietly pick the offending dog up, and slowly, gently grab the top of his/her muzzle, and give it a gentel squeeze. Say no at the same time. You can choose wither or not to use a stern voice. However the dog needs to know you are disappointed at the behavior he/she did. Make sure you grab the top, not the bottom. Grabing the top says you are alpha, while grabing the bottom says you are omega. Then directly after you correct him/her pet, hug, kiss,
 whatever you do to show your love for your dog, so that he/she knows you still love him/her, and that you are not going to be mean to him/her because he/she mis-behaved.                                                                Jennifer.           marsha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]org> wrote:           With rescues with abusive past, they CAN be turned around, but it will take a LOT of love and patience.
 That is the only thing that will work in the long run. Gain their trust, give unconditional love, make sure they know they will never be abused again. Also, most normally used means of correction will backfire on a dog with an abusive past. We crate our pups, we use newspapers, squirt bottles, penny cans, stern voices ect. All these things may be successful with a pup, but often have adverse reactions with a dog from a bad past. The best thing is to not scold or use any physical or scary means of correction. Just full unconditional love. Hold them as much as possible. If they do do something wrong, pick them up and talk gently, distract them from what they are doing and let them know you still love them.     I have always had chis and always had puppies and I always let them know I am ALPHA. I am the boss!! But I have also done a lot of rescue work and have found you can not treat these dogs the same as you
 can with those dogs who have never known abuse. These dogs fair much better if the Alpha role is not played. If you do a more :"we are equals" or "I am your protector" role as opposed to a "I am your boss" role.     Best of luck.     Marsha          ----- Original Message -----   From: Jennifer Ewing   To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]ups.com   Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2006 9:28 PM 
 Subject: Re: {SPAMFILTER} [Chihuahuas] My Chihuahua is mean and aggressive      i have two chis, jojo and rayray. i adopted both of them a few years back and they are still very mean. they will warm up a little, but will not tolerate a lot of love for long - they turn to biting and growling. they came from an abusive home which is im sure why they behave this way. my question is - is there a way to train them "out" of this behavior> it becomes very hard to have two chis and still have company or even bring them around family. they are the cutest babies ever, but they are just so mean...jen  __________________________________________________Do You Yahoo!?Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com       
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