Hi Megan, I am Cindy and live in Summerville, SC with my 2 Chi's Cooper and Dali. I am also new to this group. I think you did the right thing taking the chew away from Valkan, you need to claim the chew as yours not his. Repetition has worked well with my dogs, for instance you could give him the chew for a few minutes, then take it away. If he doesn't react negatively praise him like mad and give it back. Keep repeating til he gets it. If he growls, take it and tell him no! They have such different personalities, my Cooper is fearful so soft talk and praise goes a long way with him, where Dali needs a firm no, then praise when she makes the right choice. I have no idea about the poop eating!! LOL! Good Luck! Cindy
--- On Thu, 1/12/12, Megan <[email protected]> wrote: From: Megan <[email protected]> Subject: [Chihuahuas] our new puppy To: [email protected] Date: Thursday, January 12, 2012, 12:00 PM Hi group! My husband and I just got a 6 month old black&white long coated male named Valkan. He is just adorable. This is really the first chi (or even small dog) we've ever had - aside from the year we had our daughters 5 yr. old chi living with us. I feel like I am totally clueless as to training him. We have a herd of alpacas and 4 big livestock guard dogs (who are also hard to train) so I'm used to being the alpha but I'm very happy to find this group! We got Valkan from a wonderful breeder who believed that even show dogs are pets first, so he has been crate and ex-pen trained but I feel so clueless in some respects with this little guy that I'm feeling guilty about calling her so much! So - thank you all for being here! Here's my situation for today...any input as to the best way to deal with this would be really appreciated. Today, while sitting on the couch next to me, chewing on his rawhide stick, he growled and tried to bite me when I got too close to the chew. He'd done this once before so I was testing him. Obviously, this is totally unacceptable behaviour so I put him on the floor without the chew. Worked on this for awhile until he was behaving better. After this he pooped on his puppy pad and started to eat it...which he hasn't ever done. He's demolished the chewstick in a very short period of time this morning and the poop thing makes me wonder if I went a little too far timewise and stressed him out...or is he teething? or what? He is just adorable and I love him and want him to be well behaved but I really don't know what works best for chihuahuas. Thanks. Megan Burleson
