A Confession
I have spent roughly $400 on chihuahua training books. I have watched approximately 200 YouTube videos about dog behavior. I attended a six-week obedience class with my chihuahua, Churro, who graduated with a certificate that now lives in a drawer because it feels weird to frame it. This chihuahua owner training guide covers everything you need to know.
As noted by Wag: How to Train Your Chihuahua to Be Calm, this matters more than most owners realize.
After all of that, here is what I learned. Churro was never the problem. I was the problem the entire time.
The Mirror Exercise
When your chihuahua chews your shoes, the question is not “why is my dog chewing shoes.” The question is “why were my shoes on the floor where my dog could reach them and why was my dog unsupervised long enough to do this.”
When your chihuahua has accidents in the house, the question is not “why is my dog not housetrained.” It is “did I take my dog out at the right times, with enough consistency for them to understand the routine.”
When your chihuahua barks at every human who walks through the door, the question is “who taught my dog that barking at visitors gets attention.” The answer is almost always you. Attention includes yelling “stop barking.” Your chihuahua does not speak English. They speak volume. And you just matched theirs.
Things I Did Wrong: A Partial List
I carried Churro everywhere for the first six months. Grocery store. Coffee shop. Friends’ house. He rode in my arms like a furry handbag. Then I was surprised when he panicked at the idea of walking on his own four legs in an unfamiliar place. I had taught him that the ground was optional.
I laughed when he growled at my brother. Because it was funny. A four-pound dog growling at a six-foot-two man is objectively funny. But Churro learned that growling got a reaction, and reactions are currency for chihuahuas. Within a month, he was growling at everyone. Not funny anymore.
I fed him from my plate. Not occasionally. Every meal. He learned that sitting at my feet during dinner guaranteed a payout. Then he started climbing my leg. Then he started barking if the payout was too slow. I created a tiny extortionist with my own fork.
I let him on the bed. Then got annoyed when he would not sleep in his own bed. I had literally never given him a reason to sleep anywhere else. Why would he voluntarily downgrade from a king-size mattress with a heated human to a foam pad on the floor? He is not stupid.
Why Chihuahua Owners Are the Worst Offenders
Nobody lets their German Shepherd get away with this stuff. A German Shepherd jumps on a guest and the owner corrects it immediately because an 80-pound dog knocking someone over is a liability. A chihuahua jumps on a guest and the owner says “oh, he likes you!” and does nothing.
The team at iHeartDogs Chihuahua Temperament Guide offers helpful insight on this topic.
Size creates a double standard. We hold big dogs to behavioral expectations while giving small dogs a permanent pass. The result is a population of chihuahuas who are poorly behaved. Not because they are bad dogs but because their owners never required them to be good ones.
A study in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science found that small dog owners are significantly less likely to attend obedience classes or enforce consistent rules than large dog owners. The dogs are not the variable. The owners are.
Your Dog Is Responding to Your Chaos
Chihuahuas are emotional sponges. They read your mood, your body language, your stress level. If your household is chaotic, your chihuahua will be chaotic. If you are anxious, your chihuahua will be anxious. If you are inconsistent, your chihuahua will have no idea what the rules are.
Dogs respond to structure. Chihuahuas with anxiety are often living in environments where the human is the one who is anxious. The dog is just reflecting what they see.
Churro stopped barking at the door when I stopped reacting to the doorbell like it was an emergency. He stopped begging at the table when I stopped feeding him from it. He stopped growling at my brother when I started calmly redirecting him instead of laughing. Every behavior change in my dog followed a behavior change in me.
The Difficult Conversations
Are you walking your chihuahua regularly, or just letting them outside for a minute? Walking provides mental stimulation and routine. A backyard bathroom break is not a substitute.
Are you maintaining consistent rules, or do the rules change based on your mood? Tuesday the dog cannot be on the couch. Wednesday you are sad and the dog is on the couch. Thursday you are mad the dog is on the couch. That is not training. That is confusion.
Are you spending actual focused time with your chihuahua, or is the dog just existing in the same space as you while you scroll your phone? Chihuahuas need engagement. They need to feel like they matter to you beyond being a warm lap ornament.
The Good News
If you are the problem, then you are also the solution. You do not need to retrain your chihuahua from scratch. You need to retrain yourself. Set rules and keep them. Be calm when your dog is not. Reward the behavior you want to see and stop accidentally rewarding the behavior you do not.
Churro is a different dog now. Not because of the books or the videos or the obedience certificate in the drawer. Because I became a more responsible, consistent owner. He was always capable of being a good dog. He just needed a human who was capable of being a good owner.
If chihuahuas could send their owners to training school, they absolutely would. Since they cannot, you will have to enroll yourself. Start with the mirror. The answers are there.
