W
Wendy b
Guest
...and yelping and urinating..help? He is about 9 months old. We planned to have him fixed to help with these issues, but what I've read and heard goes against that and says it's not going to change things since this is a training issue on our part. My husband and I have both had dogs for our entire lives and have never encountered anything like this dog.
My frustration level is through the roof. Start with the barking, yelping, and whining. Unless the house is quiet...he's at one of them. Someone pulls in the driveway, he's off and barking for the entire time. Anyone, including me or my husband come home, he barks and barks and barks. I understand the watchdog instinct, but it will go on for a long time. We first tried acknowledging him, we've also tried ignoring it. He doesn't care what we do, he just keeps at it until the house is still again.
The second big issue is the peeing and pooping in the house. I am home during the day. At first we tried crate training for 5 months. I would take him out every hour or two depending on the time of day. In the evenings we would let him out in the house and one of the first things he'd do is pee or poop. I felt horrible having him confined to a crate forever, so I"ve now switched to a confined area of the kitchen. That's where he stays. I can walk him, see him pee 3 times, poop, and bring him in and he will urinate within minutes. I have researched how to train a chihuahua and it all has the info I already know. I even saw an episode of "it's me or the dog" about this and she suggested what we have already tried.
I am at my wits end here. I have our third child due in a month. I am in desperate need of the how to's of the chihuahua. I can't even figure out how to get him to sit. The websites I've looked at credit chihuahua's with great smarts and I've done this before, so I just don't get it. Am I doing something wrong or can you suggest a book or website with more in depth info? I do not want to give up on him.
Despite the frustrations I have with him, he has been excellent with our children...friendly and gentle. He clearly has a good nature...the tail is wagging alot and he's just sweet.
I want him to be free in the house and able to enjoy some freedom, but the bad behaviors have got to go! Please help!
My frustration level is through the roof. Start with the barking, yelping, and whining. Unless the house is quiet...he's at one of them. Someone pulls in the driveway, he's off and barking for the entire time. Anyone, including me or my husband come home, he barks and barks and barks. I understand the watchdog instinct, but it will go on for a long time. We first tried acknowledging him, we've also tried ignoring it. He doesn't care what we do, he just keeps at it until the house is still again.
The second big issue is the peeing and pooping in the house. I am home during the day. At first we tried crate training for 5 months. I would take him out every hour or two depending on the time of day. In the evenings we would let him out in the house and one of the first things he'd do is pee or poop. I felt horrible having him confined to a crate forever, so I"ve now switched to a confined area of the kitchen. That's where he stays. I can walk him, see him pee 3 times, poop, and bring him in and he will urinate within minutes. I have researched how to train a chihuahua and it all has the info I already know. I even saw an episode of "it's me or the dog" about this and she suggested what we have already tried.
I am at my wits end here. I have our third child due in a month. I am in desperate need of the how to's of the chihuahua. I can't even figure out how to get him to sit. The websites I've looked at credit chihuahua's with great smarts and I've done this before, so I just don't get it. Am I doing something wrong or can you suggest a book or website with more in depth info? I do not want to give up on him.
Despite the frustrations I have with him, he has been excellent with our children...friendly and gentle. He clearly has a good nature...the tail is wagging alot and he's just sweet.
I want him to be free in the house and able to enjoy some freedom, but the bad behaviors have got to go! Please help!