How to Train a Hyper Chihuahua to Calm Down

Hello Angels, First, give her time and expect progress to be gradual. Sprinkle treats around you when you are sitting and without paying attention to her, let her come up to you to eat the treats so that she will associate you with food - you will probably need to use meal topper treats instead of kibble for this. Meal toppers like stella and chewy and nature's variety is often found in the pet food isle. Expect a few days of not coming over for the food while stressed. As stress goes down her desire to eat should increase. If it doesn't, see your vet. Once she is coming close to eat the food and seems more relaxed you can start talking to her softly but don't touch yet unless she asks for it. When she is comfortable being near you, then pair the food with your touch - touch her shoulder while giving a treat. Touch her side, touch her ear, ect...While feeding a treat each time. Only touch while she is eating the food. As soon as she stops, stop touching. Once she can tolerate your touch and being near you, then work on her fear of other things. Check out the article linked below for more details on that. Kikopup on Youtube is also a good resource for desensitization. https://www.petful.com/behaviors/how-to-socialize-a-shy-dog/ Eventually, confidence building exercises may be good for her also. Don't act sorry for her or baby her. Fearful dogs need calmness and confidence from their pet parents. Structure, routines, and clear boundaries are also important for anxious dogs. Confidence building exercise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OseD7TRwsPQ Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello, Alfie is pretty young and no doubt, has a lot of energy! Check with the vet to make sure that her vaccines are up to date and then begin lots of walking sessions every day. While on walks, work on the Heel command as a starting point for her obedience. This gives lots of focus which carries over to the rest of the training: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-poodle-to-heel. Try the Turns Method. For obedience, the Basic Commands Method is excellent, shown here: https://wagwalking.com/training/obedience-train-a-german-shepherd-puppy. Work with Alfie 10-15 minutes every day, as well as the Heeling when on walks. When training, always be positive and use an upbeat voice. End the training session on a high point. Good luck!

Hello Lydia, I recommend stimulating pup mentally to help with the energy. Work on teaching tricks that don't require too much movement, feeding pup their meals in a dog food stuffed chew toy or puzzle toy, and potentially speaking with your vet about safe ways to help pup feel calmer. Check out youtube channels like the ones I have listed below for ideas for tricks to teach pup for stimulation. Choose only low activity tricks like Touch or paw, until pup is healed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNFPljFzJq0 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZzFRKsgVMhGTxffpzgTJlQ https://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup Another good resource to find trick how to instructions is www.wagwalking.com/training - where you found this article most likely. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello, the first thing to take care of is to help Arizona cope with being left alone. Make sure that she has a good walk before you need to go out, so that she is tired and content. Ensure that she has a safe and comfortable place to rest while you are out, like a comfy crate or an exercise pen area (see here: https://www.preventivevet.com/dogs/how-to-set-up-puppy-long-term-confinement-area. Of course, leave out the litter/pee pads if you are training her to pee outside only). Sometimes a dog will not be happy while you are out because they feel intimidated in the home alone. Another thing you can do is prepare a frozen Kong to keep her busy when you are out. Take a kong and fill it with moistened kibble and peanut butter (no xylitol in the peanut butter, though, as it is toxic to dogs!!). Freeze the Kong and give it to Arizona before you leave the house. It will give her great entertainment while you are away. Always keep a frozen Kong on hand. Soon, Arizona will run for her exercise pen so that she can have her Kong. When you return from being away, take Arizona out immediately. Say a quick hello in a normal toned voice, head straight outside, and give praise and treats when she has success. If she starts to piddle, ignore the fact and head out anyway, giving her praise and a treat right on the spot when she pees outside.Clean up inside accidents with an enzymatic cleaner to eliminate the odor - you may not smell the pee but Arizona does. Good luck!

Hello Agnes, I recommend crating pup at night with the door closed. First, work on teaching the Quiet command during the day using the Quiet method from the article linked below. https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bark Second, during the day practice the Surprise method from the article linked below. Whenever pup stays quiet in the crate for 5 minutes, sprinkle some treats into the crate without opening it, then leave the room again. As he improves, only give the treats every 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, 1.5 hour, 2, hour, 3 hour. Practice crating him during the day for 1-3 hours each day that you can. If you are home during the day, have lots of 30 minute - 1 hour long sessions with breaks between to practice this, to help pup learn sooner. Whenever he cries in the crate, tell him "Quiet". If he gets quiet - Great! Sprinkle treats in after five minutes if he stays quiet. If he continues barking or stops and starts again, spray a quick puff of air from a pet convincer at his side through the crate while calmly saying "Ah Ah", then leave again. Only use unscented air canisters, DON'T use citronella! And avoid spraying in the face. Surprise method: https://wagwalking.com/training/like-a-crate Repeat the rewards when quiet and the corrections whenever he cries. Practice for a few days until he is doing well during the day. You can either continue what you are currently doing at night during this process or go ahead and jump into what I explain below for night time training - waiting until the day is good before starting the night or starting the night and day both at the same time. When he cries at night (in the crate - where he needs to be sleeping for now) before it has been 8 hours (so you know it's not a potty issue), tell him Quiet, and correct with the pet convincer if he doesn't become quiet and stay quiet. During the day, I recommend practicing some commands and tricks with pup to wera him out, and feeding him his kibble in dog food stuffed hollow chew toys like kongs, things like kong wobbles, puzzle toys, and other things pup can work to get the food out of to keep him busier with a calm activity. I recommend teaching pup a Place command and working up to pup staying on place for up to an hour, for times when you need pup to go lie down quietly. Place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O75dyWITP1s Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Start training at home and at times when your dog is more likely to be already relaxing. You’ll know your dog is truly settled when they lie down, not asking for attention, and not easily distracted by what’s going on around them. To begin with you may just need to reward your dog for any behaviour that is not staring at you, pulling on the lead, or barking. Sit quietly on a chair with your dog on the lead and a blanket on the floor. Drop tiny bite size treats to your dog as a reward for settling down on the blanket. Don’t say anything to your dog whilst doing this. Gradually reward more relaxed behaviours. This will vary between dogs – some will automatically start lying down and you can quickly progress to rewarding your dog only for this behaviour, before moving on to reward specific signs of relaxing like sighing, weight shifting and head resting. Some dogs will take longer and will struggle to stop pulling on the lead or staring at you. If this is the case with your dog, you’ll need to take things more slowly by rewarding behaviours such as standing quietly, disengaging from people or sniffing their blanket. Always make sure your dog is having a good time when settling, whether enjoying their toys, chews, or simply dozing and snoozing! When your dog is relaxed, start increasing the time they must be settled before you reward them. Gradually build up by a couple of seconds a time, over multiple training sessions. Once your dog is starting to get the hang of it and is shifting their weight so they’re comfortable and relaxing, you can start practising with them off lead. You need your dog to learn that they can settle down whether they are on or off-lead, practising very useful skills for a lot of different situations!