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Whether she is deer or apple-headed, long-haired or short, your Chihuahua is almost certainly very cute. It is almost equally likely that she is energetic, with a larger than life personality. Chihuahuas belie their minuscule stature with big attitudes and committed loyalty. Your Chihuahua is happiest by your side, and she is willing to stick with you no matter what.
Many of us choose a small-breed dog because of the ease of exercising small dogs compared to larger dogs, among other things. Too often, however, a Chihuahua can become a little crazy when not exercised and socialized properly.
If you realize you need your Chihuahua to calm down, perhaps because she is jumping off your guest's heads on the couch or spinning in circles around their feet, your goals will be twofold. First, you will need to teach your Chihuahua self-control. Dogs, like people, are not born with self-control, but must develop it through a painstaking process of slowly extending the delay of reward for some worthy purpose. If your Chihuahua has never needed to use self-control, the skill will have to be built gradually over time.
Secondly, your Chihuahua needs exercise and new experiences to gain the worldliness needed for her to keep her chill. If your Chihuahua's world extends primarily to your house and yard, she is likely to be overwhelmed with excitement by every new person or thing coming into that space.
When choosing a training and exercise regimen for your Chihuahua, be careful to keep her physical limitations in mind. Chihuahuas have delicate necks and spines that can be injured easily on a neck lead, so it is best to always restrain your Chihuahua with a comfortable and securely fitted harness. While your Chihuahua may be willing to run with you all day, this may not be good for her, especially until she develops stamina. Make sure you are matching activities to your Chihuahua's abilities and build activity gradually. To develop self-control in your Chihuahua it helps to have desirable rewards. Use the smallest and lowest calorie treats that will motivate your Chihuahua, as they gain weight easily.
The Exercise to Zen Method
Most Recommended
2 Votes
Most Recommended
2 Votes
Bouncing off the walls
If your Chihuahua is bouncing off of the walls with energy, she may need more exercise before she can control herself and develop calm.
Exercise safely
Build your exercise routine slowly, so that you don't overwhelm your Chihuahua.
Variety in exercise
The more variable your Chihuahua's exercise routine, the better. Maybe one day you play fetch for an hour, another you go for a long walk, and another you practice wading in shallow water.
Exercise until tired
As your Chihuahua builds strength, exercise her until she is tired and relaxed at the end of exercise.
Build self-control
Now that you have a calm Chihuahua to work with, you can begin building self-control for calm even when not tired by practicing extended stays for rewards.
The Job to Do Method
Effective
1 Vote
Effective
1 Vote
Can't get out
If it isn't practical for you to take your Chihuahua outside for exercise and exposure, that's OK, you can give her lots of mental stimulation and exercise at home so she will handle new people in her home with calm.
Give her jobs
Give your Chihuahua jobs to do. Train her to gather her toys or your spare socks from around the house. Teach her to drag a dust mop around. Make up any kind of jobs, real or imaginary for her.
Create routine
Use your Chihuahua's new jobs to build a routine into your daily life with her so she feels busy and has designated working and resting times.
Challenge her mind
Keep your Chihuahua occupied with varying types of chew and food puzzle toys. Keep teaching her new tricks and chores so she stays engaged.
Teach self-control
As your Chihuahua develops calm, teach her self-control with extended stays for rewards.
The New Experiences Method
Effective
0 Votes
Effective
0 Votes
Homebody spaz
If your Chihuahua doesn't get out much and goes crazy every time she does go out or someone visits, she may develop a lot of calm just by getting out more.
Get out safely
Make sure your Chihuahua has a securely fit harness, and bring a cozy bag that she can nestle into if she gets overwhelmed in the course of your outings.
Start with calm spaces
To build calm in your Chihuahua, take her to calm places without much stimulus. Going somewhere without many people around will also spare you embarrassment as your Chihuahua gets all the crazy barking out of her system.
Go out frequently
Try to take your Chihuahua somewhere new every day, or several times a day if possible. The more the better, just make sure you have her safe bag in case she gets overwhelmed.
Build stimulus
Gradually build up to more and more stimuli in the places you go. Encourage self-control by asking your Chihuahua to stay and wait for reward for increasing periods while out and at home.
Written by Coral Drake
Veterinary reviewed by:
Published: 02/22/2018, edited: 01/08/2021
Training Questions and Answers
How too get him not too be hyper in the house
Jan. 21, 2021
Butter ball's Owner
Alisha Smith - Alisha S., Dog Trainer
253 Dog owners recommended
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!
Jan. 21, 2021
She is very hyper all the time I hardly ever see her sleep anymore she is up all day running around outside and when in house she paces constantly and during the night she won't stay in bed she gets up and down and wanders around and barks at any little noise we tried crate training to give her a little quiet den of her own and she will go in and chew on her toys for maybe 15 min then gets up and wanders around again and she likes to dig in her bed on my bed and outside she brings little treasures inside she finds ie old bones other dogs left around or garbage her favorite is bones tho she will pack them into house and we are constantly throwing the excess out I put one in her kennel for her but she always finds more and once they are in house she doesn't even chew on them she just leaves them on floor and off to find another one outside
Jan. 21, 2021
Gwynn's Owner
Caitlin Crittenden - Dog Trainer
1128 Dog owners recommended
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
Jan. 22, 2021