Chihuahua Temperament and Training in Toronto

Devoted to the point of following you room to room, alert, opinionated and considerably more trainable than the reputation suggests. Most bond hardest with one person. They are watchful, which is where the barking comes from, and genuinely clever, which means they learn what you teach by accident just as quickly as what you teach on purpose. They suit a Toronto flat well. The catch is that an under-occupied Chihuahua invents its own job, and the job it picks is usually supervising the corridor.

No, they are under-trained. A four-pound dog can jump on visitors, ignore a recall and guard the sofa for a decade without anyone finding it annoying enough to address. The same behaviour in a Labrador is dealt with inside a fortnight. Chihuahuas are food-motivated, quick and like the work, so a few minutes twice a day gets you a long way. Apply the standard you would apply to a big dog and most of the reputation evaporates.

It depends far more on the children than on the dog. A Chihuahua is small enough to be genuinely hurt by ordinary toddler enthusiasm, and a dog that has been grabbed or dropped once remembers it. With calm older children who understand not to chase, snatch or lift the dog, they usually do well. With very young children they need real supervision and somewhere to retreat that nobody follows them into. Ask the rescue what the dog has actually lived with rather than guessing, because a foster home will know.

Frequency, a fixed schedule, and realism about the bladder involved. Small dogs hold less and need more trips out than a bigger puppy, and in a flat or a tower every trip involves a corridor, a lift and a lobby first. Take the dog out on the clock rather than waiting for a signal, because the signal arrives about four seconds before the accident. Reward outdoors immediately rather than back inside. Expect the winter to slow it down: a short-coated dog will hold on rather than face salt and slush, then have an accident indoors, which looks like a training failure and is really a weather one.

In tiny steps, long before you need it, and stopping while the dog is still comfortable. This matters more for Chihuahuas than for most breeds because dental disease is close to inevitable in a jaw that crowded, so a dog that tolerates having its mouth handled gets better care for its entire life. Touch a paw and reward. Days later, hold it. Later still, let the clippers be present without using them. One nail is a complete session. Forcing it through once to get the job done usually costs weeks and makes the vet visit harder too.

It is a genuine breed tendency rather than something you did wrong. Many Chihuahuas attach hardest to one person and treat everyone else as furniture, and some start guarding that person from other people or dogs. Reduce it by having other members of the household do the good things: feeding, walks, training, treats. Discourage the guarding rather than being flattered by it, because a dog growling at your partner from your lap is rehearsing something you do not want in a year. If it has already reached snapping, bring in a qualified behaviour professional.

Yes, and it is worth the work. Practise on a long line somewhere quiet, make coming back pay every single time, and never call the dog to do something it dislikes, which is the fastest way to ruin a recall. Be realistic about where you use it: Toronto permits off leash only in designated areas, the fine outside one runs up to $615, and a very small dog in a busy off-leash area can be hurt by a large dog with no ill intent at all. Designated areas at quiet hours are the sensible version for this breed.

Most of the basics are perfectly learnable at home in short daily sessions, and the breed responds well to that. A class earns its money when you want the dog working around other dogs and people, which is exactly the context a small dog finds hardest and the one most owners avoid practising. If you go, choose a trainer who uses reward-based methods and ask what they do when a dog gets something wrong before you book. Anything involving a correction is the wrong room for a Chihuahua.

Usually easier. An adult concentrates for longer than a puppy, is often already house trained, and arrives with a temperament you can assess instead of predict. A foster home can tell you whether the dog settles alone, how it is with other dogs, and whether it has ever guarded anything, none of which comes with a puppy. Old habits can be changed. The idea that an adult dog is finished is not true.