Need HELP with a wily pug and chihuahua

[china_cat84]

Hi, everyone! I've just started watching Victoria's show and I absolutely love it. I actually TiVO it so I never miss an episode!

Even after watching Victoria's show and the Dog Whisperer, I can't seem to get through to my 2 dogs!

In 2004, we adopted a baby chihuahua. She will be 6 years old this June. She doesn't have too many behavioral issues and she's a very loving dog. Her problems are mainly fear-based. She freaks out (yapping, barking, and running around) when someone rings the bell or knocks on the door. We have to grab her right away or she runs behind the sofa and continues to bark - by the time we've pulled the sofa out to catch her, she runs somewhere else - barking incessantly the entire time. After the visitor comes into our house and settles down, she settles too - until the get up to go to the restroom or to leave. Then there's more barking until they come back and sit or until they're gone. Usually, we just put her upstairs until the visitors leave. She's also not fully house trained. She uses wee wee pads instead because she doesn't like going on grass unless she has to. She's also very sensitive to hot and cold weather so if we let her out to go potty and it's hot or cold, she refuses to go.

We just adopted a pug on December 23rd, 2009. He was 8 mos old and is nearly 9 months old. He was just neutered on January 12th because the previous owner of this dog was a breeder and she was planning on using him for breeding as well. She changed her mind and now we have him. He has many more issues than any puppy should have which leads me to believe that he was kept in the basement (when we arrived at the woman's house, she brought him from the basement) without much human or dog social interaction. He does not like my husband or my husband's male friend. He doesn't bark or bite, he just kind of cowers and then runs away. We're not yet sure if he's afraid of men or anyone else besides myself. He's attached himself to me and follows me everywhere. We'd take him out for some socialization (human and dog) but we can't yet because of the bad weather - everything's a sheet of ice. He also pees on everything - mostly paper type items (like newspapers, magazines, and even paper towels and tissues) but he's also peed on my chihuahua's favorite toy as well as one of my daughter's pants. We also have to keep my daughter's door shut because he likes to go poopy in there - not pee, just poop. He's also a very destructive chewer - which is normal for his age. We have TONS of toys for him, all kinds of toys - kong toys, nylabones, rawhides, loofadogs, anything a dog could ever want. Yet he prefers to chew on my daughter's wooden blocks, dolls, and plastic toys. He also likes to eat tissues and he will steal food if given the chance. He's also a bad jumper - only on me but sometimes on my daughter (who is 2 1/2). It's mostly out of excitement - usually when I come home from class or get him up in the morning. He jumps all over me and it drives me crazy.

So far, I've tried ignoring him when he does the jumping thing. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. When he chews on things he shouldn't, I get one of his own toys and distract him from the chewing with it. My husband has tried the "touch" command that Victoria often uses to get him to become more accustomed to my husband and it helps but it's VERY slow going. And I have no idea how to handle the potty training and how to get him to stop peeing - everytime he does it, we clean the carpet with a special pet cleaner with enzymes to destroy the odor. He's not peeing in the same spots, and he uses the wee wee pads about 70% of the time - but he only pees on them, never poos on them. The rest of the time, he pees on books, newspapers, magazines, clothing - he's actually dragged a newspaper off of my chair and then peed on it. Growing up, my parents always raised the pets and whenever they messed on the floor, my parents (my father) would shove their noses in it. Luckily, before I got my pets I knew that it was an awful method that didn't work. But I still don't know how to do it properly. Several people have told me that I should crate him at night and when I'm gone in a crate that's only large enough to hold his bed and his food - no place to potty. Supposedly, this will teach him to hold his bladder and bowels. I don't know if this is a good idea or not. He's always locked up in the restroom at night and when we're gone anyway - but of course, the restroom is much much larger than a crate. He usually pees on the wee pads when he's in there, unless there's a magazine on the floor. I just don't know what to do with this dog. And since I have a 2 yr old, it just complicates things. If it were just me home alone, I would take him out on a walk and let him go potty outside. But with my daughter, it's much too cold for her to be outside for more than a few minutes and by the time I got her ready, got myself ready, got the dog ready, and started going outside, he would have gone on the floor anyway. Maybe it will be easier when we move. We currently live in an annex on an old house. We have the 2nd floor and the finished attic which it upstairs. There is a yard but it's not fenced in.

Sorry this was so long. I'm just so confused! I appreciate any and all suggestions!

[china_cat84]

Oh - I forgot to list a couple other things so before someone asks about them, here they are:

1) Cricket (chihuahua) can NOT be on a traditional feeding schedule per the veterinarian's instructions. She is hypoglycemic and must have access to food at ALL times. So I can't schedule her potty times.

2) Otis (pug) eats in the morning at breakfast and in the evening at dinner. So when should I take him for walks? I was told by a vet tech that you should take them before eating to help prevent bloat but another tech said that pugs aren't prone to bloat so it doesn't matter.

3) Otis sometimes chases Cricket - I believe that he just wants to play with her but she's a little scared and unsure. He chases her behind the couch, then she hides beneath it where he can't reach and growls and snaps at him. Sometimes she'll get in his face and he runs out from behind the couch with his tail between his legs. She doesn't mind him as long as he leaves her alone.

4) Cricket will nip at strangers if they try to touch her before she's settled down a bit. She's never actually broken skin, but it does hurt!

5) Also, and I know this isn't the right forum but I might as well ask - does anyone know how to make a dog's gas less stinky? Being a pug, Otis does have gas quite frequently and it stinks - bad. I was told to feed him plain, unsweetened yogurt and was wondering if this has helped anyone else? It's not his food. He was on one brand and still quite stinky, and then we switched him (gradually) to a better brand which is hypoallergenic and has no corn, soy, gluten, or beef.

[emmabeth]

Ok, toilet training - are you rewarding both dogs for going where you want them to go? You need to do this , because its you that cares where they go, they really are not bothered so you must give them a reason to be bothered. (Which is why people used to rub dogs noses in it, which as you realise is wrong, it was to give them a reason NOT to go somewhere. What we do now, is to give them a reason TO go somewhere specific.).

You need really..... to not use Dog Whisperer methods, if you are using any of these you could well be causing more anxiety in your Chihuahua which is why shes hiding and shouting from behind the sofa. Its anxiety, fear.. some dogs might just hide but a fiesty barky breed like a Chi is never going to do that ... so shes off, hiding to keep herself safe and barking to tell the scary person 'get lost, keep away from me'. Once they sit down they are less scary, and once they get up and move again, whoa... scary!

If you have some friends who will help you, starting with them sat down and NOT looking at her (preferably sat on the floor), have them gently toss tasty food treats towards her. Do NOT let them offer a treat from their fingers, look at her, talk to her etc... just sit sideways on, dont look and quietly toss food towards her.

For now, stick to this, have her away when they come in, bring her down when the guest is sat down, and once you have done a few minutes of food tossing and want to get on with whatever you wanted to talk to your friend about, you put HER away before your friend gets up and moves.

Repeat this a few times maybe even in the same visit before you introduce her to teh same person, standing up, or sitting on the sofa. Build things up gradually so go from sitting to standing, but then if you want to see if she can handle the guest talking to her, go back to sitting on the floor. Change just one thing at a time and if you increase the scaryness of one aspect... decrease the other scary things for a little while.

I would also go back to your vet and ask if Cricket can be fed several times a day - because you are goingto have a big problem free feeding one dog and not the other. I have looked around and done some reading and it does seem that hypoglycemia can be controlled by lots of regular small meals, so do go back and ask your vet if this is ok and also ask what training treats Cricket can have.

Walks are better off before a meal and leave half an hour to an hour before he eats. If its a short walk and he didnt do much energetic then half an hour is fine. Bloat is more likely in deep chested dogs, I actually wouldnt take a chance with ANY dog purely because I have a dog who survived bloat... and would not want to go through that again!

You need to stop Otis chasing Cricket - she doesnt like it at all and hes not really listening to her until she gets really nasty about it, which means hes teaching her she NEEDS to get snappy and bitey. You dont want that!

Dont allow strangers to try and touch Cricket, if they cant follow instructions either, dont have Cricket in the same room as them, or dont have them over to your house. The more people push Cricket and try to force her to accept something shes badly scared of, the more scared she will become, the more she will learn that biting/snapping WORKS and the harder it will be to solve this problem in the long term. You may need to get quite assertive with people making sure they do NOT touch Cricket. Its hard, but it is necessary, she will absolutely NOT learn to trust people if shes constantly pushed out of her comfort zone.

You want live yoghurt (the kind with the friendly bacteria in it) for Otis's tummy but it may well still be the food, he may not find complete commercial dog food ideal for his digestive system. Try the yoghurt though and see how you go on from there.

[china_cat84]

Thanks for the tips!

Just one question - how do I stop Otis from chasing Cricket? We've tried the startle thing with the loud "HEY!" but that no longer works. He's just so focused on getting her to play with him! They don't dislike each other because Cricket will sleep next to Otis when he's calm. She'll even be face to face with him if he's calm. But once he becomes alert, her lip curls and she growls. Then, he starts to act playful - trying to touch her with his paws and acting all bouncy and puppy-like. That totally sets her off and she snaps and barks. I know he's not trying to be aggressive towards her - he just wants to play and doesn't understand why she doesn't. She's a very low energy dog, while he's more of a medium energy dog. He's not super hyper at all compared to most dogs his age - but compared to her, he looks like a 2 month old boxer pup at PetCo (pet store in the states - like doggy disneyland!).

Also - what does everyone (especially emmabeth, since you seem very knowledgeable) feel about having Cricket meet guests before they enter the house, while she's on a leash? I ask because when she's out on her walks and new dogs and people come up to meet her, she seems timid but she rarely barks or growls. As long as they are respectful of her and let her sniff them, she's fine. She doesn't even bark at dogs or people across the street. Home is a different story. If she even hears a noise that slightly resembles a knock or doorbell or even people's voices, she barks. I thought that maybe if she met the "strangers" before they came into her environment, she might get used to them and the fact that they will be in the house. We will be moving to our first house very soon and since we will have the most room for entertaining, our families will be coming over often for holidays and get-togethers. I don't know how the treat-tossing method will work for all those people, so I thought having her outside to meet and greet people as they slowly arrive might work too. We will definitely try the treat tossing for the random visitor that pops by though. I just want her to be happy and socialize well with our guests like a normal dog.

[emmabeth]

Meeting people outside can be good if shes ok on the lead but then you do have the issue of the people being stood up... and shes tiny. You go outside and lie down on your front on the sidewalk and look up at an average height human - they look like GIANTS... its pretty darn scary down there!

Shes not ready to meet roomfulls of people right now - one person at a time in pre-organised training sessions and otherwise pop her in another room where shes safe until she IS ready to meet say two people at once, then three etc etc.

This training wont work if you push her beyond her comfort zone by rushing or trying to intro more than one person at a time.

[china_cat84]

Ok, thanks for all the help! I will try all the techniques and report back what happens!