What drives chihuahua excitement at the door?
Various factors contribute to chihuahua excitement at the door. Doors play a significant role in a dog’s daily experiences, as this area of the house often becomes a focal point for anxiety-driven barking and jumping.
- Anxiety
- Excitement
- Change
- Prediction of change
- People energy
Start to look at this from your chihuahuas’ point of view and you start to understand why dogs find the front door such a bucket filler.
A lot happens around the door when you leave, to your chihuahua you just disappear, and they have no idea when you will reappear. When you do reappear, it’s accompanied with noise and movement. Like a drum roll for a magic trick!
You could be coming home from work, shopping or the school run and your entry is accompanied by different triggers that predict an event around the door. For example the sound of the car engine, movement and voices, keys and rattling of the letter box. You may then be manoeuvring a pram, shopping, or kids with school bags. All this adds to bustle creating more chihuahua excitement at the door. Excitement at the door can also be tied up with separation anxiety.
Visitors and deliveries are often announced by the doorbell or door knocker. Your chi has paired this sound with change and now knows a meaningful event at the door is about to happen. This pushes up their arousal level with anxiety or excitement.
Going out for a dog walk creates either excitement or anxiety and a huge change in the dog’s vulnerability. The rush of smells, sounds and movement may be overwhelming and this change of status will also be paired with the door.
Prediction of events.
Your chihuahua starts to watch for predictors of action around the door. People walking outside, sounds outside, cars drawing up, car doors slamming. Different dogs have different threshold levels.
Predictors can also be the things you do before you leave. The clothes you wear, picking up your keys, moving towards the door.
Getting your chihuahua ready for a walk will contain a huge number of triggers that create prediction of the walk. This could be walking to the cupboard to get the harness, getting the harness out, putting it on, getting the lead. Triggers can be more subtle than this as your dog knows your routine. How your chihuahua feels about the predicted event will affect their arousal level.
People energy.
When the door goes, there is the energy and excitement owners add into the situation. If its family coming home, it’s a lovely greeting and lots of fuss.
If the person at the door is a stranger like a workman the energy will be different. Control and anxiety from the owner as they try and manage the dog’s behaviour will add anxiety into the arrival of visitors or the door opening to take in a parcel. Restraining them by the collar, telling them no, pushing them down if they are jumping all add additional stress and anxiety.
It can become a game of Russian roulette; will it be an exciting fun greeting or will it be negative worrying event?
It’s easy to see how this area of the house becomes a hot-zone of anxiety or chihuahua excitement. Both these emotions have similar output behaviour. Jumping up at you or visitors, barking at sound and movement around the door. Anxiety driven aggression to visitors.
The good news is we can fix it and in part two of this post you can get some tips to help grow calmness around the door.
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