Stop Chihuahua Barking! -

Would you like to stop chihuahua barking?

Chihuahua barking can be a problem. Chihuahua are excitable dogs and they like a bark. As a Pro Dog Trainer and Behaviour Coach this is the number one thing I get asked about.

The other evening, I happened to be in an extremely large chihuahua fan page on Facebook and saw a post asking how to stop chihuahua barking. The post has a lot of comments with a vast array of advice being given.

Most of the advice was horrifying and ranged from squirting lemon in the dog’s mouth, firing water at it, shock collars, citronella collars, shaking cans of coins at them.

These are called adverses training methods, methods of training that produce an unpleasant stimulus for a dog to try and teach it something.

The error people make is assuming that the dog makes any kind of pairing between the unpleasant stimulus (squirt of lemon in the mouth) and what they are doing (barking). What does happen is the dog will make the pairing of fear or pain from the training method, and the event that they are barking at and your movement. Can you see the difference?

People assume these methods work because they stop the chihuahua barking in the moment as your chihuahua is momentarily shocked. But long-term it has a very detrimental effect on the dog’s confidence. Creating anxiety and pessimism. It can also create anxiety around your movement as your chihuahua has no idea what is going to happen next. This is how owners get bitten when they go to pet their dog.

For example, a chihuahua barking out the window at a passer-by won’t understand that the squirt of water or loud noise from an air horn is to stop them barking at the person walking past. How could they? All this unpleasant stimulus does is add more excitement into the situation and increase their worry about people walking by the house. It does teach them something, but not what you think.

It withdraws from your chihuahua’s confidence and ultimately your relationship.

Why Chihuahuas bark

Chihuahuas bark for lot’s of different reasons. On walks it can be anxiety around other dogs, learned behaviour from past experiences. They can become hypervirulent to sounds and movement. the more they rehearse this, the more it becomes a default behaviour. the act of running about barking creates additional excitement which then creates more anxiety. Now you have yourself a toxic cycle of stress related barking. It can look a bit like this.

When they spend a lot of time in a high state of arousal or ‘flight or fight’ mode they are going to be full of cortisol, the stress hormone, which changes how they view things.

When your chihuahua sees or hears something they will ask themselves, “what does this mean for me?” then “is it good or bad?” Because they are in ‘flight or fight’ mode and more inclined to be worried by something, they decide it’s bad, and bark at it to get it to stay away.

It is entirely possible to reduce chihuahua barking in a force-free way. No gadgets or unpleasant training methods required. We reduce your chihuahua’s arousal and help them calm down. We work with them to help them understand not everything needs to be barked at. Grow their confidence and tolerance to novelty or (new things).

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