10 Tips On How To Show A Chihuahua Dominance Positively

Chihuahuas are often known to be bossy, so let’s discuss how to show a Chihuahua dominance in a positive way and not shout at your Chihuahua unnecessarily.

With my years of experience living with pets, especially dogs, negative reinforcement can only make your Chihuahua become aggressive.

Shouting or beating your Chihuahua can only end up giving room for most of the common and known Chihuahua behavior issues.

How To Show A Chihuahua Dominance

Here are the common ways to show a Chihuahua dominance in a positive way:

1. Develop an Alpha mentality

Your Chihuahua will need the discipline to be well-behaved and feel comfortable and secure in your care.

As soon as you bring your Chihuahua home, establish house rules, demonstrate your authority, and be consistent, especially with your dog’s food routine.

Instead of punishing your Chihuahua for bad behavior, choose to correct it. Punishment will be useless after the fact.

Also, try to show the physical characteristics of an alpha. Control your emotions and actions when your dog defies or disobeys you because dogs read body language.

You have to positively develop the mindset that your Chihuahua should follow your lead and not the other way round.

2. Create the rules

It’s critical to teach your Chihuahua the ins and outs of your home from the moment it arrives.

If your home rule is that your dog is not permitted beneath the supper table during meals, for example, firmly say “no” and gently move it away by the collar each time it disobeys the rule.

It’s critical that you and your family members are all on the same page when it comes to enforcing your Chihuahua’s home rules.

To minimize the ambiguity of sending confusing signals to your Chihuahua, make a list of pet-related home rules and post it wherever everyone in your family can see it.

3. Always insist on proper conduct

It is important to stay firm and insist on the right thing to be done at all times, not giving up when your Chihuahua is failing to follow your lead.

Stay consistent and focused gives faster results than switching modes or action plans, which may work in the longer term.

To develop good connections that your dog will seek out in the future, positive behavior should be firmly rewarded.

Praise, petting, food, and your dog’s favorite toys may all be used to reward positive behavior.

When a Chihuahua performs something excellent, trainers sometimes utilize clickers, which make a characteristic sound that is quickly followed by a reward.

4. Teach the fundamentals of obedience

When it comes to regulations, be consistent and explicit.

From the beginning, establish rules, limits, and limitations for your Chihuahua from the puppy stages. 

This includes limitations on personal space as well as where your Chihuahua may sleep, eat, and play.

Never let a domineering Chihuahua sleep in your bed or lounge on the couch. The reason for this is that the alpha dog occupies the greatest sleeping spot.

Allowing your Chihuahua to tug on the leash is very vital while training him.

Teach your Chihuahua to walk beside or behind you and to come to a complete halt on command. This compels your Chihuahua to seek instruction from you.

5. Use positive energy to communicate

Remember that Chihuahuas are able to detect when their owners are scared or nervous, they read your energy

Since Chihuahuas are intelligent and bossy, they will always see this as an invitation to take command.

You may stamp your authority and rectify undesirable habits by combining your emotions and actions with vocal orders.

Your Chihuahua must realize that you are serious about obedience and will not beg for it.

6. Learn how to manage and control your Chihuahua eating time.

Chihuahuas should be fed the same amount of food at the same time every day for both discipline and health reasons.

Ask your Chihuahua to sit before placing its food dish in front of it to demonstrate your command.

If your Chihuahua refuses to sit, say “no” and keep the food dish in your hand until he does.

Reinforce this guideline every mealtime to remind your Chihuahua that eating requires calm and well-behaved behavior.

Ensure that your Chihuahua eats his or her food at mealtime and control mealtimes.

If your Chihuahua doesn’t complete his or her food, put it aside until the next meal.

7. Place your Chihuahua on a time-out

Give your Chihuahua a time out if it is hyperactive, pestering another pet, or ignoring your orders.

The goal of a time-out is to employ social separation as a kind of negative reinforcement for inappropriate behavior, which works particularly well for sociable animals like dogs.

The time-out should take place in a dull, uninteresting location (such as the laundry room) and should be quick so that your Chihuahua recalls what it is missing out on and does not adjust to its new surroundings.

A time out should not exceed 60 seconds.

Before your Chihuahua knows that its time is as a result of a certain behavior, the practice may need to be repeated multiple times.

8. Use positive reinforcement

Never hit or shout at your Chihuahua as this can be attributed to negative vibes or reinforcement which leads to more bad behaviors.

Instead of correcting a negative behavior, always use positive reinforcement like to give your Chihuahua a good thing to complete instead.

This change will allow you to positively remediate negative behavior while also encouraging different, more desirable conduct.

If your dog is chewing on one of your child’s favorite toys, for example, give it a chew toy of its own.

9. Reward submissive behavior

Rewarding a submissive behavior makes learning easy for both you and your Chihuahua.

Teaching your Chihuahua to respect you as the alpha should be a pleasurable experience.

Correct conduct should always be praised, but don’t try to coerce your Chihuahua into showing affection.

Grooming and praising your Chihuahua is one way to show him that you care.

Touching, patting, and holding your pet’s paws on a regular basis can teach him control while still allowing him to enjoy cuddling time.

There are lots of things chihuahuas love you can use to reward them for being submissive.

10. Make corrections in the act

Punishing your Chihuahua for poor conduct after the fact is futile since it will no longer correlate the penalty with the behavior you’re punishing.

Stop your Chihuahua from doing something it isn’t supposed to do, or just as it is going to do something it isn’t supposed to do.

Correcting your Chihuahua at the moment will help it make the connection, though it may take a few times for the rule to take hold.

Stop your dog from eating your shoe or putting it in its mouth by forcefully stating “no” and removing the shoe.

11. Seek help

Seek expert assistance. If everything else fails, consulting a professional about your Chihuahua’s discipline problem is the most effective method to deal with the situation.

Veterinarians can determine whether your Chihuahua’s unpleasant behavior is due to underlying physical issues.

If not, your veterinarian might refer you to a certified professional dog trainer who can assist you with training and improving your Chihuahua’s general obedience.

Lastly,

Before you can begin teaching your dog, you must first establish yourself as the pack leader.

Excessive barking, ignoring recognized orders, and possessiveness of toys and food might occur if you don’t let your dog know who is in charge.

I hope with the information provided on this page, you understand How To Show A Chihuahua Dominance Positively!

Read more: Are Chihuahuas Aggressive (9 Causes, Signs & Prevention).