To me, treat training is the bane of dog training. Let me tell you a story about my ex’s sister’s Chihuahua.
My ex’s family had a birthday party for me, about 20 showed up. The sister brought her little non-confident Chihuahua, and anyone that came in the front door had their ankles targetted. And she was biting. Everyone was encouraged to feed her treats to appease her – and that is not me. I’m not doing that – it’s disrespectful to a dog. Bear in mind, this is the first time I’m meeting this dog.
When I came in, she came at me, nipping at my ankles and everyone is yelling about giving her a treat. Instead, I calmly picked her up, cradled her in my arm – didn’t talk to her. The look on everyone’s face was priceless. I’m standing their calmly with this Chi in my arm, I’m not hurting her, my hand is cradling her chest – I can feel her heart. She’s not freaked out. She went calm.
Now people claim I’m flooding the dog. No, I’m respecting her – I’m showing her that I’m calm, and she doesn’t need to be like this with me. I held her for a few minutes, gave a bit of affection and put her down. How did things change?
Any time anyone else got up to go to the kitchen, she would attack their ankles. When I got up, she followed me around. The owner was shocked when the Chi came to me while I was sitting. I picked her up, put her on my lap and gave her loving. I was the only one that gave her respect – I’m showing her that she doesn’t need to act like this. I didn’t have an issue with her all night, she was in fact a very good dog.
The dog wanted people to respect her and her space. It’s not a fear response.
Assessed a cute Chihuahua last week, same. He was barking and nipping people as well. Met him alone in the owners vehicle, the owner was 50 feet away. Sure he barked but didn’t offer to bite, I’m calm and unafraid. Sat quietly in the car, he had a sniff and barked some. Brought Monty out, he wasn’t sure what to do – but he had a sniff. When he laid down and relaxed, I picked him up and carried him to the owner. I believe the owner was a little shocked that his dog was calm laying in my arm. Had the owner feel the dogs heartbeat, he was calm.
We are heading to a dog park on the owners next day off.