Teaching Your Chihuahua Successfully

There’s certain rules you need to follow if you want to be successful at teaching your Chihuahua. Your dog won’t differentiate between exercises and play if he’s having fun. To make sure that your training time together is both enjoyable and useful, get into good habits and stick to them.

Ten Rules for a Successful Teaching

RULE 1: Never start a session when your Chihuahua is already tired or cranky; equally, you may want to take the edge off his energy before you try to get him to play mind games with you—perhaps get into the habit of doing ten minutes of exercises at the end of a daily walk.

RULE 2: Only teach your dog when you’re in a positive frame of mind. If you’re feeling angry or impatient, it will communicate itself to your pet, and the session probably won’t be a success.

RULE 3: Try a range of exercises in every session. Even if you only commit to ten minutes once a day, daily (time enough to get good results), aim to do two exercises your Chi already knows or almost knows, and one that’s new to him. This will keep it fresh and keep boredom at bay.

RULE 4: When an exercise consists of more than one stage, don’t overload your dog; teach him each stage separately before putting them together.

RULE 5: Alternate active games with thinking exercises; most owners find that they get better results if they vary the pace when they’re teaching.

RULE 6: If your dog doesn’t get it take a step back. If you’ve tried something three times and your dog doesn’t understand what you want and is beginning to get frustrated, go back to something you know he can do ‑ even if it’s a simple “Sit” – and try again the following day. This reduces pressure and stops him from becoming anxious.

RULE 7: Make the rewards worth it. Keep the treats small, but make them something your dog loves. For most pets, this might mean tiny pieces of chicken, cheese, or sausage, and be generous. If necessary, cut back his meals a little so he doesn’t put on weight.

RULE 8: Give an occasional bonus payoff. This is a trick many professional trainers use. Most of the time, when your dog successfully does what he’s asked, he gets a treat. But every so often—not every session, but perhaps once or twice a week—give him six or seven treats at once when he does what you ask. Your Chihuahua will be thrilled, and the possibility of a treat bonanza will encourage him to pay even closer attention to you.

RULE 9: Offer fewer treats with tried-and-tested exercises with which your dog has become completely familiar. Give him a treat, but not every time. Keep the best stuff for when he’s working hard at something new.

RULE 10: You can teach your dog all his life. Don’t assume that training is finished because you’ve ironed out his bad habits and taught him to do most of what you need him to; instead, use future sessions to reinforce the bond between you and experiment with new tricks and games.

It’s much more important to have short, regular teaching sessions than long, infrequent ones. “Short and often” is a good rule when training.