Animals are different from humans in every aspect. Their way of living is substantially different from humans.
Nowadays, the practice of keeping animals as pets is increasing rapidly. There are many animals that people like to keep as pets. Popular names are dogs, cats, rabbits, fish, etc.
Research shows that most households that keep animals as pets have kept at least one dog as a pet, which makes dogs the household name and most popular animal to keep as a pet.
People love to own multiple species of dogs, and a chihuahua is one of them.
Nowadays, chihuahuas are quite popular on the internet. Thanks to netizens’ meme-sharing culture, they have become viral.
Almost all viral memes about chihuahuas have one thing in common: their anger and aggression.
So, many people have misconceptions about chihuahuas and need to learn more about them.
Let’s take a closer look at this topic and know why chihuahuas are so aggressive. And Interesting facts about chihuahuas.
About Chihuahuas
Chihuahuas are native American dogs. They are amongst the smallest Mexican
breed of toy dog, whose name is inspired by the Mexican state chihuahua.
They are not big in shape. Although they are considered lap dogs, one average chihuahua’s weight is around 2 to 7 pounds (1 to 3 Kilos).
Chihuahuas are emotional, and you can usually find them near their favorite person/owner. Often they suffer separation anxiety when separated from their favorite person.
Generally, they are not-so-friendly and create bonds with their pet owners or only a few family members.
Chihuahuas have a brave personality and often show aggression toward unwanted people and animals. Despite the fact that they are much bigger than them.
They are proactive and think they must protect their owner from other people and animals.
You can consider them a protective child who behaves normally and gently at home in the presence of known people because they feel safe.
Why Are Chihuahuas So Aggressive?
Have you ever had a fierce encounter with a cute-looking chihuahua? It would terrify strong hearted people also.
Well! I had never had such an experience. I may be lucky when it comes to animal encounters.
However, aggressive behavior is very common for dogs of this small breed.
If you ask pet owners about this aggressive behavior, then many pet owners’ views would be the same: they consider chihuahuas as protective children who show aggression and tend to feel threatened when they are around strangers or feel that their beloved territory is invaded or someone is trying to harm their owner.
This behavior is in their genes, which is expected from all purebred chihuahuas.
Can we change Chihuahuas’ mean and aggressive behavior?
Chihuahuas dog aggression is natural and common in purebred dogs. So, it would be impossible to completely change their natural behavior and make them calm dogs who love every stranger and never get angry.
They have sassy personalities. However, the right training and care can reduce their aggression and train them to behave well.
But expecting that they will generalize their sweet behavior, which they show to their favorite persons with everyone, is wrong and never going to happen.
Let’s take a closer look at this interesting dog breed below.
Are Chihuahuas evil in nature?
As we already mentioned, chihuahuas have not-so-friendly nature but certainly don’t have evil personalities. You can compare their nature with protective children who tend to get aggressive when someone gets too close to their beloved person instead of calling them an evil personality.
They are proactive towards their territory. TERRITORIAL… Certainly Yes! It is not a bad thing.
Being territorial, they consider your entire home, including your yard, even the street, as their territory and themselves as their territory’s protector.
One can observe their extra sensitive behavior for some selective locations, such as where they sleep and eat. If you go too close to those areas, then be ready to see their aggressive behavior.
What are common signs that Chihuahuas are angry?
You can observe that they will start baring teeth and growling when they are angry. It is a common sign when they feel threatened or sense danger to their loved ones.
Moreover, their tail will stop wagging, and their posture will remain still and stop moving. This is a classic sign that you are in their territory, and the chihuahua does not like it.
To calm them, you need to back away. If you move further, then expect aggressive barking from them.
However, it has been observed that sometimes they ignore strangers, so it is unpredictable whether they will show aggression and start barking or ignore strangers (including animals).
People also observed that Chihuahuas’ dog aggression is different for all strangers. Sometimes they show aggression to an extent, say one or two minutes, then stop barking.
On the contrary, there are situations where Chihuahuas won’t stop showing aggression until strangers or threats (which they perceive as a threat) leave their territory.
Animals are sensitive, and they can observe a person’s personality silently. If they feel safe around someone, they calm down and behave gently.
So, as a pet owner, you must ensure that your pet is safe.
When it comes to playing with children, Chihuahuas are not a great playing mate for childrens.
They are small breed dogs, and children are not good at playing with chihuahuas because they play rough, which may trigger your chihuahua and harm children.
Especially if your chihuahua has been hurt before while playing with children, you need to maintain a distance.
How to control/reduce Chihuahua aggression?
There are some ways in which you can reduce chihuahua aggression. But first, you need to accept that aggression is the natural personality of a chihuahua, and we can’t completely change it.
As pet owners, we can take a few steps and train them, which can reduce their aggression to an extent.
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Make a habit of socialization
Animals tend to learn new things if trained well from a young age.
Pet owners can train them to become more social by making them socialize with strangers from a young age. An aging period of 8 to 16 weeks would be perfect to make them more social.
Generally, it is their fear development period, where they start identifying what is threatful or whatnot.
You must take them for a walk daily and introduce your chihuahua to new people daily. Initially, they will not cooperate and show anger, but eventually, you will see a change.
They will understand that all strangers are not threats and will start judging people based on their personalities and gestures. Experience during that period, whether negative or positive, greatly impacts their development.
If your chihuahua is older, it would require more time and effort to change.
However, socializing helps their development in both stages, i.e., younger and older.
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Good training of obedience
Animals can be well-trained if given proper training and time. You can mold your chihuahua’s behavior according to your will to an extent with consistent compliance training.
If your pet obeyed basic commands like eat, sit, stop, run, etc. Then it becomes easy to control your chihuahua when showing aggressive behavior.
However, they are challenging to train due to their obstinate nature. It would require a lot of training with consistency to make them obedient.
You can take help from professionals if you are a new pet owner to train them.
Moreover, they are intelligent, always try to cross the limit, and think they know what is best for them.
To train them effectively, you can opt for reward-based training. Like post successfully learning a new thing, you give them a reward they love.
Rewards should be exclusive, which your pet should not be getting frequently. It will keep your chihuahua’s momentum high toward training and make it easy for you to train your chihuahua.
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Making the environment secure for them
Stressful environments make humans and animals both vulnerable. In the chihuahuas’ case, stress makes them angry, and their aggression comes out.
Chihuahuas can be stressed for several reasons, like being surrounded by strangers, separation anxiety, or some bad experience.
Pet owners’ job is to make their pets feel secure and create a joyful environment.
It will help you to reduce your chihuahua’s aggression.
Well! Enough of information; now it’s time to read some interesting facts about chihuahuas:
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This small breed dog is extremely intelligent
These tiny dogs have quick learning ability and can be trained well in less time in their initial weeks.
If trained well, chihuahuas can compete in sports like obedience trials and agility.
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Name pronounce
Most people pronounce their name as “Chu-hu-hua,” but the right pronunciation is similar to “She-wa-wa.”
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Cold isn’t ideal environment for a chihuahua
Chihuahua breed originated in Mexico, where generally the temperature is warm. So you can notice that your chihuahua will look for warm and cozy spots at your home.
If you live in a cold environment, then you would require to spend some money on small sweaters and coats for your dog.
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Are you Living with young children? Chihuahuas might not be a great choice for you
Chihuahuas are small breed dogs and so delicate that they can’t tolerate rough play. Therefore, you need to teach young family members to be gentle with chihuahuas so they won’t get hurt.
Conclusion
Chihuahuas are amazing. They have interesting personalities, and many of us keep them as pets.
This post was an attempt to provide truthful information about chihuahuas to our readers.
If you are a pet owner or going to become one, share your feedback related to our post in the comment section, and also feel free to ask any question related to chihuahuas in the comment section.
Our team will be happy to answer your queries.