bite inhibition training

Question
QUESTION: We have five small Chihuahua four of which are rescues. One  rescue a 5 year old female barks and bites at the ankles of anyone that walks through the same room except me. She attacks my husband, grandson and 12 year old autistic child I watch. This is a daily thing. When they sit down she is fine, but other than that she is on the attack.
I cannot get this behavior to stop. I am trying desperately before she hurts someone. She has had a terrible start in life. She was removed from a puppy mill after several litters of pups. She had been caged and not well taken care of. She even eats her on poo! I call her Muluani Blue, Blue for short, she is a beautiful little girl. She is kind and gentle to me. She loves to be held and loved on. She snuggles in bed at night and it seems she is watching over me. I so badly want her to have a happy and healthy life but I really need help to stop her bad habit of nipping. If you have any suggestions I would be so happy.
Thank you
Carol

ANSWER: Hi Carol...

As soon as I read what you've written here, it occurred to me that I have had at least three other people write to me within a three month period of time who also had rescue dogs from a puppy mill situation and who were experiencing the same problems.  This, obviously, is a huge problem with dogs who are older and who have had a terrible start to life and have not been properly taken care of prior to their new homes. Puppy mills are horrible!  I'm wondering if you got this dog through a rescue?

Carol, in general, Chihuahuas are well known for being very protective of the people they love and bond with and often do not do well with children.  I run a Chihuahua group on Yahoo Groups and there are so many people who join and say that they got their Chi pup for their daughter or son and then later ask who on the group would like to have it as it's not accepting the child/children or the dog has bitten a child.  It's a shame that so many irresponsible breeders advertise their pups as being child-friendly when that just may not be the case at all as the puppy matures.  There's always the exception to everything and you may have four other Chis that don't mind your grandson and the child you take care of, but I'm talking about "in general".  Then, you take a dog that lived in a cage and was horribly mistreated and most likely NEVER received any type of love or affection and you've got a very deep seated problem and I really don't know of any way to correct it.  I would like you to consider this fact:  This dog sees YOU as her savior and she's extremely devoted to you and she's relying on the only thing that she had to rely on her whole life (before you got her) and that's her instincts to protect herself.  The fact that she only goes after others when they move is, to me, nothing more than proof that she is constantly ready to defend herself and, most probably, you!  You're exactly right when you say that it seems like she's watching over you - She IS!!  

I once rescued a Chihuahua that reacted to other people exactly as you are describing here.  She, too, had a horrible life before I got her.  She eventually came to accept my husband (it took years).  Sadly, I lost her to a congenital medical problem that most likely had to do with bad breeding.  I miss her horribly and I miss that extreme unconditional love that she bestowed upon me for having saved her.  She was special and the love she gave me was special.  I was willing to accommodate her behavior and give her lots of time and love while she adjusted to a life where she didn't have cause for defense any longer.

The only thing that I can think of, Carol, is for you to accept how she is and not expect her to act "normal" when the circumstances of her past life have been anything but "normal". I understand your fear of her hurting someone and it would take some changes within the household to prevent that. Perhaps this dog must be confined to one room (using a baby gate) and only brought out amongst others when she can be supervised.  I see this as a good learning experience for all involved, especially the youngsters.  Instead of seeing her as problematic, perhaps everyone can look at her as being "special" due to her past and understand that because you took her in and understood her "fears" that she has a special love for you.  At those times that you bring her out amongst others, have everyone sit down and perhaps have them (only one person at a time) offer her a favorite treat and speak to her softly without moving too fast, etc.  It took a lot of time for her to get to be the way she is and during that time she didn't know that there was any other kind of life.  All of this - your husband, the grandchild, the autistic child are completely foreign to her.  IF she ever adjusts, it will take a long, long time and I just don't think you can have the same expectations as you would with a puppy or perhaps a dog that someone gave up because they were moving.

What have you done prior to try to get this behavior to stop?  It would help if I knew...  With any Chihuahua I recommend EXTREME positive reinforcement when they do well.  For instance, if she takes a treat from your grandson while he is sitting down and talking softly to her, then I would reward her with lots of kisses and praise in a high pitched, happy voice.  If she should take the treat and then growl as he hands it to her, I would say "NO" in a firm voice once or twice.  If he offers her another treat and she growls again, then I would again say "NO" and then pick her up and confine her in another room for a time out (no more than five or ten minutes unless she's in her confined area that you use to keep her in when the kids are over).  You might try doing this in time with someone walking through the room - if she doesn't try to bite their ankles and shows improvement, slather her with praise and give a treat.  If she is aggressive towards the walking person, a firm "NO" and pick her up and put her in her confined area for a set period of time.  I prefer small intervals like 5 or 10 minutes of confinement.  I also suggest NOT putting her in a dog crate for a time out.  She should see a crate as her "safe place".  Have you tried putting a crate out in the house so that she has a safe place to be when the family is there?

Please feel free to write back with answers to the above questions or if you have more questions.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Well I think because I want to help this situation so badly that I wasn't clearly putting down the issue. We have no crates for the chi's. They are confined during the day to two rooms of the house, the Chihuahua room and the kitchen. Some of them spent their life in a cage and I just can't crate them.

We did get 3 of them from a rescue. The rescues were only there for a week or so before we took them. The youngest, a 4 month old was picked up at a crack down on the breeder and transferred directly to me that day. Riddled with fleas, worms, and other problems. The organization that took in the dogs removed over 40 dogs and puppies that day!

I am aware that they don't like children. We have one shelter in a neighboring county that takes in as many as 4 or 5 chi's monthly. It is sad. When we are out with the dogs we are very careful around children.

Blue, is five and the barker nipper. She had six litters and has lost most of her teeth. She will tolerate, even snuggle with my husband, grandson (16 year old 6'4") and Johnnie, 11 year old. It is ONLY when they get up and walk she barks and nips at their feet.


When correcting Blue I use the command, quite and an open palm up. she responds unless she is going in for the foot! Then I need to repeat it several times.

When I took her I took a four your old stud that was just fixed. He was a puppy millers stud. He is a wonderful boy and loves everyone, unless they give me a hug or kiss, then it is full attack. He has to be restrained for my husband to tell me goodbye. If I have my husband hold him and I kiss my husband, Chibbie is fine. It is amazing.

My other rescue was my best friends baby. She died suddenly at age 43 and I was devastated. Her husband gave me her chi. Bella Rose saved my life. I was so depressed and with out Bella I would have been lost.

Then we have one little girl, Muchacha, 2 1/2 that I bought from a private home. She is a good little girl that is not a problem with anything.

So as you can see they are all a bit different, sorta like my children were. But they need love. They were so deprived I can't imagine giving them the good life the deserve. I just want to learn what I need to do. I like the time out idea. So does my hubby. Who is being very kind and accepting of this situation.

My biggest concern is to help Blue feel secure and not chase after those that dare walk. That would be a huge help.

By the way, I support the Animal Rescue Site were I purchased my necklace that is my motto. "My dog rescued me" They are the light of my life, and I just want to return the joy the give me.
Thank you for your help.
I would be very interested in your Chihuahua group, is it open?

Answer
I have to tell you, Carol, that I read what you wrote here twice and each time it brought tears to my eyes when I read how you acquired the majority of your Chis and, in particular, how Bella saved your life.  I know EXACTLY what you're talking about as I had a similar situation happen in my life.

I also wanted to start off by saying how happy I am that your hubby is being supportive and accepting with this situation.  That helps tremendously, doesn't it!?!

I also wanted to tell you something briefly that I learned about crating dogs.  For years experienced "dog people" would share that crating is a "good" thing and that dogs see a crate as their den.  About 3 years back my youngest Chi broke her front leg (her legs are very fragile due to irresponsible breeding) and, against the advice of friends and others, I just refused to crate her if I needed to go somewhere, etc.  The cast she had on was horribly big for her small body and the fear was that she would dislocate her shoulder if she wasn't constantly supervised.  Let me tell you, that was one of the most difficult times in my life when I had to watch her almost 24/7 for 6 weeks or so.  So stressful!  Nine months later, she had a problem with her other front leg and this time I decided that I was going to introduce her to a crate and just see how she reacted.  HOLY COW!!  She simply LOVED that crate!  I was shocked! It's not a typical hard crate, it's a soft-sided crate and she just adores it!!!  She dances and carries on when she's in it and plays a game where she won't come out if we leave her in it for a short while when running errands, etc.  All you have to do is bring that soft-sided crate out and she just jumps and wiggles and wags her tail and just can't wait to get inside it.  My suggestion to you is NOT to crate Blue when she nips, etc., but rather to have a crate available to her so that if someone gets up and walks across the room, she has a way to "vent" her defensive feelings in another way aside from "attacking".  The hope is that she would go to her crate, get inside and look out and maybe just bark instead of going after people.  Did I explain that well enough??  I totally agree with you about not crating her after being caged for so many years - I'm just wondering if she would choose a soft-sided crate as a den and "safe place"?  I can send you a picture of the soft-sided crate that is available to my dogs.  It has mesh windows on ALL sides, collapses for travel and even comes with it's own little travel bag to carry it in.  When I have it set out in the living room, I have to keep an eye open as the cats and any one of the Chis will get in it and take it over in no time at all....  :-)

You absolutely touched my heart when you said that they are the light of your life and you just want to return the joy they give you. I believe you're just the person that each of them were longing for when they were in such dire need and that you ARE bringing much joy to their lives.  It isn't a wonder to me at all that at least two of them are so intensely devoted to you and willing to protect you from any perceived danger at any cost...

I would love to have you join my Chihuahua group.  If you write me back and mark it "private", I will respond and give you a link so that you can join up right away.

It's been my pleasure to read about you and your Chis and I'm glad that you and your husband like the idea of the time outs.  I have used them in the past with two of my Chihuahuas and have been very happy with the results when nothing else has worked.  I do think that you have to be very careful when using time outs with an abused dog so that they don't regress or feel abandoned - that's why I recommend only five or ten minute time outs.  One of my current Chihuahuas was a severely abused rescue and I waited quite awhile before incorporating time outs until I knew that he was confident that he was loved and knew that he would never be abandoned.

Jo Ann