My Chihuahua suddenly acts scared of me & its breaking my heart.

Question
My 8 month old Chihuahua that is almost always in my arms and sticks with me like glue all of a sudden acts scared of me, he wont let me hold him, he wont lick my face like he always has. I changed face lotion and thought maybe it was that, it wasn't. I have had some tonsil stones and thought maybe he could smell them. I haven't yelled or done anything to him at all. If I go to touch him he runs to my husband or son in which he never done before. I called my vet and they said they never heard of this and didn't know what to tell me.I don't know what is going on with him and it is breaking my heart!

Answer
HI Nancy,

I certainly understand why you would feel upset, but try not to take it personally.  My suspicion is that your Chihuahua is most likely reacting to something that happened in your presence, not necessarily to you.

Let me explain using an analogy: when dogs get hit by cars and survive, research has shown that it's not cars that the surviving dogs are afraid of.  It's the spot on the ground that they were looking at when they were struck by the car of which they become fearful, not wanting to approach that spot later on.

That is, that dogs make sometimes superstitious associations with things occurring in the environment with whatever they may have been looking at at the time.  Is it possible that at a moment when your Chihushua was looking at you he heard and/or saw something that may have frightened him?

If your dog is behaving oddly with you and not with anyone else, then most likely the issue is not a medical one; but if he's behaving strangely with all or most people with whom he was comfortable recently, I would suggest taking him in for a thorough medical check by your veterinarian.  Sometimes dogs can start behaving oddly with age and when they don't feel well.

You mentioned tonsil stones, something of which I know nothing about, LOL.  But, I have a question: have the stones changed your voice significantly in any way, such as made it very low or raspy?  If so, your Chihuahua could be reacting to the change in your voice.  Do you thing that this could be possible?

While dogs can smell things in the environment much better than humans, I would doubt that any odour as a result of tonsil stones is probably not what's causing the odd behaviour, unless he's made an association between any such odour and something bad happening.  Dogs sniff out cancers, bombs, and more, but none of which I know are afraid of those things unless they have been taught to be.

In the meantime, try not to force interactions with your Chihuahua except as needed for walking and such.  Let him come to you, and when he does, stay relaxed and very calm and let him re-engage with you at his own speed.  If this continues, you may want to think of hiring a positive methods trainer to help you out with the relationship.

If the difficulties continue you may opt too to consult with a veterinarian behaviourist, which is a veterinarian that has specialized in behaviour.  There are 40-something veterinarian behaviurists in the U.S. and depending on where you're located they may or may not be easily found.  For a list, contact the AVMA at AVMA.org

Best of luck, and please follow up in a few weeks to let me know if the situation has improved!

Best regards,
Madeline, Volunteer at AllExperts
www.ny-njDogTrainer.com