chihuahua hates boyfriend.

Question
Hi Kristen... I am so excited to hear back from you! I have a 4lb. chihuahua male that is neutered.  He is 15 months old and eats eukanuba food.  He is definitely an inside dog as we live in a big city in Venezuela.  I got him from a breeder one year ago and he took to puppy-pad training right away.  Fortunately, he was very good about using the puppy pads until recently.  I have a new boyfriend that stays at my house 2 or 3 nights out of a week.  Guapo(that's his name) who has never been a barker barks at him and has started peeing on the bed where my boyfriend sleeps.  It has happened 3 times.  I read in a book not to scold the dog but to clean the mess without the dog seeing.  Unfortunately, this is does not seem to be working and I am very frustrated.  Guapo stays home during the day (I teach at an international school) and he used to be confined in my bedroom and walk-in closet.  Since he has started peeing on the bed he has been confined to just the walk-in closet while I am gone.  Guapo sleeps with me and when my boyfriend stays over I have invited him into bed with us so he doesn't feel resentment towards my boyfriend.  This doesn't seem to be helping.  I really need some advice on what to do... I just have no idea how I can change his behavior.  Thank you for your time in advance I really appreciate it!

Answer
Katie, as I was telling another person just recently, chihuahuas are known for being one-person dogs, even if they are brought into a multi-person family at a very young age. They tend to 'latch on' to one person in the family, and can develop aggressive and/or dominating type behaviors towards the other members of the family.

One thing you can do is to have your boyfriend take over all responsibilities for Guapo whenever he visits. That means that your boyfriend should be the one to feed Guapo, take him for walks, participate in his training, etc. This way, Guapo will learn to accept your boyfriend as another member of the pack, and respect him as another leader.

Dogs do not know anything about resentment, Katie. That is not something that dogs are capable of feeling. What IS going on is that Guapo is feeling threatened by your boyfriend, and believes that HE (Guapo) should be in a higher ranking position in your pack than your boyfriend.

I would not allow Guapo on the bed anymore, until he has accepted your boyfriend.