# Chihuahua Growling



## XelaTheChi (Nov 3, 2010)

Okay my little Chihuahua is not a big fan of people. She tends to growl at most new people. Normally she'll run and hide in my lap or run away from them, but for example: I was sleeping this morning and woke up to her growling. It was around the time my younger brother gets ready for school so she must of heard the commotion. She doesn't bark, and doesn't go after people, and never offers to bite. She may be little but IMO this is not good behavior. I know she's scared, she didnt have much socialization when younger... When she growls I tell her no and try to direct her attention away from the person but i'm not really to sure how to handle this... Everyone is always like awh! how cute... I'm like she's growling. Yes she's frightened, but IMO she doesn't need to growl. I can understand running and hiding, but I don't really like the growling, but opinions on how to stop this? 

Most of the time it's more of an "alertness" thing. When people come or go or there is movement. Never seen her do it when someone is right up in her face but....


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## Pynzie (Jan 15, 2010)

First, of course she is going to growl when frightened! She's a tiny thing and she thinks she needs to defend herself against all these huge giants in her world. If I was scared of someone, I think I might act tough and confident too. Especially because I'm soooo not a runner and they'd easily catch me and kill me if I ran. 

Second, do not tell her "no" for growling. If you do, you are taking away her warning signal. If you take that away, her only option will be skipping right to biting, which would be worse. 

You are right to say that it's not cute at all. It's sad that she's scared and it's something you have to work on with her. People are weird in that they allow behaviors from little dogs that they would never allow in a big dog. I'm glad you see that it's a problem. 

It will take a while, but you need to show her that new people are not scary but rather they are great! Get one person she is usually scared of to come help you with the training. Have the person far enough away so that she is not growling or reacting. This means that she is below her threshold. You want to keep her below that level at all times during the training. Give her treats for being in the presence of a new person, especially if she looks at the person without reacting. Gradually move closer. You can eventually have the person calmly toss her treats once she seems calm enough. This is hard because she might start to be ok with one type of person, but not others. That means it takes training with many different kinds of people in many situations. 

Is she reacting to weird sounds as well? That's another thing you might need to work on that will build her confidence. Same kind of thing. Figure out what sounds make her nervous. Make those sounds far enough away or quietly enough so that she is not reacting. Gradually get closer to the sound or make it louder until she is no longer afraid/reactive. 

You can also work on her confidence level in general. Work on training some new behaviors with her. 

Good luck!


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## XelaTheChi (Nov 3, 2010)

Thanks so much! I've tried having a few people give her a treat but she normally stays stuck to my lap and won't go anywhere near them.... but we've been working on building up confidence on our walks. We're now to the point she'll walk past one of our cats without screaming like she's being killed. Everytime someone comes by and she doesn't react with growling she gets lots of praise. She reacts to anything coming near me. I'm not sure if maybe protectiveness might have to do with it? She bonded to me super quickly. The morning after I picked her up she was glued to me, and wouldn't leave my side.As far as I know she never started growling before I got her, she never did it when I met her....


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## LazyGRanch713 (Jul 22, 2009)

XelaTheChi said:


> Thanks so much! I've tried having a few people give her a treat but she normally stays stuck to my lap and won't go anywhere near them.... but we've been working on building up confidence on our walks. We're now to the point she'll walk past one of our cats without screaming like she's being killed. Everytime someone comes by and she doesn't react with growling she gets lots of praise. She reacts to anything coming near me. I'm not sure if maybe protectiveness might have to do with it? She bonded to me super quickly. The morning after I picked her up she was glued to me, and wouldn't leave my side.As far as I know she never started growling before I got her, she never did it when I met her....


Try removing her from your lap (stand up if you have to) and see how she does. Sometimes being in someones lap basically is saying to them "yes, good, I love it when you growl at those nasty people". (I will NOT reach out to take someones' dog out of their arms; either they hand the dog to me or I have them put the dog on the floor.)


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