Emma, the terror

[Marslet]

Oh Lordie ladies do I have my hands full My darling Emmanuella (Miss Emma) is a terror.
We had my daughter's dog (evacuated from New Orleans) and Layla is kind of hyper so I was worried how I was gonna handle the two of them together and if Layla would hurt Emma because she is so small. Duh, I had to protect Layla from Emma The little stinker ATTACKED Layla, growling, snarling, barking. My daughter picked her up and told her it was a good thing she was so cute (as she pulled Layla's hair out of her mouth) Ladies that is one STUBBORN chihuahua, we are fighting a collar and leash, only because she won't come to me when she is outside doing her business and runs from me. This would be alright except for the fact that she is so small her head and body can go through the chain link fence and there is a 100 pound black lab(sweet, but goofy)waiting there to "play with her". I know he would hurt her, so I am scared to death. Any advice on how long they will fight the collar and leash? I would appreciate any advice from the chihuahua lovers on this forum.
I called her my darling fragile little angel, my daughter calls her my demon dog. Well, Layla, mama and daddy are coming to help Jim put tarps on the roof this weekend, so round 2 will start again. Will let you know about how it goes. Wish me luck.

[retiredhappy]

Since she's so small I would consider a halter rather than a neck collar. Take treats on walks with you - when she moves give her a treat or hold the treat in front until she moves to it. You know, the smaller they are, the bigger they think they are. My labs think they're lap dog. Go figure.

[avalen]

I would also recommend a harness, Puppia has some great soft harness, you can
find them on the internet or some specialty pet supply stores. I use a little collar
(for the tags only) on my IGs and harness for walking. They do eventually get used
to the feeling of a collar and a harness. When Gracie was a puppy, I let her drag
a short leash all over the house to help train her. She was and still is a holy terror.

[Fernie]

Bash has an X-pen which is great with Tobey. It is a folding pen you can put in the car and take with you when you go somewhere too. They come in different heights. I have Tobey's set up around the steps to the front porch so we can let him out the front to do his business and then we have the 10x10 pen in the back Bash bought. I got tired of spending 45 min to an hour every time I took him out especially in the morning for him to decide to do ALL his business. The pen works great and the wire should be small enough she can't get through.

[Bethers]

I agree about the halter - and you need to get her used to it and a leash - cuz there will be times you'll need them. It's really easy to let little dogs get away with things they shouldn't. I never would have allowed Tips (my gentle giant) to have jumped on people, etc - but Peaches I'm having to work with, cuz people don't stop her, think it's cute. It's not cute - and she's learning. So, keep working with those little treats - and make sure she always comes when called - you need to get that established now - not later (I say as it's something Peaches doesn't do - but that goes back to Peaches having been abused - she's up to coming about 80% of the time - but that's simply not good enough, especially if somehow loose outside - which is another reason she's not allowed off leash outside.)

Ah - got to love them don't we? I can just see Miss Emma holding her own with the big guys. Chances are that lab wouldn't hurt her, but you really never know. And you're right to not take those chances.

[Marslet]

I have ordered her a Puppia harness and can't wait until it gets here. Also went and bought her a soft black "old fashioned collar" not one with the bulky plastic buckles so I can at least have some control of her when she goes out. Went ok, we did one of our businesses and then decided, hey, she has that ------ collar on me again, and plop, down we went. wouldn't get up at all, just rolled over on her back and looked at me. Thought I would laugh myself silly. So I picked her up and brought her back inside. With her age, I am afraid when she doesn't eat enough at a meal, and the little dickens, will not eat with the collar on. We ate a small amount for supper, hardly any breakfast, and took one smell of lunch and went into crate. So she won round one , I removed the collar and we ate half of our lunch and then went to sleep. When she wakes us, the hated collar goes back on and out we go for our potty break. Do have some treats that I am going to try to lure her toward me to see if I can get her to walk in the collar.
Doesn't seem to be as bad as yesterday when I couldn't get her to get on her feet at all, just rolled and rolled trying to bite it off, or sat and scratched at it. You should have seen me walking across the soft cushiony grass, pulling a laying down chihuahua behind me.(had the hated harness on her then. Mean old me.

[dpf]

How about some more pictures so we can see how your "devil dog" is growing! Does she even make a scale move yet?