[AndraBITA]

Hello, I was wondering if there's someone that could help me with some piece of advice.

So, I have this amazing 8 month old Chihuahua, and he is very playful and well-behaved, but does have one problem: he's quite antisocial when it comes to dogs (also with strangers but I prefer this) and sometimes even manifests fear. Now, what I mean by ''quite'': when I take him on a walk, he is very happy to see 1,2,3 dogs, sniffs them and wags tail. But if we walk longer and he meets yet other dogs he begins to show signs of fear, even though the dogs are gentle and calm. I do not encourage him or take him in my arms when he shows fear, I just tell him to be a big boy. I cannot understand this change in his behaviour, during a single walk. And it happens all the time, though I constantly tried to take him out and socialise with dogs, ever since he was only 3 months old. I know chihuahuas are antisocial by nature, but it seems a bit extreme. Also I think he is a bit anxious while outside, because he never leaves my side, like a normal dog would do when off leash. His tail is up, but he always stays near me. He may also be a bit spoiled, as he follows me everywhere in the house and demands attention by crying. Any opinions from some experienced dog breeders?:)

[JudyKayTee]

You are most probably not going to get advice from dog breeders on this board. Many of us feel backyard breeders do nothing but increase the number of unwanted animals in the World.

I have a puppy. He goes into sensory overload at times. A little noise is okay. A lot frightens him. Same with meeting people. First few he's good. After that it's tail down and frightened.

He just needs to get older.

[ballengerb1]

You probably wish you lived next door to Caesar Millan or some dog training facility, your little guys needs help from a pro. If this is true " I know chihuahuas are antisocial by nature" your guys is just a bit more anti than the norm. " tell him to be a big boy" means very little to children much less a dog. Dogs understand one and two word commands and do not understand any part of a sentence. "attention by crying" is his way of controlling you, I doubt if he thinks of you as the alpha. When he does see othet dogs and behaves correctly you need to give praise like"yes" or "good boy" when he behaves poorly short commands like "no" or "not yours" may help him see better ways to behave. Where do you live and has he ever gone through any training?

[AndraBITA]

I live in a city from Romania and there aren't too many good trainers around here.. I trained him myself and he knows the basics, ''sit'', ''come'', ''down'',''give the paw'', and he listens to me usually, even when outside. He may be a bit confused about the alpha in the house, I guess... but I never give him attention when he demands it, I eat first and then him (I read this kind of things help him establish who's in charge), and I try to train him once a day for about 15 minutes

[AndraBITA]

JudyKayTee, I really hope it will get better with age, because I previously had a Giant Schnauzer and a Boxer and none of them had this problem as I recall...

[JudyKayTee]

Well, he's small and that might be the problem - I think he might grow out of it.