I use Dachshund and Chihuahua as a base to start with because my dog, Hollie, I believe is part Dachshund and part Chihuahua. When I found her in a rescue, the information I received was that she was a four month old Miniature Dachshund. But as she grew older, her legs became very long and her belly area became more concave like a chihuahua. I also found that her mannerisms blended between the two races. This included the home invasion dilemma.
Because the Dachshund is a strong working dog, he has a very stubborn personality. This tends to make them stubborn and/or independent. Although the Dachshund is trainable, it may not be easy to train. In fact, the Dachshund may attempt to train the trainer for him. The owner of this breed should feel comfortable letting the dog know who the “leader of the pack” really is. This dog’s stubborn temperament makes it hardy and it’s not the easiest to train. With positive and ongoing programming, the Dachshund learns and with a determined owner, the Dachshund will develop training quickly.
The fact that Chihuahuas are so small makes house training them a bit of a challenge. Chihuahuas can hide under furniture or sneak into corners unseen and leave little surprise mounds for you to find at a later date. Patience will be needed in the process of house training this dog. The chihuahua will learn quickly with positive reinforcement training. Some owners never get their Chihuahuas fully house trained, especially in bad weather. The chihuahua does not like the cold and tends to shiver. They don’t like to get their feet wet, so going out on damp or wet grass discourages the Chihuahua from going to the bathroom.
In any breed of dog, there are two recommended training methods for house training your dog. The first is to crate or restraint train your dog. The second is to train your dog with a puppy pad or paper. In any case, consistency is the essential key. Once a bad habit starts, it’s much harder to break and retrain your dog.
Hollie, my Dachshund-Chihuahua has a bit of both temperaments, which has made house training her quite a challenge. She was originally paper trained when I got her. When she got a little older, I put her in a pen during the day with a dog gate with access to the outside. Hollie would use the piece of rug just behind the door as a chamber pot. She didn’t like grass because she was so small that the grass rubbed her belly. When the grass was watered, she didn’t like to get her feet wet. So when she went out, she used the patio instead of the grass and the rug right outside the door as a potty. When she visited other houses, she would go to another room and leave a little surprise for the owner in the corner even though they had a dog gate she could use. Like last winter, the barnyard was too cold to hold her and she was given a little more room to roam, so to speak. She now believes that the rugs are her bathroom area.
With this frustration at hand, I set out to find some answers. I have never had a dog with these problems before. Once she showed up at the dog gate, the rest was a done deal. Not with Hollie! I found a dog training that has helped me overcome Hollie’s behavior problems.