Biting :'(

Ok. I own a 1 year and 7 month old chihuahua named Brody. I know there's this belief that they're all vicious little mosters (so people in the street always tell me..two men even ran to the other sidewalk..no joke) but I know they're not, as long as they're well socialized and get plenty of tlc. I have known two of brody's siblings, calm and playful for the most part..the female one can nibble here and there to other dogs..but everything seems good really. Now I got Brody after his brother Cody (my 1st dog) passed away in an accident My brother insisted I get his brother..even if he was a big bully. Right. I got him in hopes that he'd be the same calm sweet tempered little pooch as my Cody was..and I wasnt too far off. He can be a sweet dog, and he "protects" me if he senses danger...just barking if I'm asleep and someone approaches me but, no biting.

He's been a very friendly dog, not initially with his barking and growling..but after taking him to the dog park everyday for few weeks, he changed. He became the friendliest sweetest little pooch. Everyone told me how sweet and friendly a chihuahua he was. He'd play with the doggies, sniff a human here and there..and done. A good whole year and about 5 months of wonderful behaviour.

Thats Over.

He attacks (or used to) almost every dog he sees. It took me completely by surprise, as he had not done that since being a puppy, and even that didnt last for long. He'll sniff a dog out and then just try and bite the poor thing..I've received quite a scolding from people like that. So I make sure we move along if he sees another dog. As for the dog park, I used to let him offleash, and I gave it a go..everything seemed fine..but then all of a sudden he went into this "let me bully a dog" frenzy and repeatedly tried to attack a poor pooch, so no more offleash for him.

He's been having an ear infection lately, and he's always allowed me to put medication on it and keep it clean. Not anymore. He will bite me and see me as a threat. If he so much as sees me get close to his ears he'll bare his teeth at me and begin to growl. He's already bitten me quite deep more than once. In one case I had to get my brother to take him off my leg, where he did leave me with a bruise and bleeding. I am so distraught with all of this. As long as I dont give him a signal of cleaning his ear, he's the sweetest little thing. As for attacking and trying to bite dogs..thats still there :'( Though he has been kind to a rare few.


I'm sorry for my rant, I'm just at my wits end. I dont know what to do. Is there some corrolation between all of these events I'm missing? I dont think the ear infection can be it, as he started this a while before he even got it. Sigh. What do you all think?

No replies ah well. I bought Brody a muzzle and have used his leash to tie him to the door after our walks..so I can put his drops of medicine into his ears. I hold him down while he growls and my mom pours the liquid..so far so good! His ears have gotten much better, two more days should cure it completely As for his behaviour with other pooches? I've realized he's very nice to dogs when in the pet store, its outside in parks and the street that he goes crazy, anyone have an idea why?

Hi there,
Has your pup had any bad experiences that you can think of with other dogs outside? Anything at all no matter how small?
Have you taken your pup to any obedience classes? Have you thought about consulting a behaviourist?
The first step I would take is to enroll him in an obedience class. Every dog, small or large, will benifit from classes. This will help you to get a handle on his behaviour, and will help you with controlling him.
You may have a dominance aggression problem or a fear aggression problem .. perhaps both, hard to say when I haven't seen the dog in person.
My advice to you for the dog on dog aggression would be to use a reward based behaviour modification. It may take a while, but if you stick to it, you are sure to see results. I have seen this kind of thing work in many dogs who have dog on dog aggression (be it from fear or dominance).
Keep his contact with dogs to nothing right now, the only contact he should have is seeing them on walks, nothing else. While out on a walk, make sure that you have a goodie bag of treats. Everytime you pass another dog (and make sure in the begining that you are not too close) ask him to "look at you" and treat him as you pass the dog. You can practice the "look at me" command at home by taking a favorite treat, showing to Brody, and then after you have his attention, pull the treat up to your face and say look at me - as soon as he looks, reward. Eventually you build up the amount of time that he needs to hold the "look".
Back to the walk, this reward technique will soon have him associating other dogs with goodies - which makes seeing other dogs a positive expereince. You also work up with this technique, and when you feel he has progress, you can close the distance between him and another dog, eventually working up to passing right beside without him having a reaction. Always remember to be consistant, and reward every time a dog passes. Using the look at me command, after he has seen the other dog also helps to divert his attention, and reduces eye contact between dogs which could have aggressive reations.
As far as him biting you, well, this is unacceptable, but has become an acceptable form of defence for him. If this is just temporary due to the ear meds, use the muzzel, as you've been doing, but make the muzzel and the whole med expereince fun for him. Reward him after he gets his meds, so that he looks forward to it. Take the muzzel on and off during the day, and reward him for having it on. Put some peanut butter at the end of the muzzel for him to lick while you are administering the meds. Peanutbutter = good, which means muzzel = good, which starts to mean meds=good.
This may also be a lack of leadership on your part, and a lack of obedeince for control. This is a serious issue, and I would suggest that you speak to a behaviourist about this. Someone needs to see the dog in person in order to assess the situation correctly. As I said it could be dominance based, it could be fear based, or lack of leadship etc.
Hope some of this helps, please keep us up to date on what happens.
Good luck!