Training Pepper

Nervous little yappy dogs are so much more difficult to train.

I have to say at least I don't need worry about her chewing... She has no desire to tear up my shoes or the kids toys.

But everything makes her so nervous!

Step one, I'm working on the housebreaking. She is the typical little dog that will hide and try to poop in a different room from where you are at. So we are working on crate training. There's only one problem: She will pee and poop in her crate. If you ask all the experts they will say that dogs don't eliminate in their kennel if it's small enough, it's their den and they will hold it. Not Pepper! She will go and then whine her head off for you to let her out and clean it up. Then comes the question of walking her? Outside? Litter box? Potty pads? Potty pads it is... at least to teach her to go outside her kennel. So we've set up an exercise pen around her crate, giving her just enough room outside of her kennel but directly on a potty pad. I don't know how long it will take or how it will work out. Just as long as its somewhere consistent and I don't have to look all over the apartment in the morning to make sure we don't step on something.

Step two, we're doing obedience training. We want her to learn "sit" and "stay", "down", "heel", but really... if she could just go out in public and sniff other dogs without growling or having a pee fit of fear, that would be great! The "sit" is coming along much better. "stay" seems like an impossibility. She's such a spaz! It's frustrating because I know she's smart enough and definitely wants to please. I think she would do great! But getting her past that insecurity and fear is going to take a lot of work.

Some people recommended agility training. They say that rat terriers are really good for it. But I don't even know where to start.

I read an excerpt from one of Cesar Millan's books and he says that an exercised dog (which is tired and released energy) is too relaxed to be anxious or phobic. Maybe that's where I start - going for long walks every day. She hates the traffic around our apartment, but she's going to have to work past that fear someday.

It's a bit harder when the chihuahua in her wants nothing more than to just cuddle on your lap. But for now we have to make her work for it. She doesn't need to be encouraged in her insecurities, she needs a firm hand of leadership to work past all these issues so that she knows it will be ok!