I have a long haired chihuahua he will be 1 next month. Last few months he started turning on me. When he was a puppy I took him to work a lot, about the same time when I stopped he starting turning on me. Only me. It started first when I would get him from coming home late. He be with mom, in bed, he would growl at me. Then he would try and bite me. Now if hes on the sofa, he growls at me if I just sit near him. When he comes to me like to be petted, he tries to bite me. He shows his teeth like from aliens. I do not know what to do. Hes on a leash, I have a crate for him. I dont know if I should keep him away from mom, and her dog and just let him be with me again.

[sandyh]

do you exercise him at all. you said you were taking him to work and then you stopped does that mean you stopped taking him out on any type of walk? Try getting back into a routine of walking him everyday for at least an hour. Make sure you have the leash up behind his ears not just on the back of his neck. Do not keep tension on the leash. if you have to make a correction like if he is moving ahead give a quick jerk to the side and then release the tension. Keep him by your side. You should always be in front of the dog, whether it is going into your home or going out of your home or while walking. you need to be in front so that he is the follower not you! If you want him to sniff or go potty then stop somewhere and let him do this and then rein him back in to your side. you decide when he stops and starts. a little bit of discipline goes a long ways. See if this helps at all.

[german sheep]

Don't use any kind of correction!
That is almost too late, you have to begin, where your dog can make no mistakes, because all the mistakes a dog does is only from our point of view.

A dog makes no mistakes, he acts in a situation always adequate and absolutely correct. So your turn is to show what you want him to do and not wait until he makes something wrong to use violence on him!

You need a therapist and my suggestion is to take him to work again with you and not to leave him with your mom. You don't know what he is allowed to do during this time and this could be contra-productive for the relationship between you and your dog. You have to find the cause of his attitude and maybe your mom is this cause. Try it and please never correct the dog for a behaviour.

Please keep us up to date

gs

[UnderDog]

One thing I think is the problem here is lack of dominance. Unfortunately small and toy dogs are often allowed to get away with bad behaviour as it is "cute", however you need to treat them just as you would an 80kg Great Dane. Don't let them up to sleep on beds for the time being, don't allow them on the sofas, lead the walk (despite what you might get told - chihuahuas DO need 1+ hour/s exercise daily, preferably even more), eat before he does (or just pretend to eat from his bowl before you put it down and only let him eat when you say so) etc.