Ava gets her Angel wings... I mean, of course, her ears as they have now stood in up "Pure Chihuahua" style!
Sometimes she is a real Angel, other times she becomes a complete "Diva" when she struts around showing off a toy! She does this with complete confidence as she shows the other dogs, or us, her "toy". As she struts she makes a sound like "ooohooowoo", which starts low in tone then raises to a "hoo" then lowers again!
At feeding time she has now joined the small dog pack (small in size not in energy or rank!) This is when she can become the "devil puppy" as she is making clear communication that her bowl is hers! When she does this little "growl" I correct her with a "psshttt" and a touch so she stops immediately - possessive behaviour is not allowed at feeding time!
Each day we make progress with feeding time, just today she waited for her food giving me space to prepare it, then sat for me before I gave her the bowl. I also give her a boundary - using my arm I block her from going over to another dog's bowl - she would steal their food if she could do so as a "typical puppy", no dominance behaviour allowed in my pack either!
Ava is naturally a very high ranked dog, energetic as well she could become dominant, but here she cannot as there is no human she can dominate and all dogs are all equal followers to me, so no animals to dominate either!
At only 4 months she has now joined the "Big Walk". We began with small regular walks during the day as we socialised her to the walk experience and taught her how to walk on the leash. Today she joined 8 of my pack which includes the Dobey, Gt Dane, Setters and a few of the smaller dogs too. This "Big Walk" is on and off-leash here at the beach for over an hour - Ava did great, my Chihuahua is a "Big Dog" now!
So if I want more of "Ava the Angel" than "Diva the Devil" - I need to keep up this new exercise routine, "YES" she is a Chihuahua yet she is also a "Dog" and needs to walk/run/play too. Discipline is going to be an absolute necessity with Ava, as much as it is for the rest of the pack to live as contented canines, if any of my females even senses a vacancy for Pack Leader one would try to take over then we would be in chaos here!....And that "one" may just be Ava!
"Exercise and Discipline before affection" is the way
to fulfil our dogs - it works for Chihuahuas too!
