# Do your chihuahuas bark?



## MickeyMouse (Apr 23, 2010)

Several years ago my family purchased a set of chihuahua puppies. They were the best pets when they were little. We took them everywhere. We traveled with them and they rode around in a doggy purse or carrier. They were housebroken to use pee pads and even eventually went in a litter box. They were quiet and liked people and my kids. When they got close to a year old one of the dogs started to bark non-stop. We ended up having him debarked which did not stop the barking and was not a good idea. Anyway, after the surgery the other dog started to bark non-stop. Then they both barked non-stop, fought with the other dogs, and began to snap at me and the kids. By this time they were between one and two years old. We tried citronella collars and nothing stopped the non-stop barking. Every time someone talked excitedly, made a noise, bumped a wall, or shut a door, the dogs went insane barking. They acted totally neurotic. Is this normal behavior for chihuahuas? We had to find new homes for them because we lived in an apartment at the time and they made way too much noise. I was wondering if this is something you just have to live with if you get a chihuahua. What is your experience?


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## KayC (May 3, 2005)

Zoey barks when ever someone comes to the door or a car drives up. She never barks when we are out and about. 
My last sweet chi Roxy would bark at her own shadow, bless her...and it was only worse when she was around her sister, they would bark non stop. I think they played off each other...


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## KittyD (Apr 2, 2010)

I posted about this in another thread, I have 3 dogs, 1 old poodle and 2 Chi pups.
My Poodle used to bark when he heard noises or the door, but he went deaf a few years ago, he no longer barks  

My pups as a result do not bark at the door or for loud noises or new people, I think much of it is learned or environmental.. I hear them once in a blue moon when playing, Bambi my girl is a full sister litter mate to my best friends girl, she has two Chi's her older male is a barkaholic.. ha ha and as a result her young girl is now barking all the time. 

I must admit I like the quiet


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

My dogs will bark a little when someone is at the door, but stop quickly. The only thing they bark excessively at is the dog next door and the one behind me. When they bark, I make them come in. I am using keywords to teach them if they bark, they can't stay outside. Lexxi has learned this already, but the two males are proving to be harder to teach. Otherwise, they are prety quiet.


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## MickeyMouse (Apr 23, 2010)

Thank you for sharing. As puppies they were soo good. I used to take them in the grocery store with me and even into restaurants. They were so quiet no one ever even knew they were in my purse. I took them to the mall all the time. What could I have done differently to stop this behavior? I would love to have another chi someday but I want to learn how to deal with one first. Do you think they got aggressive because they were boys? Or maybe because I had two? One time one of them stood on the arm of the couch and barked at my husband and peed all over the couch! One of them started pooping in his kennel and then eating the poop. He would then throw up over and over. I would find it when I got home from the store or work. They went from completely housebroken to peeing on the furniture and pooping in their crates. I feel like they were totally different dogs when they grew up.


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## KittyD (Apr 2, 2010)

Hmm you had two males? and neither was neutered? this could have been causing dominance issues and perhaps they were marking and having territory problems.
I really don't know but it's a guess.


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## MickeyMouse (Apr 23, 2010)

They were neutered right at six months.


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## KittyD (Apr 2, 2010)

No idea then! maybe someone more knowledgeable can chime in.


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## MoochiBaby (Sep 12, 2009)

No, I don't think chihuahuas bark excessively. It is how you train them. From day one, when I brought Moochi home, she understood I am the pack leader. Nothing in life is free and everything in this house belongs to me. She does bark when someone knocks or walks by my door (I live in an apartment complex too) but I can stop her within two to three seconds of barking. The reason I can do that is because I have established my position as a pack leader. It doesn't matter what kind of dogs you get, if you don't assert your dominance, any dog you have can create problems.


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## 18453 (Feb 6, 2010)

Sorry but what is being 'debarked'???

Daisy has only just starting barking when someone knocks at the front door and she shuts up as soon as i get to move - unless its my sister who barks back through the door at her and Daisy spins in circles yapping so gets told enough and she shuts up!! Personally i think its good for dogs to bark at the front door whens omeone knocks.

Other than that i dont' hear a peep out of her she moans in the morning to get me up and growls at her own reflection or when she's playing fetch withthe occassional bark thrown in other than that nothing!!

Some dogs just bark!! I saw a chi the other day who was going mental at Daisy for no reason walking down the street.


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## JRZL (Jul 10, 2009)

Mine only bark if someone knocks on the door and if a cat is in the garden my cavalier barks (she doesn't like cats) which sets of the chis 
but other than that they don't bark


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## Jerry'sMom (May 5, 2009)

Tabitha would bark at EVERYTHING! She runs to the front window to bark at people
walking by, at kids in their yard, at birds, etc. I have interrupted her barking with a
"no" command. Then she does this sort of low rumbling sound but she holds her bark.
Jerry always barks at the front door opening. He is consistent with this and I don't correct
him. They both bark if I open a window and they hear people outside. I hate
to think what it would be like if we lived in an apartment. When I go out the
front door and walk to the mail box, I can hear them inside going crazy barking.
I'm certain my neighbors LOVE me! LOL!


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## TLI (Sep 3, 2008)

All of mine bark when someone knocks on the door. They bark if they are in the car and someone comes close by. They bark if they hear loud noises outside. They bark at strangers until they know everything is okay. The feed off of each other as well. Have them all 4 together, which is basically all the time, and when one starts barking, all 4 do. Oh, they also bark at other dogs. Anyway, if Lexie is by herself, she barks at nothing. Jade is the same way. Chance & Gia are my barker starters. :lol: They will however quiet down when I tell them, Shhhhhhhhhh!!!! But Chance likes to "grumble" under his breath. :wink: And funny enough, he is my most “laid back.” So I would have to say that mine can be yappy.


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## Brodysmom (Jan 8, 2009)

Brody barks when the doorbell rings or if the neighbor dogs are barking. He doesn't bark randomly. He quiets down if I tell him to.

Debarking is cruel. I don't know of any vets who will even do it. They remove the larnyx of the dog surgically or destroy it with a laser so that the dog can't project his bark. He will still try to bark, but the sound is muffled. It's kind of like a whisper bark. Sometimes the tissue grows back and the bark gets progressively louder, but usually always has a harsh sound. Years ago, people with lots of dogs would de-bark, especially if they had small yappy dogs. You don't see it done anymore as most vets consider it unethical. Sort of like de-clawing a cat. It's fallen out of favor. Thank goodness.


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## ilovemychiCAMI (Jan 12, 2010)

Cami barks when someone puts a key in the front door...and if a stranger comes in


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## MChis (Oct 13, 2009)

Oh do they ever feed off each other! Mine will bark when someone comes to the door & if they don't know them they will bark for a few seconds until they realize they aren't a threat. With some people they bark longer - I think when the person stares & such it makes them feel uncomfortable or something so I usually just tell people they are prone to bark more at to not look at them & just plain ignore them & they are fine. 

We have the couch in front of our big picture window that looks over a harbor. My dad lives next door & people will walk by walking their dogs & such. Sometimes they'll bark when they see my dad or step mom taking their dogs out to potty but they'll stop when I ask them to. Loud/unusual noises they aren't used to hearing they'll bark or if they hear the cats coming/going from the doggy door (it's THEIR doggy door after all!). In their defense my cats are not nice to the Chi's so in turn the Chi's typically will chase the cats if they run. If they don't run all is fine. Very weird relationship they have. LOL

If I take them in town & get out in the busy street where there are dogs & people all over - they won't bark (Marley & Maxie may bark at other dogs though). But if we are walking on our quiet road & come across another dog walking & they meet head on they will bark. We've been working on that for ever & it has gotten better with most of them. 

Mari is my big barker. She'll bark & grumble especially around someone new. But like my daughter had a friend over (they've only met her once before) and last night the friend sat down & Mari was laying on the couch behind her. The friend petted Mari & she just laid there & let her. The friend was like "isn't this the one that doesn't like me?". LOL 

It's funny how much my Chi's love kids. Maya is still learning since she was never around kids from the time she left the breeder until she came to be with us. So she is very unsure around kids. She is great with my girls now but it took about a week for them to be around her & hold her w/o her trying to go after them a bit. Now she loves them to death. But seeing the other Chi's act okay around other kids has helped tremendously! Anyway....my Chi's love kids much more than adults. It's so weird because usually you hear it's the other way around.  

I could go on all day about this subject. It's very interesting how different they are & also how each others behavior can influence each other in a pack setting. For good...and bad!


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## OurCheekyChihuahuas (Nov 18, 2009)

Mine bark if theyre indoors and they hear someone at the door, thats it, no other times


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## MickeyMouse (Apr 23, 2010)

So, it sounds like maybe the best thing to do is start with one and train it to stop barking and then get another one. Then they would not feed off each other. We got two together so they would have company and not be scared to be alone but maybe that wasn't a good idea. 

As far a debarking, I would never have it done again. It doesn't even work and the bark sounds horrible afterwards. So putting your dog through all that is just not worth it.

I have a retriever and she never barks. She doesn't even bark if someone is at the door. But that is typical for her breed. They are quiet dogs.


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## OurCheekyChihuahuas (Nov 18, 2009)

Definately go for it. One at a time! Take small steps and im sure itll turn out fine


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## MChis (Oct 13, 2009)

Yep, one at a time! Start with the one that is the first to bark & typically the rest should follow suit. 

I didn't add....mine don't bark if my neighbors dogs start barking usually. I thought this was very weird. But we're also dog sitting for my grandfather (pom) & when she starts barking they don't bark either. It's like a pack thing. She isn't an established member of the pack so apparently what she says doens't matter. LOL!! Which isn't a bad thing since she is quite bark happy herself.... :roll:


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## MndaNGmoe (Oct 20, 2009)

Moe really doesn't bark much at all. When someone knocks on the door he does, but not always, and he barks at our next door neighbors dog sometimes. other then that he is really good about barking.


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## Bellatrix (Apr 23, 2010)

Our Bella doesn't really bark much, the only time is if she gets over excited by one of our cats and gives her a chase, which we discourage ..she gets a bit worked up, she just wants to play.

She makes a cute noise in her throat when she wants to go in the garden, more like a cute whine in her throat, like hmm hmm.


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## 18453 (Feb 6, 2010)

This is actually a really funny thread i've laughed so hard at T's and Heathers posts!!


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## catz4m8z (Aug 28, 2008)

My lot are all barkaholics! They are ok at the front of the house coz it opens directly onto the street so they are used to hearing people. However the back is a different story!
They bark at everything in the garden. The neighbours, washing flapping on a line, birds in trees, cats on fences, dogs barking or even planes going over!! Hannah is the most officious barker(MY garden, stay away!), Adam is the most excitable(ooooooh, cat!!, cat!!, cat!!) and Heidi follows the leader(everyone else is barking so I must too-even if I dont know at what!).

Adam's worst habit is his play barking. In order to get another dog to play he will just stand there and yap until they give in and play. I swear he will send me deaf some days!!LOL


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## KittyD (Apr 2, 2010)

MoochiBaby said:


> No, I don't think chihuahuas bark excessively. It is how you train them. From day one, when I brought Moochi home, she understood I am the pack leader. Nothing in life is free and everything in this house belongs to me. She does bark when someone knocks or walks by my door (I live in an apartment complex too) but I can stop her within two to three seconds of barking. The reason I can do that is because I have established my position as a pack leader. It doesn't matter what kind of dogs you get, if you don't assert your dominance, any dog you have can create problems.


I think I kind of agree with this, even today someone was ringing my doorbell and it's an awful buzzy thing from the 20's ha ha and AJ perked up, but he looked at me to see what I was doing and I ignored it because I knew it was my kids coming home from the park with hubby.. ha ha and he opens the door himself (they just like to ring the annoying buzzer!) There was no reaction from me so AJ ignored it as well, Bambi does whatever AJ does.



TLI said:


> All of mine bark when someone knocks on the door. They bark if they are in the car and someone comes close by. They bark if they hear loud noises outside. They bark at strangers until they know everything is okay. The feed off of each other as well. Have them all 4 together, which is basically all the time, and when one starts barking, all 4 do. Oh, they also bark at other dogs. Anyway, if Lexie is by herself, she barks at nothing. Jade is the same way. Chance & Gia are my barker starters. :lol: They will however quiet down when I tell them, Shhhhhhhhhh!!!! But Chance likes to "grumble" under his breath. :wink: And funny enough, he is my most “laid back.” So I would have to say that mine can be yappy.


Right I do think much of it is relating to everything going on around, if there is a few dogs barking, the rest follow suit, I saw this when I babysat my friends barkaholic Chi's  even lil' AJ was finding his inner yap! LOL


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## *Chloe* (Feb 6, 2006)

mine only really bark at the someone knocking on the door or a loud unexpected noise...generally B only starts if T does and they stop when i say no...i lived in a flat on the ground floor when i first had T and u could hear the main door slam and people running up the stairs all the time, then slamming their own front doors at first she would bark everytime but she got used to it and learned not to..after a while the only time she would bark is if she heard our neighbours slamming their front door she never stopped with that fortunately they lived abroad and only spent a few weeks in the flat a year lol


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## Tiny but Mighty (Apr 24, 2010)

They really only bark when they have a reason to. They're vocal though, so if we talk to them or ask them a question they'll bark (sounds bloody barking I know).

Nacho also barks if my other half and I play fight lol. He doesn't like it so he barks at whoever's "winning" and gives kisses to the loser. It's really cute. He's quite barky if a big dog barks at him. We had him out near a great dane once and he was barking like mad. Was a fairly embarrassing situation to be in, especially when the great dane had to look about to see where the noise was coming from...


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## unchienne (Mar 29, 2009)

I find almost every problem I've ever had with my chis was solved by wearing them out. I had a huge problem with Pearl chewing. She even chewed into the dry wall of my house. Thought about getting her rehomed as well, but then I started walking her. Problem solved. Do you walk your chis? And I don't mean just letting them go to the bathroom. We're talking 15-30 walk around the neighborhood. It can make a huge difference.

As for the barking...mine bark, but it's not excessive. They like to sit on the back of the couch and stare out the window, so if they see something or someone outside, they'll give a little growl and maybe a bark or two. They do, however, go nuts when someone knocks but usually stop whenever the door opens and they can see and smell whoever is outside.


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## April&Sophie (Apr 13, 2010)

I have only heard Sophie bark a couple of times while she was playing with the cat. She's young though, so who knows what the future will bring


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## KayC (May 3, 2005)

Zoey did not start barking until about 1 year of age..


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## MickeyMouse (Apr 23, 2010)

Zoey's Mom said:


> Zoey did not start barking until about 1 year of age..


This is what my chis did. They were quiet little puppies.


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## Chihuahuasloveme (Jan 8, 2010)

mine all bark at everything! i got a vibration collar with a remote and it seriously works. It vibrates like a phone would vibrate. The only thing I don't like about it is that I have to press the button everytime so sometimes I'm not paying attention and can't press it right away. But now even if i put it on their neck they smarten their asses up outside LOL. I wish I had 3 of them that vibrated on their own that would be PERFECT


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