42
Please consider that the problem might not be the harness itself, but how you act with the harness.
Chihuahuas are small dogs and can be slinky when they want to avoid something. If you grab her, lift her up and somehow force her into the harness, that process is very uncomfortable. Even if you don't cause her any pain, it's still uncomfortable from a ...
16
The Harness May Be Uncomfortable
I have a Golden Retriever and, like most Goldens, she LOVES going out and about. But she was showing similar signs (not wanting to come over and put the harness on, moving her head to make it harder to do, etc.) as your Chihuahua about 2 weeks after we got her a new harness. Once you got it on her, though, she was her ...
14
I don’t see any red flags - in fact, some of the points in your first list are what I would consider pros not cons. Let’s go through them:
They do not let you pick your own puppy. Instead, they will ask you questions, and try to choose a puppy that matches well.
Puppies, like people, have different personalities, temperaments and traits, yes, even from the ...
9
Any kind of "designer dog" cross with a high price tag is a huge red flag by itself. There are pretty much two types of "designer dog" crosses, the ones that breed two wildly different types of dogs together and the ones that breed two extremely similar types of dogs together.
The type that breeds two very different type of dog together ...
8
Stephie's answer is spot-on in every regard. This seems like a trustworthy breeder who has the wellbeing of their puppies in mind.
A small addition to the aspect that they chose your puppy for you: There are standardized character assessment tests that are backed by scientific studies. A good breeder will ask you questions to find out what you expect and ...
6
Our terrier is similarly unhappy with the process of putting her harness on. She doesn't actively resist when you've got her, but she does try to hide under the bed or table. We've tried various options, but none worked.
Sometimes trying to psychoanalyse a dog is a losing game though. It may be that you just have to face that she doesn't like it, and you ...
6
I know this answer might be unpopular, but the one person who knows best what your dog needs is a vet. As we established in the comments, this is an international community, so the environments our dogs live in are so vastly different that there cannot be one answer that fits all.
Your local vet knows best what kind of ailments they treat regularily in the ...
5
Don’t worry! Even humans eat crickets, so your dog will be totally fine. Dogs eat a lot of things worse than crickets (my parents’ dog regularly snacks on goose poop despite our best efforts to stop her). As a plus, crickets are a great source of protein and other nutrients!
There could be a rare instance that the cricket was carrying a parasite, so just ...
5
The other answers are fantastic, but I wanted to add one more thing in regarding good signs/bad signs with breeders. Frequency of breeding.
A given female should generally be bred no more than 3 times in her life, and not right away. This is to stop on female's genes being to prevalent in the breed as a whole (to prevent inbreeding and all the problems ...
4
Just to add our experience with our breeder:
Yes, they were expensive ($1500) with a significant deposit. Why? Because the mom got lots of prenatal/postnatal vet care and the puppies got a lot of vet care as well. The breeders were "show" breeders, more interested in agility and show quality. We did have an application and a questionnaire where we ...
4
The question why is hard to answer. We cannot ask your dog and cannot look inside his head. He did eat without permission in the past, so his current behavior is just a habit.
What's important is that his behavior is completely uneccesary. It's very much comparable to people claiming that their dogs won't eat anything unless they are fed by hand. The ...
3
It's most probably a vocalization of his excitement.
Barking is not always something negative or aggressive. Compare it to a human screaming: it can be someone screaming in rage or frustration, or it could be a child screaming in joyful play.
It could also be his way of broadcasting his presence to any potential intruder or his dog-friends in the ...
3
This is very common. It's a very rare dog that makes any connection between what's happening outside and the need for a coat or harness.
As far as they are concerned you are subjecting them to a straitjacket for no reason. We can't explain to dogs so we have to train them. This has already been mentioned in an excellent answer by @Elmy.
From personal ...
3
Germany here:
I live in a very rural way, my dog is best characterized as a farmyard dog who has access into the house. Even though the dog roams our grounds, we've had fox puppies in a wood pile and you may see some roe deer browsing while the dog snores in his hut maybe 25 m away. Which means that my dog has an unusually high exposure to wildlife ...
3
In general, dogs don't have the mental capacity to connect a reward to any action that happened more than a few seconds ago. If you wanted to teach her a command, you'd have to reward it immediately within a second or two.
However, dogs can learn that certain situations involve treats more often than usual. Some owners give their dogs a treat at the end of a ...
3
In addition to the other answers, here are some other red flags per The Spruce Pets (https://www.thesprucepets.com/signs-of-a-bad-breeder-1117328). I've read similar advice on other sites. NOTE: I'm not endorsing the site one way or the other, but the advice here seems sound. Here are three items from that site (in my own words):
They offer a large number ...
2
One red flag for an unethical breeder is allowing separation at too young an age. Getting the puppies out the door fast is a bad sign.
A puppy should be with its mother for absolute mininum of 8 weeks and even that's not really enough. 12 weeks would be better.
Puppies separated from their mother/littermates too early have a harder time socialising.
...
2
Someone may already have said this, but try harness training your dog. Harness training may be easy for some and hard for others. I do not at all recommend forcing the dog in the harness or collar that the dog is scared of. First, you should start to build trust with the dog and the harness. You said that she will run away when she sees it near her. The ...
2
Every dog has their own personality and own values. As you correctly suspected, your dog values his possession of the ball more than treats.
One trick you can try is trading one object with another of the same value - meaning trading one ball for another. You should only offer him the second ball if he's close enough to you that you don't have to walk far to ...
2
Most people only know a growl as a sign of aggression, but it can also be a verbal expression of displeasure, pain or apprehension.
First you should check your own body language. Are your legs straight and your torso bend down at the waist? Then you are towering over your dog which is a very aggressive gesture in dog body language. Her growl is just her ...
2
When I let my dog out into the garden, he barks at me for a while. I
usually shut the door and he runs off to do his business, without
looking back at me or barking at me again.
He's inviting you to come out and play. When you shut the door, you have declined the invitation so he stops asking - a very polite dog!
This is common between dogs as well. When a ...
1
Your dog is trying to protect its territory.
It is trying to protect you from what in its mind is a threat to you and especially its own turf.
Try out saying
Get the kitty..get the kitty.
If your dog goes off looking in the garden and up trees, it is protecting its territory.
1
Many creatures eat bugs, don’t worry! A cat I know eat any bug she comes across, as long as there isn’t any harmful chemicals like pesticides or fertilizers, that dog will be fine!
1
Bringing treats on her walk and giving her favourite treats every time she puts on her harness and coat is a way to make her feel fine to do it. It may make her feel better to do it with the proposal of treats. Treats in general motivate most pets, from budgies to cats.
1
A UTI is a bacterial infection. While holding urine doesn’t necessarily cause a UTI, it will keep and build up any bacteria that have made their way into a urinary tract, if the urine is not released. Plus, it’s not healthy for a dog to be forced to hold its urine.
It is important to take a puppy out to pee frequently because:
Puppies need to pee more ...
1
Usually you would start the process in, say, early summer. It’s a gradual desensitization, where you introduce one scary thing at a time, keep as much distance as necessary and decrease that distance very carefully and slowly. The goal is to never let her be really scared, pay attention to the little stress signs and body language. If she’s uncomfortable for ...
1
If it's after playing with toys, maybe it's hair or the fabric stuck in its teeth, I have a small dog that coughs only after he messes around our clothes (he shreds them) or carpets, etc. (ok he is not well behaved exactly...). Otherwise he is healthy. His hacking is when he tries to shred items.
But also maybe check for heart problems. They sometimes cause ...
1
I’m learning to watch her ears and brace for impact.
With my dogs I've found that this is the moment at which you need to coach and treat. As soon as you notice something that will trigger your dog, start to coach her. For me, my dogs reacted while we were walking past other dogs. So I begin to coach, calmly, "on by, on by." Then, as soon as the ...
1
Leave her toys with hidden snacks inside and put in many hidden snacks in her cage to give her something to do. It may take a while for her to start enjoying this but it will eventually make her pleased about it. Make sure its a challenge before she can get it so that she will be satisfied. Make sure the treats are dry cookie treats or else they will go bad ...
1
I have seen Tv programs saying how to quiet a dog, and they have said that You get a ball, with a hole and you put in dry or moist pet food inside. The dog has fun trying to eat the food, and concentrates on eating rather then barking. * This can be done in a Cage.
She may be lonely, so you should maximize your time with her, so you may want to get toys.
It ...
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