I adopted this chihuahua ( big guy 7lb's ) two years ago, at first he was very timid and scared, poop and peed if you got near him. Today he is a completely different dog. He is crate trained, he sits and stays and downs, we are working on getting him to come effectively. He has become very loving towards the people he see's alot such as myself, my girlfriend, my brother and mother. Whenever we have someone else come inside, or walk by him outside or anything he goes ballistic. Barks, tries to bite, even bites sometimes. Also, if I am holding him and my girlfriend gets too close to me he gets over-protective and growls at here and vice versa. Also if we start to cuddle or get close while on the couch or something he will squeeze himself between us and growls. Whats the best way to handle this situation.

 Quote: dale stoneburg

Whenever we have someone else come inside, or walk by him outside or anything he goes ballistic.

Do you mean people who are paying no attention to the dog, or people who stop, approach, speak to, pet, etc.?

 Quote: dale stoneburg

Also, if I am holding him and my girlfriend gets too close to me he gets over-protective and growls at here and vice versa. Also if we start to cuddle or get close while on the couch or something he will squeeze himself between us and growls.

One thing I wonder about is why he is on the couch.

Pending a couple of details about the behavior, I'd say that a bunch of pack leadership work is in order. I don't mean this to sound vague, with just answering "pack structure" to every behavior issue, but to tell you the truth, that's so often the major failure that allows the behavior to become habitual and then to escalate .... regardless of the dog's triggers and whether the dog is fearful and anxious.

What do you do when he warns your girlfriend away or plants himself between you?

When someone comes inside, where is the dog? Exactly what happens?

By the way, "overprotective" is probably not a good interpretation of that behavior.

For example, a dog who perceives himself as pack leader and warns away someone who is encroaching on his pack members --- my first thought is resource-guarding.

Thank you for taking the time with such detailed responses. Ill try to answer them all with full detail.

He will go ballistic and try to attack even if the person is across the room paying no attention to him.

We force him off the couch whenever he shows aggression and then he usually jumps right back up, I'm not sure what to do after that point.

When someone comes inside he is usually in his crate and he goes crazy in there barking and growling. I have also tried having him on a leash by me away from everyone else and he still goes off the deep end.

I feel as though he knows I am the pack leader. While he will everyone else he wouldn't even think to do it to me. He also minds me better then anyone else, although I may be mis-interpreting this.

How/what do you think I should do in the fallowing instances.

When he growls or pushes himself between us, what would be the best way to handle that?

Also getting him to become accepting or new people or atleast not bark and growl and try to bite when we have someone come over.
I agree over-protective is the wrong classification.

Last January, you wrote,
". . . He also has very aggressive tendencies to protect my girlfriend if I try to touch her. This has been solved by no longer letting him sleep in the bed with us or on the furniture. . . Ive trained him to come, sit, down, up, and stay. He performs all these tasks to a spectacular level when I reward him with a treat. If I don't have a treat its very hard to get him to do such tasks. . . "

and now:

 Quote: Dale Stoneburg

. . .We force him off the couch whenever he shows aggression and then he usually jumps right back up, I'm not sure what to do after that point. . .I feel as though he knows I am the pack leader. . .
When he growls or pushes himself between us, what would be the best way to handle that?

Sounds like there wasn't a whole lot of progress last year. The aggression problem hasn't been solved, and he definitely knows you're not the pack leader. I give you credit for coming to this site, because all the resources needed to solve your problems are here and here and in Ed's DVDs. It takes a lot of time to read and absorb all this material and more time to work with your dog on a regular basis with a consistent plan. But that's what it takes, otherwise you'll have to post your questions again next year.

Mike

How do you correct this dog?

I don't have any experience with small dogs.
But I would imagine a micro-prong could be used on a 7 lb chi.

At the very least I think a strict nothing in life is free policy would be good for this dog.

Dale, it sounds like the dog is a bit insecure. He used to display the classic symptoms of it, but now he's moved on to guarding and displaying aggression. I had 2 Chi's, and my female was like this at first. Animal Control had a "DO NOT TOUCH" sign on her cage. If it's the same thing, which it sounds like, it's fear based and defensive, not at all related to protecting. What helped this dog was structure (like everyone is suggesting) and rules. She needed to learn that she was NOT in charge, I was, and I would be making all the decisions and would not be needing her help.

She would get very nasty if anyone (animal or human) got near me. A 7lb dog may be too small for a micro prong, I know Widget is. Also, I would be extra careful w/a Chi's trachea. They are prone to collapse. I actually still scruff Widget if he is very out of line; there's not really another effective way to give a serious correction w/out hurting a dog that size. E collars are all too big, and he has epilepsy, so that seems like a bad idea to me.

Anyway, I think reading the dog is the key to fixing this. You haven't made as much progress as you would've liked b/c you were on the wrong track. This dog will benefit from clear discipline and structure.

Do you have other animals?