For those of you not on Facebook, this my be the first you’ve heard that I got a Chihuahua puppy named Josie O (the O is for Outstanding). After trying to find an adult, adoptable Chihuahua that would get along with cats, I gave up and got a puppy, figuring that might work better.
We brought Josie home in the car yesterday.
She did great during the hour-long trip, whining for a while, then getting used to it and mostly sleeping. We had friends over in the evening. They all lost their minds over Josie’s extraordinary levels of cuteness. All puppies are cute. From the standpoint of prancing, fluffy adorableness, it’s hard to beat a Chi.
Josie did all her bodily functions quite well. She’s weird about her food. Doesn’t like to eat it out of the dish, but dodges in and gets a piece as if the smell is strong. If I throw it on the floor piece by piece, like a game, that works well. She loves her Greenies chew stick, though. Gotta get more of those.
I went to bed on the couch next to her pen. She whimpered for a little on her heated bed, so I got in the pen and put my hand next to her until she fell asleep – maybe a minute. I fully expected to be up and down all night long. When I did wake up, it wasn’t because I heard anything, but because it was morning. I checked my phone – 5:41 am. I looked in the pen. Josie was sitting up on her bed, awake but silent. I picked her up and she shivered a little, whether from excitement or cold I didn’t know, so I reheated her pad in the microwave. She pooped and peed, had a snack, and thus our day began.
I’m not going to count on the same easy night tonight, but who knows? Maybe I got lucky.
As for Musette, Josie barks and growls at her. She did it while backing up against me, so I think she’s scared of her. Something in that slinking feline motion probably says “predator” to her puppy hind brain. Something in Musette’s hind brain says that something that barks and growls is also a predator, and the upshot is that Musette is afraid of a creature that is one-fifth her size. I know…pathetic. Josie seems to be paying attention when I scold her for barking at Musette, or she’s getting used to her. Once that stops, I’m hoping Musette will stop running past Josie’s pen as though the hounds of a very miniature Hell are after her.
Esri Allbritten 
Fantastic! I’m so happy for you. Josie sounds like a very intelligent dog and soon she and Musette will be the best of friends. Josie is a beauty!
Again, congratulations!
Congratulations!!! She is beautiful.
Just an idea to share from my wonderful trainer: instead of scolding when Josie is exhibiting fear/aggression, ignore it. When she is calm, quiet, alert, interested i.e. anything but fearful/aggressive go ahead and reward that. What my trainer said was that if you scold during a dog’s fear/aggression response, it adds to the whole “this is a scary situation” feeling in the dog, so it is a counter productive strategy. This has helped me with my own dog and in volunteering with a variety of dogs, hope this helps and isn’t seen as advicey in a bad way. xo
Thanks Janine, that’s a good reminder. I’m falling somewhere in between, by using just a stern “I don’t like that” voice, not raised, but it would be good to try ignoring/distraction. But the stern voice did seem to make her stop. It’s a very mellow correction. But she might be stopping because she’s getting used to Musette. So hard to tell.