Bringing a new pet into a family with children is a tremendous decision to make. On one hand, the pet can become a wonderful companion for your children. On the other hand, if the pet is not well-suited to be handled by small children, it can create problems.
Chihuahuas are dogs that people are often torn on when it comes being pets for families with young children. These dogs have a reputation of being reliable watch dogs who can keep your children safe, but they also have the reputation of being snappy, angry, and loud. Whether or not the chihuahua is right for your family will depend heavily on the temperament of both your children and the chihuahua you choose to adopt.
When Will You Know if Your Family is Ready for a Chihuahua?
Generally speaking, chihuahuas are best-suited to families who have children old enough to understand that they are capable of injuring the chihuahua if they are not careful. Families with infants and toddlers may find that a chihuahua is not the best choice, as toddlers can accidentally hurt the chihuahua and the chihuahua may disrupt a baby’s sleep. Unfortunately, there isn’t a blanket answer for families with young children, as this can be a case-by-case basis.
Despite how energetic these little dogs are, they are also incredibly fragile. If your children tend to be rowdy, energetic, and enjoy roughhousing, the delicate chihuahua may not be the best pet for your home. You will always need to supervise time your children spend with the chihuahua until the children are old enough to understand exactly how fragile chihuahuas are.
With all of this being said, in the right circumstances, chihuahuas are wonderful pets to accompany children. They have a natural inclination to be watch dogs, meaning that once they bond with your children, they will be excellent and keeping the children safe. This does mean that they will not always welcome strangers, especially loud children who may be friends of your children.
Teach Your Child How to Handle a Chihuahua
When you bring a chihuahua into your house, you will want to make sure that your children have a good sense of how to act and handle the chihuahua. If your children are particularly young, you may not even want to consider teaching them how to pick the chihuahua up until they are older. Teaching your children how to pet a chihuahua will help set the ground rules for how gentle they need to be around it.
When you are teaching the children how to pet the chihuahua you should do so in a calm, soothing tone and explain that they should speak calmly as well. You should then guide their hands, leading them in a slow and gentle motion from the chihuahua’s neck down to its back and the base of its tail. If you notice the children putting too much pressure on the chihuahua or are otherwise making it uncomfortable, pause for a bit and then try again.
Until you are absolutely certain that your children can pet the chihuahua without accidental injury, you should always supervise time they spend with the chihuahua, only allowing for pets if you are there to watch. Depending on the chemistry between the children and the chihuahua, it can take anywhere from months to years to form a strong bond. Once a bond has developed though, they will likely not require as much supervision.
Teach Your Chihuahua How to Behave Around Children
Just as you may need to teach your child how to act around the chihuahua, you may need to employ some training to ensure that the chihuahua behaves as well. One of the chihuahua’s best traits is that they have a natural inclination to be watch dogs. If it is not properly managed, this trait can develop into a distrust of strangers.
You will want to be careful about how you handle introductions in the chihuahua’s life. It can become easily anxious and overwhelmed if you introduce it to all of your children’s friends at once, and it may become weary and snap at them. It is often highly recommended that if you are going to bring a chihuahua into your children’s lives, you should make sure to socialize the chihuahua from a very young age.
Take the Extra Steps for Aggressive Chihuahuas
From the perspective of the small chihuahua, most people are threateningly large. When you factor in the loud and often unpredictable nature of children, you may be able to see where chihuahuas get some of their aggressive demeanor from. In order to make the situation better for both the chihuahua and your children, there are a few steps that you will need to take.
Around your children, you will want to explain to them that chihuahuas are easily agitated. You will want to suggest to them that they don’t make too many sudden movements around the chihuahua or that they keep the volume down around it. You should also stress to your children that if the chihuahua does nip at them, it is out of fear and not malice.
Around your chihuahua, you will want to consider what some of its stressors are. Different chihuahuas will become more agitated in certain situations, such as when the children yell or if the children come too close to the dog’s food. As you notice the specific triggers for your chihuahua, you will want to work with the children to try and create a calmer environment.
This can be done in a number of ways, ranging from letting the chihuahua have a room of its own where it can retreat if it is feeling overwhelmed to moving its food and water out of heavily trafficked parts of the house so it doesn’t feel as if the children are going to invade its personal space. If the chihuahua is particularly nippy, you will need to begin intervention early on.
Work with the Breeder
If you are planning to adopt the chihuahua from a breeder, it will go a long way to be honest with the breeder about the presence of young children. Some breeders may not be willing to let a family with young children adopt a chihuahua, so it may take longer to find the perfect fit. When you do, you should consider speaking with the breeder about letting the children meet the puppy from a young age.
Doing this will help both the chihuahua and your children. The children can be guided by both you and the breeder about how to handle such a small dog, and the chihuahua can meet its new owners in an environment that it considers safe. When the children are trying to meet the dog the moment it moves into your house, it can only add to the overwhelming stress that it is already feeling which can lead to bad impressions and the beginning of aggressive behavior.
By working with the breeder to create a gradual introduction process, you increase the chances that the chihuahua will integrate smoothly into your family’s life.