Serious Behavior Problem With Gracie

[2Chiwawa]

Hi everyone. I need your help. I'm having a serious behavior problem with Gracie.

As hard as it is for me to admit, Gracie bites and snaps. She is very touchy at times and will growel, show her teeth, snap and try to bite. If this happens in the day time I make her go into her crate and she is ignored. She comes out of the crate very quiet. She is better in the daytime than she used to be.

The worst part of the problem is at night. I have always let both dogs sleep in the bed with me. I sleep in between them to keep Gracie away from Sammi as she is jelous and will bite at Sammi or myself through the covers. If she starts to growel I tell Gracie to stop or if she won't stop groweling or starts to bite she is made to get off the bed. Usually, in the past, when I let her back she is calm and goes to sleep.

Lately things have gotten worse. If she starts to growel or snap and I tell her to stop she goes into a sort of biting frenzy and I have had to get her off the bed and away from Sammi and I to prevent an accident. I put her in her crate the first time for over an hour. She cried. I finally let her out because I was worried the neighbors would complain. When she came out of the crate she was ignored. When she got back in the bed she settled right down on the bed and never budged.

Last night she started to snap and I made her go into the crate. She cried and banged around in the crate from 1:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. She only stopped crying for a few minutes and would start again. I finally let her out when she began to get even louder. She and I never slept and I missed an early morning appointment.

I know I can't expect Gracie to go from sleeping in the bed every night of her life to sleeping in the crate without her crying but because I live in an apartment I can't let her cry all night. And I don't know if this "letting her know who is the boss" is the right way to go. Let alone that it was breaking my heart. :cry2:

I know I could work up to crating her gradually with rewards but right at that second I need to get her off the bed and somewhere else. If she really bites me or Sammi that would mean doctor or vet bills and the chance that I would have to get rid of her.

My next alternative is letting Sammi come up in the bed and then taking the dog stairs away so Gracie can't come into the bed. There are dog beds in the bedroom and she could sleep in one of those. But I do know that she cries when she can't get up on the bed. So she would be crying in the bedroom rather than the living room and my bedroom is next door to and right over two other bedrooms in the apartment building.

I am not sure what to do. I hope you have some advise. Also do you think I should talk to the vet about a tranquilizer that I could give her before bedtime? Very Very upset and worried.

[Romans Mom]

Faye, I have posted what I did for Roman's biting here. It worked 100% for his biting and snapping problem. :) It was taught to me by someone who went through classes at Petco or PetSmart for their Chihuahua who had a biting problem.
Here's the link...(I'd post about it here, but I can't type much right now due to carpal tunnel problems in my wrists.)

http://clubchi.com/showthread.php?t=543&highlight=tongue+presses

[Romans Mom]

About Gracie biting and snapping...I have a question. Does she really continue and actually bite and draw blood? I ask because Sheba would act up at night, ie, if she was startled awake, she would hurt us. She ripped Terry's eyelid and also bit my forehead--deep. Both times, we thought she was awake and kissed her only to find out we startled her and she bit. She now sleeps OFF the bed and right next to me and is fine with that. She loves it.

However, Elle and Roman will sound like they are killing each other. We have been running to split them up when they do this over a piece or plate of food or a place on the bed. We recently decided to see just how bad it was and let them go. They did not hurt each other at all and stopped fighting on their own.

Elle growls and bites through the covers if we bump her, or if Roman walks on her, so he now knows it's safe to walk on Terry to get back to the top of the bed and then down to a safe place away from Elle, or he will whine and cry until we wake up to let him back in bed so not to disturb Elle. LOL We tell her to stop it and ask her what's the matter with her to do that to her brother. That's not very nice. It seems to embarrass her a little. Her bark is worse than her bite. She also shows her growls and shows her teeth at me when I try to take her from Terry. She will act like she will bite me and will lightly grab my finger, but when I kiss her and have my face in hers, she will not bite me no matter how hard I have tried to get her to. II know this is bad, but if she's not going to stop growling, then at least I know how far she will go. I know she's not going to hurt anyone or dog, so she gets to stay in between the covers. most of the time, we make sure they are on different blankie levels and now they request and call where they each want to be, head, feet, blanket level one or two. :wink:

Whenever I have asked my vet about any tranqs. or pain meds for our dogs, he has never encouraged it unless absolutly necessary, nor given them to me for them because they have the same effects and side effects as they do on people...liver damage, dependancies, constipation, etc. When I thought Elle should take something for her car sickness, he said she'd have to be knocked out, so I decided that wasn't good for her. She's finally overcome it with time. But all of this is just my dogs experiences. If you need to, I'd continue the crating at night next to your bed and see if she will get used to it.

[2Chiwawa]

Hi Barb, Thank you so so much for your detailed description of how you dealt with Sheba and Roman and Elle. Just knowing that other doggies had this problem helped me right away.

To answer your question, Gracie had drawn blood way in the past biting me and Sammi but had not in a long long time. Lately she would have drawn blood biting in the bed if there had been no covers or if I hadn't restrained her and put her out of the bed a few times over the past 2 weeks.

To cut to the chase, we did much better last night. When we went into the bedroom I pulled one of the dog beds right next to the head of the bed where I could reach down to it. Then I took the doggie steps away so she couldn't get into the bed on her own. I told Gracie to get in the dog bed and then got into the bed with Sammi. I began to talk to Gracie right away and to pet her a little.

This worked much better than putting her in the crate. She cried a little but I could talk to her. She got out of the dog bed and went to the dog stairs but came back to the dog bed when I told her to. She would settle down pretty well on her own. I was firm with her each time she cried. I told her to get back in the dog bed and reassured her. She was a very good girl until 6 a.m. By then I thought it was time to reward her by sleeping with her on the couch. We fell asleep on the couch and I overslept and was an hour and a half late for work.:-P But it was worth it to not have her biting in the bed or crying in the crate for hours. I know she will get the hang of the new arrangement.

What was very interesting was that I think Gracie "got it" that the doggie bed was way better than being put in the crate for a third night. And Sammi Girl was very funny. She was very clear in indicating that she had finally "won" and stretched out in the bed with me. She also stood in the bed and barked down at Gracie to rub it in. But of course I stopped that. They never cease to amaze me in how smart they are in understanding shifts in status and arrangement.

I love them both to pieces and was so scared that I would have to give Gracie away. It would break my heart to think of her somewhere without me. Thank you Barb for telling me about Sheba. I loved your description of the under and over blanket arrangements in your bed. That was how it was for us when things worked well. So I was LOL

[Hercules Momma]

Wow Faye.. I'm so glad your solution to put the dog bed up higher worked for Gracie. Hopefully that will continue to work and everyone will be happy and Gracie will stop her snapping.
Shame on Sammi for gloating in front of Gracie! LOL

[2Chiwawa]

Phew, we all went to bed last night and Gracie went into her little bed on her own with no trouble. I couldn't believe it. She curled up and went right to sleep. We all slept through the night with no trouble. She cried just a little bit in the morning but went back to sleep when I told her to. I loved her up real good on the couch when we all woke up. I'll be curious to see if she keeps being so good over the next week. I have to be honest I thought she would cry for a few more nights.

What a relief.

[Amaze]

Hi Faye,

Sorry it took me so long to respond-it sounds like Gracie is figuring it out, great!

I was going to suggest only putting her in her crate for 15 minutes at a time vs. a couple hours. They tend to get the point pretty quickly and in my experience, if allowed to "win" by making too much noise, it defeats the purpose of showing them that you are the alpha.

Anyway, the dog bed next to the bed was a great idea and should work as long as you stay firm and consistant (sp?). We used to let H&T sleep in bed with us but it got to be too much with three. It took a while to get them to accept the new arrangement. They would cry, whine, bounce off the side of the bed (Tally), and make a fuss all night long! Once we figured out that they kept doing it because one of us would usually cave and pick them up, we both agreed to not do it and it worked! Heuser always used to wait on my pillow to do "nigh-night cuddles" and I still pick him up and cuddle him for a little bit when he wants me to, but both of them go right over to their bed (big stuffed pad with a twin-size down comforter over it so they can burrow) and wait for me to lift the covers and tuck them in-it is TOO cute!

I'm sure Gracie will keep up her good night sleeps if you keep up your handling of the situation. She may try to test you occasionally so just stay strong and know that you are doing what is best for Sammi, yourself, and most imporantly-GRACIE (even though she doesn't realize it)!

[2Chiwawa]

Thanks so much Lys. I am staying strong but I have to say that Gracie seems to have made it easy for me. She went into her little bed again last night with only a little coaxing on my part and settled down and went to sleep. I think we are ALL more comfortable but Gracie would never admit it. She cried a little at 7 a.m. and I was ready to get up so I took her to the couch and cuddled her. It's kind of nice because she is really really cuddly by then.

[momof1chi]

Awww.. I hope this works out! Sound like everyone is sleeping better! :)
Chassi and puppers Chili and Chloe

[2Chiwawa]

Gracie is still sleeping in her own bed like a "big girl". I do have to tell you all that when she cries in the morning I find fresh tears on her cheeks when I wake up. :cry2: Poor pup. It's a little scarey how much they are like human kids.

[momof1chi]

Oh tell me about it! Chili and Chloe are like having two more kids! So i always say I have two of the human kind and two of the four legged kind! They fight just like brother and sister! They are just a hoot to have around.
Chassi and puppers Chili and Chloe

[Romans Mom]

Hi Barb, Thank you so so much for your detailed description of how you dealt with Sheba and Roman and Elle. Just knowing that other doggies had this problem helped me right away.

It's good to hear the new arrangement is helping. Is it still working out for Gracie?

I'll will now confess, Roman had a set back on Monday. We had gone to the city. Terry was grocery shopping, and I took the dogs for their walk. They meet people during this time, but this day, a very nice Laotion woman approached Roman. She could hardly speak English. I understood her well enough to know she wanted to pet Roman. I said sure knowing knowing I couldn't explain he might (((gently))) grab her finger to say hi, but he wouldn't be trying to hurt her. He did that. She jumped, but laughed, and then continued to pet him without problems because she could tell that was OK. I said I was so sorry, and that he wouldn't hurt her at all, and we struggled with language barrier, but she said that's ok because she had two dogs and know how they can be like that. We were both apologizing all over the place. I told him NO and touched his back. He's smart enough to know what I meant by that. I'm not sure if he will ever completely care. It's possible we will meet her there again; I hope we do, and I know Roman will remember her and hopefully not have to "shake her hand" to say hello.

[Amaze]

He's smart enough to know what I meant by that. I'm not sure if he will ever completely care.

OMG Barb-you, my friend, just summed up Chihuahua-ism at its finest! That is the BEST description I have EVER heard for their oh-so-Chihuahua behavior!!! I am definately going to use it when talking to non-Chihuahua people!!! GREAT ONE!!!!

[2Chiwawa]

I agree, that is a great description. They are so smart. They understand everything, more than I expected. In fact I have to remind myself how smart they can be and give them more credit than I do sometimes. I don't think I challenge Gracie and Sammi Girl enough. We are in a routine that I don't get to vary very much for them. The best is when they talk to each other on their own. They have whole "conversations" that have nothing to do with me. I crack up.

But I got off the subject...they are so smart and they know just what you want them to do but THEY DON'T CARE. Sammi is much more docile for me but Gracie will stand her ground and have to be banished to her crate occaisionally.

[2Chiwawa]

Just an update: Gracie goes to sleep in her bed without any crying. She sleeps through the night. She only cries for a few seconds if I sleep a little late. But if I tell her to be quiet she settles right down again. We are ALL sleeping better.

[Hercules Momma]

Faye,
Are you sure Gracie isn't trying to get you to 'get up' instead of sleeping late? LOL

My cat always comes in an wants me to fill up her bowl. She's like an alarm clock. She's not about to let me sleep later than her usual time to be fed.

[Romans Mom]

That's good news to hear Faye! Now Roman has been getting up in the middle of the night and barking at the front door, again, so we have had to use the baby gate to keep him back with us. Yesterday, a neighbor told us there are cyote pups up on the hill who howl and sound like aliens every night, so we now know Roman is hearing them. He can't help but join in! haha

[2Chiwawa]

That is amazing Barbara that Roman can hear the kits. We are so used to our dogs interacting with us humans that we can forget their animal natures.