Thinking of buying a chiuaua.....

[Anne]

I would not consider giving any breed of dog to this OP due to the history.

When the dogs escaped the first time would have been a wake up call to me that my property was not secure. Yet this continued to happen until the dogs were lost. As for putting a dog on the back of a truck without making sure it was totally secure. Your history shows a total lack of care and responsibility for the animals who rely on you to keep them safe.

A 6 yo child is not capable of looking after a chihuahua as they are fragile and can be snappy. How is this child to learn responsibility for animals if the adults have shown themselves to be irresponsible. Children learn by example and the example already set is that of animals being disposable. You lose them through your own fault and you just replace them with others?.

A certain celebrity has a lot to answer for with starting a trend for handbag dogs, amongst other things. Little kids aspire to be like this air head.

My opinion is not to get another dog until you can show some responsibility for the one you already have. Hopefully you have attended to your fencing problem and hopefully you are taking your remaining dog to obedience classes.

[Daisy Duke]

NO NO NO. Do not get a chi for your daughter...dont get one at all. Especially if you are not sure how your dog will be...it could be killed so easily. Chi's are very fragile...(unless it is my 13 pounder, but another story). What if your daughter is holding the chi pup one day, and accidentally drops it? their skulls do not close completely, so that pup could hit its BRAIN, not its HEAD on the floor. Please, do not get a chihuahua (or any other puppy, for that matter).

[pvkia]

I live in Mexico, surrounded by Chihuahua owners. Most of them are either single ladies, older couples and gay guys or couples. None of them have children in the house...

[AFMarko99]

First of all thanks to all the positive responses??

Second, I will hold back on some of the things I really want to say.

You guys are the biggest stereotypers I have ever seen. Apparently you assume that everyone except yourself are terrible at raising and owning dogs. I have owned dogs since I was a child. For one I am not getting a dog specifically for my 6 year old. The dog will be raised by my wife and I. I would expect the dog to play with my daughter and be "her" dog.

I am taking most of your responses as insults to my character (AngleBunny and others). Number one I am in the military and have been so for eight years. I have owned dogs all my life. The lab was a member of our family for almost 4 years. I adopted the boxer from an old gentleman that was dying of cancer. As I stated before both dogs jumped the fence in my base housing three times. One time in which I drove for hours on the base looking for them and calling every vet in the area. Eventually I found the vet that located them and paid 70 dollars to get them back.

I usually let my dogs ride in the back of my trucks and have a chain bolted to the bed that gives them enough room to move around but not fall out. The ratterrier was full of mud as I had just brought them to the lake. The one time out of 50 that she rode inside my truck I made her ride in the back with the leashed lab. Of course that was the time she jumped out.

I am not on this forum to be judged I am only here for information. So if you don't have a small dog and a Rot that live together don't respond. If you have a chiuaua and any other big dog please respond also.

Thank you.
Damn you people know how to welcome new members.

[SaranBear]

What does being in the military have to do with getting a chihuahua? Except if you are often deployed you may want to consider the implications of adding another pet to the household and how it will affect whoever is left at home to take care of business while you are gone.

Being in the military has no bearing on whether or not you are a responsible pet owner. I served myself and knew plenty of GREAT Marines that were BAD dog owners(I include myself in there, at that time I was lacking alot of info).

First I don't leave my dog outside in the fence alone, too dangerous. Second if I did and he escaped once I assure you he would not be given the chance to escape again. The fact that your dogs were able to escape 3 times is indicative of a certain lack of responsibility.

Third please read the sticky about why it is a bad idea to let dogs ride in the back of a truck. It is extremely dangerous.

[MissMary]

I have a chihuahua and a 19 yeaold samoyed mix in the same house so I guess I can respond to your post.
I do not think a chihuahua is a good pet for a young child, due to their small size, the fact they tend to be easily scared and that they can easily be hurt.
Have you researched the chihuahua breed?? Maybe find a chihuahua forum and ask how their chihuahuas are with childeren.

[Bucky's Mom]

Originally Posted by AFMarko99

The one time out of 50 that she rode inside my truck I made her ride in the back with the leashed lab. Of course that was the time she jumped out.

Damn you people know how to welcome new members.

Actually - I thought the replies were rather restrained considering the parts of your original thread that I already had highlighted previously.

"In the past we owned a Choco Lab, Boxer, and a rat terrier. Unfortunetly the Choco Lab and Boxer were lost. (They jumped my fence three times. The third time I couldn't find them.)
The rat terrier was in the back of my truck one day with the Lab and jumped out of the back. I didn't notice untill about five miles later. I wasn't able to find her needless to say."

When a dog shows that it can jump a fence - a responsible owner raises the fence or makes other provisions so that it can't happen again - you didn't do that - and you lost BOTH dogs on the THIRD time it happened.

You secured ONE dog in the back of a truck with a chain that still doesn't provide the dog ANY protection from a potential impact accident - and allow a less than 15 lb dog to ride loose in an open truck bed - I would venture to speculate that the dog may not have JUMPED out - but been thrown out by the movement of the vehicle and you didn't notice for FIVE miles

And BTW:

So if you don't have a small dog and a Rot that live together don't respond

It doesn't work that way around here. When you ask for information you will have to listen to ALL the information - not only what you WANT to hear.

If you read the Forum archives and get a feel for the passion of the members here for what is RESPONSIBLE ownership - you will see where we are coming from.

I hope you will stay - and read - and learn

Welcome to the Forums

[moondog]

Originally Posted by AFMarko99

So if you don't have a small dog and a Rot that live together don't respond.

I have a large dog and a cat that live together, but I guess that doesn't fit your criteria. Oh well, I'm going to respond anyway....

Serving this country is very admirable, and thank you, but it doesn't have anything to do with your question. It's possible that your dog may get along with a chihuahua, and it's possible that he won't.......it depends on what your dog is like, and what the chihuahua is like. I don't know how we could have that answer, other than to tell you it's possible.

As far as your offense at our response to your comments about how many dogs you haven't been able to keep track of.....well, if you want us to understand how that could be, then you have to tell us. If you don't tell us, what do you expect? The way you stated it to begin with, it really sounds like someone who doesn't care all that much, whether you intended it that way or not.

[AFMarko99]

From the comments I will look into another breed for a second dog. I had a feeling a chiuaua wouldn't be the best dog anyway.

By the way all of the dogs we had before were outside dogs. Our Rot is the first dog I have ever owned that we allowed to live inside. It has worked out very well so far.

Thanks for all the advice about chiuauas.

[SaranBear]

Glad that your Rottweiler is an inside dog! Very wonderful of you to take the advice about chihuahuas. If you stick around you may find that you can learn alot. If we are a little blunt sometimes.. don't worry you'll get used to it. The atmosphere kinda reminds me of the miltary. Maybe you'll feel at home.

[denverday]

I am not on this forum to be judged I am only here for information. So if you don't have a small dog and a Rot that live together don't respond. If you have a chiuaua and any other big dog please respond also.

Some people may respond to the thread that do not have a Chihuahua and a Rott...because they may want to tell you why they chose not to...
Hearing from only people who do have that is only going to give you a one sided opinion, don't ya think????

Now that said...I have six kids a a chihuahua and a Rott...the Chi was our first dog...and has never(as alot of chi's are know to be like) warmed up to my kids...they are a bossy and can be aggressive because of "I think I am a big dog syndrome"
Now if you had a chi that comes into the house and acts that way, how do you think the Rott will respond...Maggie(chi) jumps into Denvers(Rott 1 y/o) face and "yap yap yaps" at him....she does this to all big dogs and has done so since she was 12 weeks...Shes also snippy with the kids, because I got her when they were young(5,4,3,2,and new born) and they did not understand that shreiking and waving thier hands around when she did puppy play with needle sharp teeth, was only making her worse.

There is a tendency for people (myself included) not to worry about training a small dog as you would a big one....I now have really thought about that since and realize that if Maggie were a "big dog"...she would have had to have been put down now because of how she reacts....

I have since been working on her behavior( which is tough on her as she is now 8 years old), because I realized that I was holding the dogs to different standards....They are expected to both behave, as well as the kids.....

I am admitting all my wrongs so that maybe you can look at all the negative aspects that can go along with this type of dog/child family mix...and thats coming from someone who has it!

[AFMarko99]

How about a weimerwimer? **Spelling**

Last thing I will comment about this situation is:

I have made alot of mistakes with dogs in the past, but I assure you my current Rot is much different. I have spent more time with him than my last few dogs and have been teaching him quite a bit. He is a great dog and we have been through some learning experiences together.

Long story short I am looking for a smaller dog that will do well with children and a larger dog. I don't think it would be a good idea to introduce a new dog when Bear is mature as I would rather the two dogs grow up together.

More advice is needed. Thank you.

[RottyMom]

Why the hurry to get another dog? Your Rottweiler is only a year old.

[MissMary]

I have to say that some on this forum can be harsh but if you can understand why and get past that you will find a group of people who can be very helpful and YES very careing but understand their passion is for the dogs. I have had some be harsh but they are honest and their honesty is a true help. So please stick around we all can learn new things.

[RottyMom]

Also you have to realize that your story seems so outrageous...I've lost 3 dogs by being a irresponsible dog owner...can you people help me get another one? that it crossed more than a couple of people's minds that you were a troll just trying to cause trouble. That's how bad it sounds.

It seems quite unbelievable that someone could lose three dogs that way and tell the story like it's no big deal