Pets

The psychology of chihuahua clothes

One of the reasons that Chihuahua clothing has become popular with owners of small breed dogs is that they allow us to dress our puppies in little costumes and make them cute. Some dog enthusiasts love to do this, and yet other people are concerned about the psychological effect this has on their dog, almost as if they are embarrassing him. And I have to say that there is something in this …

Walking my chihuahua dogs down the street, I often passed dogs on walks with their owners who were wearing clothes and they certainly seemed embarrassed about it. They kept their heads down, trotted slowly behind their owners in a slight, silent challenge, and didn’t really look around at anything in particular around them, perhaps trying to avoid making eye contact with someone, embarrassed? Maybe. Or perhaps the costume was simply physically uncomfortable for the dog. But it sure seemed like the dog wasn’t feeling well emotionally; something seemed to be affecting the dog, inside.

So what is going on here? I think it has a lot to do with the owner. Having worked with dogs in run-down shelters as well as luxurious homes, training them, rehabilitating them, as well as just casually observing them for fun, I have found that dogs are very sensitive to what many call them these days. as “energy”. Dogs take a lot of cues about how they should feel due to their strongest influences – their owners – and I think that when a dog has a psychological problem related to something like the clothes he wears, many times it is a problem that is largely created by a well-intentioned dog owner who didn’t know it.

One possibility is that the owner made a big fuss the first time he put the costume on the dog, and at the same time, the costume did not fit well at first and was uncomfortable for the dog, so the association is formed in the the dog’s mind from something like “this costume signifies excitement (unstable owner) and physical discomfort). uncomfortable combination for a dog, and that’s where a lot of these problems come from: we, the owners, create them, much of the time.

Considering the dog, it’s actually more about comfort for them than what the dog clothes look like on him. For you, it’s probably more about fashion. But if you are concerned about how your dog will react to clothing, as a dog trainer in the past, I will reiterate: dogs are sensitive to your energy, much more than anything else. I wouldn’t worry too much about what your dog “thinks” of the clothes you put on him, but you should make an effort to share positive energy when trying a new outfit on the dog to make sure it’s a positive experience. for him and he feels good about it.

If you laugh at him, he picks up the energy and may associate the negativity of that with wearing clothes, so keep this in mind. In general, don’t worry; Just keep in mind that in the beginning when your chihuahua is wearing the puppy clothes, share the positive energy with the dog. The ideal scenario would be to take your dog for a long walk, then put on his chihuahua clothes, then walk him some more, and then give him some affection after the walk and leave him the shirt or sweater (or whatever. wear). on it for a while. Other than that, there isn’t much else to the ideal setting! Give it a try instead of smothering the poor Chihuahua with affection, and see how much easier it will be for him in the future to get him to put his clothes on.