When it comes down to water touching them, chihuahuas are probably the breed least open to change. If given a choice between walking through a puddle and going home early on a walk, my dogs will turn their tooshie around without a second thought.
Why is this?
In part, temperature can be a big factor. Chihuahuas are sensitive to the cold and have very thin coats. That means they are much more vulnerable to losing body heat compared to a double coated breed.
This is why your chihuahua may never love that cold puddle on their walk even if you desensitize your dog to warm bath water. The negative reinforcement of the ice-cold water on their paws is going to counter-act on your treats every single time.
In this phase of desensitization we’re going to teach them they can put their foot in water and not have an immediate, unpleasant experience.
This is going to take a while.
Step One: Introduce the Pan
For this part of training, you are going to need a very wide, very shallow pan. It needs to be so wide your dog can’t just immediately step around it, and so shallow, they can easily step in without a little jump.
A cookie sheet, set on something to keep it from sliding (such as a small rug) is a good option. The pan should be filled just enough to completely cover the bottom, but not so full that it’s going to run over if the dog steps in and splash the floor.
Your dog should be completely unrestrained and able to leave if they want to. At no point should the dog be placed in the water against their will, herded toward it, or trapped in such a way that the only way to leave is to go through the water.
The goal here is that they step in the water of their own volition—and that’s probably not going to happen today.
Instead, for session one, let your dog free around the water and sit next to it. A clicker really helps here. If they approach the water at all, click and reward that.
Click and reward coming closer to the water, ignore walking away from the water.
If they won’t approach at all, toss a treat a foot or so away from the water so they need to walk up to get it. If they won’t take that one, toss it a little farther.
The goal is to reward proximity to the water, and to make sure they know they will not be forced to interact during these times.
If your chihuahua is anything like mine, the best you can hope for is them walking right up to the edge of the water to get a treat. That’s okay for right now!
Step Two: Luring closer
Once your dog is fine with moving up to the edge of the water, hold a treat over the water so your dog has to lean over the water to get it. Your dog will likely not step into the water, and if it’s too far away will run crazy circles around the water before giving up if it is too far away.
Leaning over the water is a relatively small step that allows them to practice some daring (look how far I can stretch!) without actually having to touch the water.
Step three: One paw over
Once your dog is confident about leaning over the water, make it so they either have to put a foot in the water, or at least pick it up like they want to. (It’s fine if no actual contact occurs, the paw lift indicates they’re at least thinking about taking that step.
They may also accidentally put their foot in the water, if they do, treat them as you would in step four.
Step four: First Contact
Once they are willing to lean and pick up a paw as if it’s going to go in the water, it’s time for that first step. Bring that treat just a bit farther away so they have to put their paw in the water if they want that snack.
The second that foot makes contact with the water, it’s time for a treat party! You’re going to lotto your dog for this very brave behavior.
Shower your dog with treats, praise, and more treats. Let them know they did a big thing, and that you really liked it!
Once your pup has done this one time, you can either end the session, or go back to those deep leans for a few treats. It’s important not to pressure them and give them a chance to think about it before trying again.
Step five: Getting Bolder
Once your pup has made first contact, ask for them to step into the water once every 4-5 leans. You will eventually build up to them walking into the water happily for a treat, but water usually has very negative feelings firmly established with our chihuahuas, so this may take a long time.
Although you may be tempted to try to get them to go into the water every time after the first time they’ve stepped in, it’s better to give them a mental break and switch back and forth between the two.
When they don’t hesitated to step in every 5th time, you can narrow it down to every 3rd time, and then every other time, until they are stepping in every time.
Step six: A Little More
Once your dog is fine with putting a foot in the water to get that treat, you can ask them to wade a little farther in to get that treat. Start with one paw, then give your dog a lean break, and then lure your pup to put both front paws in.
If they won’t, one paw and a good wave with the other paw, as if thinking about putting the second paw in, is a good starting point.
Keep encouraging your pet until both front paws go in the water.
This will likely be easier than the first paw but could still take time and patience.
Step seven: Wading in
When your dog is willing to put both paws in the water, and doesn’t seem to care much about whether their feet are in and out, you can try asking your pet to walk all the way in.
This may be as easy as luring in one try—dogs tend to be unaware they have back feet at all. It’s also possible they will stretch out to impossible lengths in an effort not to put their back feet in.
If they are in Camp Endless Length, treat that as a ‘lean’ for the first paw, and practice step three, but for the back legs. This means both front feet can be in the water, but “leaning” the back feet in can be treated as acceptable.
Keep going until your pup is willing to put all four feet in the water, voluntarily.
Similar Posts:
- How to Teach Your Dog To Scratch with the Rear Legs
- How to Teach Your Dog to Use a Scratch Board
- Foot Handling: Touching a Target
- Touch Desensitization: Feet
- Desensitization to Water, Part 1