Chihuahua Training Guide: What Actually Works
Updated: 5 hours ago
By Nick, co-founder of Doggy Styles Inc and owner of Bruno, a rescued French Bulldog. Last updated 16 October 2026.
Quick Answer
Chihuahuas are bright, quick to learn and very trainable, but they train best on their own terms: short sessions, tiny food rewards, a warm surface to sit on and plenty of patience. What works is reward-based training. Mark the behaviour you want with a "yes", pay with a crumb-sized treat and keep sessions to a few minutes. What doesn't work is pushing, scolding or physical corrections, which are risky for a dog this small and have been linked with more problems, not fewer. Many owners find house training takes longer than with a bigger dog, mostly because of the tiny bladder and a strong objection to cold, wet grass. Start with five skills, their name, sit, wait, come and settle, and socialise gently from day one.
Key takeaways
Chihuahuas are clever and learn fast with short, reward-based sessions.
House training is where most owners need the patience. Plan for the bladder and the weather.
Skip corrections. Punishment is linked with more problems, and small bodies are easily hurt.
If you're still getting to know the breed, start here:
Are Chihuahuas easy to train? What people get wrong
The two common assumptions are that Chihuahuas are too stubborn to train, and that a dog this small doesn't need training anyway. Between them, they cause most of the problems people later blame on the breed. A Chihuahua who's never been taught anything isn't stubborn. She's just untrained, and usually very good at training you instead.
Owners who put the work in tend to say the same thing. Romeo's owner, on Purina's owner stories, was surprised by the breed's poor reputation: "They really are the sweetest breed when trained properly." Romeo, they add, performs lots of tricks in the hope of a little cheese. That's the entire method, demonstrated by one dog.
The first sit
Week one. You hold a treat over her head. She looks at it. She looks at the kitchen floor, which is tiled and cold. She looks at the treat again, and stays standing. You put a folded towel down. She sits on it immediately and looks at you as if you're a little slow. She wasn't refusing to sit. She was refusing to sit on the tiles.
Common Chihuahua training moments, and what to try
What happens | What's usually behind it | What to try |
Won't sit on command | Cold or hard floor, or the treat isn't worth it | Train on a mat, with a better treat |
Accidents indoors, especially in bad weather | Small bladder, and a dislike of rain | More frequent trips, a covered spot, big rewards |
Nips hands and sleeves | Teething and play | Swap hands for a toy, pause play when teeth land |
Ignores you on walks | Too many distractions too soon | Practise indoors first, then the garden, then outside |
Barks at you during training | Frustration, or the step is too hard | Make it easier, and end on a win |
Growls when handled or picked up | Fear, discomfort or pain | A vet check, then gentle handling practice |
Owners recognise every row. The sit that only happens on the rug. The puddle by the back door on the one rainy morning you were late. The perfect recall in the kitchen that vanishes the moment a pigeon lands in the park.
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Why training a Chihuahua is different
Tiny stomach, tiny rewards
A normal training treat is a meal to a two-kilo dog. Cut rewards to crumb size, or use pieces of her daily kibble, so a twenty-rep session doesn't quietly become a weight problem.
Cold floors and wet grass
Chihuahuas feel the cold. Many won't sit on tiles or go out in the rain, and that's comfort, not defiance. Train on a mat and give her a sheltered toilet spot. Why she trembles on the tiles in the first place is a whole post.
Short attention, fast learning
Chihuahuas pick things up quickly and get bored quickly too. Three to five minutes, two or three times a day, beats one long session every time.
A body that can't take corrections
Pushing a bottom down, yanking a lead or grabbing a scruff can hurt a dog this size. Use a harness rather than a collar for walks, and keep all training hands-off.
What the research says
Rewards seem to work better than punishment. In a survey of 364 UK dog owners, Emily Hiby, Nicola Rooney and John Bradshaw at the University of Bristol found that obedience went up with the number of tasks trained using rewards, while the number of problem behaviours went up with the number trained using punishment (Hiby and colleagues, Animal Welfare, 2004). It's an owner survey, so it shows a link, not proof of cause.
Aversive methods also seem to cost dogs something. In 2020, Ana Catarina Vieira de Castro and colleagues filmed 92 dogs at seven training schools in Portugal. Dogs from schools that mainly used aversive methods showed more stress behaviours in training, had larger rises in the stress hormone cortisol afterwards, and were more "pessimistic" in a later test (Vieira de Castro and colleagues, PLOS ONE, 2020). The dogs weren't randomly assigned to schools, so it can't prove cause, and it measured welfare rather than results.
And aversive tools don't seem to buy better results. In 2020, Lucy China, Daniel Mills and Jonathan Cooper compared 63 dogs with poor recall and other off-lead problems, trained either with e-collars or by reward-focused trainers. The reward-focused group responded better to "come" and "sit" on the first command (China and colleagues, Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 2020). It was a small study of mostly medium and large dogs, but there's no reason to think a Chihuahua would do better with a shock. Taken together, the evidence points one way, and so does common sense.
A Chihuahua training plan by age
Age | Focus | Keep in mind |
8 to 12 weeks | Name, toilet routine, gentle handling, calm meetings with people from your lap | Sessions of one to three minutes, tiny treats |
3 to 6 months | Sit, wait, come indoors, settle on a mat, walking in a harness, a puppy class | Teething: plenty of chews, and nipping peaks |
6 to 12 months | Skills outdoors, recall on a long line, short spells alone, more socialisation | The teenage wobble: skills seem to vanish, so go back a step |
Adult | Tricks, scent games, refreshers, handling practice for the vet and groomer | Training keeps a small brain busy and out of trouble |
Every puppy runs on her own timetable, so treat the ages as a guide rather than a deadline. The order matters more than the dates.
The Chihuahua training repertoire, decoded
Every Chihuahua trainer meets these sooner or later.
The treat inspection. She sniffs the reward, considers it, and decides whether the sit was worth it. If it was dry kibble, it may not have been.
The selective deafness. She hears a crisp packet open two rooms away. She does not hear "come" from three feet.
The trick avalanche. You ask for a sit. She offers a sit, a paw, a spin and a lie-down in quick succession, in case one of them is what you meant.
The rain refusal. The back door opens. She looks at the drizzle. She looks at you. She goes back to her bed.
The foot sit. Asked to sit outside, she sits on your shoe. It's warmer, drier and technically a sit.
The early finish. After four minutes she walks off and lies down. Session over. She's usually right.
The rainy morning
Month two. It's raining. You open the back door and she sits on the mat, looking out at the garden like a passenger refusing to leave a warm train. You put your coat on, carry her to the covered corner by the shed and wait. Eventually she goes. You make a fuss and give her the best treat in the house. The next rainy morning, she trots to the corner by herself.
How to house train a Chihuahua
House training is the skill Chihuahua owners struggle with most. It isn't that they can't learn. It's that the bladder is tiny, the weather is often against you, and a small puddle behind the sofa is very easy to miss, which means the habit gets practised before anyone notices.
Step one: go out far more often than you think
After every sleep, meal, play session and drink, and at least every hour or two for a young puppy. Prevention is most of the job.
Step two: give her a sheltered spot
A corner of the garden under cover, or close to the house, makes rainy days far easier. Use the same spot every time.
Step three: reward on the spot
Go out with her, wait quietly, and reward the moment she finishes, outside, not when she's back in. Add a word like "be quick" as she goes.
Step four: supervise or confine
Indoors, keep her where you can see her or in a small, cosy pen. Watch for sniffing and circling, and head straight out.
Step five: clean up properly and stay calm
Use an enzyme cleaner so she can't smell the old spot. Never tell her off for accidents. It just teaches her to go where you can't see.
The first five skills to teach
1. Her name
Say it once in a happy voice. When she looks at you, reward. It's the start of everything else.
2. Sit
Lure a treat slowly up and back over her head, on a mat, and reward as her bottom touches down. No pushing.
3. Wait
A pause at doors and stairs keeps a small dog from under your feet. Start with a hand on the door handle and reward stillness.
4. Come
Practise indoors, a few steps away, with a great reward. Only move to the garden once it's reliable, and use a long line outside.
5. Settle
A warm bed or mat she goes to on cue, and stays on. It helps with barking, visitors, clinginess and mealtimes, which is most of life.
The recall
Month four. You're in the garden. She's nose-down in the flower bed. You crouch, say her name and "come" in your happiest voice. She looks up, considers it, and runs towards you with her ears flat back. You give her three treats in a row. She has never been so pleased with herself. You haven't either.
Socialisation: the training that matters most
A Chihuahua who meets plenty of calm people, gentle dogs, sounds and places while she's young is far less likely to bark or snap at everything later. Keep it positive and at her pace: watching from your lap at a café counts. Let people offer a treat rather than reach over her head, and never force a meeting. Visitors are where most Chihuahuas need the practice, and the strangers post has a script for them.
Puppy nipping, and training with children
Chihuahua puppies nip, especially while teething. Holly's owner, on Purina, describes their five-month-old as friendly and cuddly, with one challenge: "she is still nipping and biting." The answer is redirection, not reprimand. Keep a toy in your hand, swap it in when teeth meet skin, and pause the game for a few seconds if she keeps going. Give her plenty of safe things to chew. It passes.
Children can help with training too, with the right jobs and an adult watching. The family post lists which jobs suit which ages.
Barking during training, and after it
A Chihuahua who barks at you mid-session is usually frustrated: the step is too hard, or the reward has dried up. Make it easier and finish on a win. Barking at the window, the door and the postman is a separate project, with its own step-by-step plan.
What not to do when training a Chihuahua
Don't push, pull or scruff her. Small bodies are easily hurt, and it teaches her to fear your hands.
Don't use shock, spray or prong collars. They don't train better, the welfare costs are real, and remote shock collars are banned in England.
Don't skip training because she's small. A small untrained dog is still an untrained dog. She's just easier to step over.
Don't change the rules. If the sofa is sometimes allowed and sometimes not, she'll keep trying, indefinitely.
Don't overfeed in the name of training. Count training treats as part of her daily food.
A Chihuahua probably isn't the right fit if:
you want a dog that's quick to house train
you won't have time for a few short training sessions every day
you'd rather a dog who does what it's told than one who negotiates
you're hoping a small dog won't need training at all
Training rescue and older Chihuahuas
Older Chihuahuas learn perfectly well, and rescue dogs often surprise their new owners with how quickly they pick things up. Go gently at first: some rescues are wary of hands, leads or being picked up, so build trust with food before asking for anything. Older dogs may need softer surfaces, shorter sessions and adjustments for stiff joints or fading senses, such as hand signals for a dog who's going deaf.
How to keep training going
In the moment
If it isn't working, make it easier. Go back a step, use a better treat, find a warmer surface or a quieter room. End every session on something she gets right.
Long term
Keep sessions short and daily. Little and often is how Chihuahuas learn best.
Train everywhere. A sit in the kitchen isn't a sit in the park until you've practised it there.
Use training for her mind. Tricks, scent games and puzzle feeders tire a small dog out and leave less energy for running commentary.
When to get professional help
Ask your vet, and then a qualified behaviourist or reward-based trainer, if your Chihuahua growls, snaps or bites, guards food or toys, panics when left, or suddenly forgets house training she'd mastered. Sudden changes can be medical, such as pain or a urinary infection, so a vet check comes first. Growling and guarding have their own safety plan.
Are Chihuahuas harder to train than other breeds?
Compared with eager-to-please breeds like Poodles and Labradors, a little. Compared with other independent small dogs, like many terriers and Dachshunds, they're similar. The difference is rarely brains. It's house training, cold floors and the tendency of everyone around a small dog to let things slide.
What Chihuahua owners realise over time
Most owners find their Chihuahua was never stubborn. She just needed the right floor, the right treat and a session short enough to finish before she did.
The first sit, a year on
A year after the standoff over the tiles. You say "sit" in the kitchen. She sits, on the tiles, without a towel, and looks up for her reward. You give it to her. Then she spins, offers a paw and lies down, just to show you she's been keeping up.
The verdict
Are Chihuahuas easy to train? They're quick and clever, and they train well with short, reward-based sessions, tiny treats and a warm place to sit. House training takes the most patience, so plan for the small bladder and the weather. Start with name, sit, wait, come and settle, follow the plan by age, socialise gently from day one and leave the corrections out. If you hit fear, guarding or snapping, get professional help early.
If you're still getting to know the breed, the guide covers the full picture.
Living with a Chihuahua means negotiating every sit. The Chihuahua range is for people who've learned to enjoy the negotiations.
👉 Explore Chihuahua women's t-shirts, unisex t-shirts and sweatshirts and hoodies
👉 or explore the full CHIHUAHUA COLLECTION
Got a Chihuahua with a trick she's very proud of? Show us. Tag @doggystylesinc on Instagram or find us on Facebook at Doggy Styles Inc, and your Chihuahua could feature in a future post.
Continue Understanding the Chihuahua Breed
FAQs
Are Chihuahuas easy to train?
They're clever and quick to learn with short, reward-based sessions. House training usually takes the most patience.
How do you train a Chihuahua puppy?
Start with name, sit, wait, come and settle, using tiny treats in sessions of a few minutes, and socialise gently from day one.
How long does it take to house train a Chihuahua?
Often several months. Frequent trips out, a sheltered spot and close supervision speed it up.
Why won't my Chihuahua go outside in the rain?
Chihuahuas feel the cold and wet. A covered toilet spot, a coat and a big reward when she goes all help.
Why won't my Chihuahua sit?
Often the floor is cold or hard. Try training on a mat or towel, with a treat she really likes.
Are Chihuahuas stubborn?
They can seem it, but usually the reward isn't worth it, the session is too long or the step is too hard.
What treats are best for training a Chihuahua?
Very small, soft pieces, or her own kibble. Count them as part of her daily food.
How do I stop my Chihuahua puppy biting?
Redirect onto a toy, pause play when teeth meet skin and provide plenty of safe chews. Most puppies grow out of it.
Should I use a collar or harness for a Chihuahua?
A well-fitting harness is usually kinder for walks, as it keeps pressure off a small neck.
Can you teach an older Chihuahua new tricks?
Yes. Older dogs learn well with gentle, short sessions adjusted for their joints and senses.
Should I take my Chihuahua to puppy classes?
A good reward-based class with a small-dog group is very worthwhile, both for training and socialisation.
Do e-collars work for Chihuahuas?
They're not recommended. Research suggests reward-based training works at least as well without the welfare costs, and remote shock collars are banned in England.
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