My chihuahua was snappy and aggressive today.

[ChChChChihuhua]

I feel so shitty. I never wanted a chi like that and always actively tried to avoid.
I've socialised her well, took her out. Got her used to people and new places.

She's just over 1 years old.

People always say how sweet and friendly she is. Anyone can stroke and hold her. She loves little kids and other dogs.

When she was about 6 months old she had an accident and had a suspected broken limb. She was in a lot of pain and scared and had to be sedated for the x-ray. She threw up whilst sedated and was quite poorly and was a bit traumatised.

So today she had an appointment for a pre-spay check up. The first time she's been back at the vets.

In the waiting room was a huge gorgeous newfoundland.

She growled for the first time in her life at him! And the nurse and owner were saying it's always chihuahuas with the attitude etc.

She only did it once

She's 4lbs and never seen a dog that size. The waiting room was packed and she was panting and very stressed at being there already.

We were called in and when the vet tried to handle her she just flipped. She was growling and snapping, trying to double back on herself to get his hands.

I was in shock.

She has never, ever shown any aggression to anyone.

I honestly think she was just terrified of being at the vets again after what happened to her arm.

She's back home and happy as Larry now but I'm scared this is the first step to her being a snappy chi but DH said she was just scared.

Now I'm really worried about her going back next week. They'll probably think she's a horrible bitey chihuahua and I'm worried at how she's going to cope being there again :(

She peed herself on the table so she was obviously very scared.

It sounds to me like your poor pup was a bit trigger stacked here. One too many unusual/scary/unpleasant things just meant her stress bucket overflowed and resulted in a meltdown. Not uncommon at all, even the most relaxed dogs have bad days every now and again.
Try not to stress about her becoming a snappy dog if she is generally calm and chilled.

You could try some counter conditioning to improve her perception of the vets and any other scary things.
There are some fantastic resources online for this - just ensure you're searching for R+/ Positive, reward based training and work slowly on it at her pace. Have a look at Trigger Stacking as a jumping off point.

I have chihuahuas and frequently get the "little dog syndrome" comments, even though they're generally very well behaved. It bothered me to begin with but 12 years on I just roll my eyes and ignore.

Poor little soul. Hope she's okay

Good advice.

Try not to panic, poor dog sounds like she was terrified. It doesn't mean she is going to turn into a bitey dog.
Have you asked at the vets if there are any nurse clinics to help scared dogs? There used to be one at the vets I worked at where you could pop the dog in and they would give them a treat and a fuss. Helps the dog realise the vets isn't always such a scary place.

Thankyou. I will ask them today.

Definitely talk to the vets about it. They might be able to suggest ways of reducing the stress - familiarisation with the nurse clinic approach sounds good but I'd guess you'd need to defer the spaying for quite a while. I was wondering if there is any sort of tranquilliser that can be given at home before taking them in...but she'd still be waking up in the scary place so maybe that wouldn't be a good approach.

Poor lamb. She's still very young and has been traumatized. She needs lots of love and support.

Agree with above advice but also vet waiting rooms can be busy and stressful, next time you can ask to wait outside and have them call you when it's your turn to reduce stress.

She had to go back to the scary pain place and wait with a monster that could eat her in one go.

How about putting her in a carrier like a cat next time? She might not be happy, but at least she won't be put in a directly threatening situation in her mind.

Ask the vet to prescribe some trazodone and Gabapentin for before her visit. She sounds terrified and these drugs will help with her anxiety. They can be completely different with these on board and much less stressed. It’s pretty common for chihuahuas to be fear aggressive. Most vets are used to it.

Poor little thing. You sound like a great owner, you obviously love her very much and want to help her. She is very young still, just a puppy and she has been through a lot. Get your vet and a good dog trainer on side. Plenty of socialisation.

I think I'm definitely going to take her in a carrier and wait outside till it's time to go in as a starting point.

I've tried ringing a few times to ask about meds but no answer so far, I know today is surgery day though so they're probably very busy.

I can't really delay the surgery as she has sporadic, close together cycles so need to get her done ASAP whilst not showing any signs of being in season.

Here a pic of her.

Poor little love. It does sound as if she was just terrified.
My dog is also terrified at the vet (after the bad memory of a surgery). She takes Trazodone and Gabapentin before each visit and spends her time there in a dreamy, tired state. It wears off by the evening and seems to help her a great deal.

What I'm doing with my vet scared dog is go in at least weekly for biscuits!

I changed practices - not because the vets did anything wrong but because the place held such negative associations for her. I spoke to both practises at length and our behaviourist and come up with a plan.

So we go to the vets for biscuits!

That's all we do! We go in say hello to the receptionists and they give her lots of treats and then we leave.
This week we might have a sit on the scales whilst we are there. And have biscuits. And leave.

Basically I'm trying to make it as positive an experience as possible! We are along way from her being ok to be handled by the vet.

I'm also muzzle training her so everyone is safe if we have an emergency.

When my ddog went crazed at the vets years ago he told me that wasn't my ddog but one in the midst of a traumatic situation.. She peed on him and tried to climb the wall. 9 stone rottweiler.. She was sedated for every appointment after that....
Your ddog is very ungrateful seeing as yesterday was national chicuahua day!!

You could just change your title to "My chihuahua was a chihuahua today"...

She's absolutely adorable. I want her! ;)

Meant to add that I never waited indoors even if other dogs weren't present; we always strolled in the vicinity of the vet's office and they would ring me when ready. And the staff always came around the desk and crouched down to make a loving fuss over my little boys, so the dogs saw it all as a fun outing.

You've had fair advice already but the other thing I would call out is to be careful about how much she gets manhandled. It is really, really easy with small dogs to think 'oh, I'll just pop them here or just move that limb there etc'. In a way that you would never, ever dream of doing if she weighed 50kg. Even vets (great though they mostly are) do this and I get why - it's quick and easy. But it also reduces her choices and leaves her with little in the way of agency except to use aggression.

At home you can look at games you can play to get her used to choosing to be handled. Things like 'roll over flat' and then gentle stroking/examining her belly. With training and rewards she can choose to allow this. Ditto ear, teeth, paw and under tail examinations.

You could also buy a tiny soft muzzle for her and play games where she offers to put her nose in it for treats - working up to you doing it up for a few seconds. Just in case it is ever needed for real.

Try not to physically move her when you don't absolutely need to. Give her the chance and choice to move herself. Or at least to indicate she is ready for you to move her. For example, I've seen small dogs learn a 'arms up' command that indicates they are ready to be lifted. Same with the lead - it's a safety line, not a remote control so try not to ever drag or pull her in the direction you want her to go. You wouldn't manage it if she where a giant breed so try not to do it just because she is 4kg.

None of which is meant to suggest you DO anything wrong now - and maybe you already do all this, so can ignore me - but some food for thought to help her feel a bit more in control and less like she needs to use aggression to communicate displeasure.

Agree with @SirSniffsAlot So often these tiny dogs are treated like objects rather than sentient beings. I had to guard against just this problem - always lifting, carrying, putting them somewhere convenient for me. One cheerfully pushed back, hopping and jumping to where he preferred to be, the other - a far more passive dog to begin with - got a long-suffering resigned expression on his face that really gave me pause for thought. I made an effort to give them agency and they were much happier.

I was lucky, though, each had the sweetest disposition and never snarled, snapped or growled. The only time they barked was when strangers approached; a dog-wise friend pointed out that these little guys were inserting themselves between me and strangers/visitors, trying to be my faithful defenders. Once it was made clear to them that the new people were welcome, they subsided and were happy to be petted.

This is exactly the attitude I'm talking about :(

Our vet offers a clinic (intervals of 3 x 4 weeks or as advised) where a dog can go in and have treatment-free sessions with a behaviourist nurse. Everything built around consent and for the first couple of sessions my dog didn’t even enter the building, she had snuffle mats, treat boxes and no attention from the nurse. Gradually moved on to learning that vet examinations can be stress free. Going to the vet is one of her favourite things in the world now! It stemmed from a visit where she had to go in without us and have her eye examined. Does your vet offer anything like that? It can be done with medication but we didn’t take that option.

For the spay I think you’d have to look at medication. My dog needed a spay after only two sessions of the clinic, so she was loaded up with happy pills and it didn’t set her back when she resumed the sessions (follow up session was photos sent to the nurse of stitches etc rather than having to go in and potentially undo the progress from the sessions).

I e met many chihuahuas over the years and I’ve never met an angry one.Ut literally is how they are treated.As a dog not a baby.Yours looks gorgeous - any dog coukd have reacted like that at the vets and she was clearly terrified.I wouldn’t expect a vet to give Trazodone and gabapentin to her as one off.they are used off licence and not given without you trying other methods first.Our old girl had them as she was riddled with anxiety brought on by dementia-

as others suggest just do practice runs to the vets and reward her just for sitting in the car at vets first and build up to it.Keep her in car til u have to go in.Hope she gets on ok

I've booked her in with a different vet who operate a 'no fear' policy.

They have a private waiting room for nervous dogs and seem to have a much more understanding approach.

Oh good!
Just being a different place will probably help too. Hope it goes well.