Mr Sniffy Chihuahua extraordinary dog for Christmas

Sometimes its easy for blogs to fall into the black hole of venting, particularly when there is a good chance that nobody is reading them. So I thought with Christmas only 3 days away that I would turn all that around and talk about mr sniffy.

Mr sniffy is a 10 year old plus Chihuahua dog that comes to visit Tilly, our dog walk regular, sometimes throughout the week. He is owned by Tilly’s owner’s daughter and he too is a rescue dog.

The brilliance of Mr sniffy is his resilience and socialisation, regardless that he lives with quite unsocial other rescue dogs. Mr sniffy’s story could have been quite different if he wasn’t found wandering the streets of Footscray and given a good home.

No microchip and matted fur, he was not necessarily destined for the good fortune he has found in a good new owner. It would, however, appear that he was not massively abused by his original carers though, because he was so social already when found.

Like some dog breeds, Chihuahua’s tend to have a bad reputation, and in fact they are one of the very few breeds I have been bitten by. The mistake owners have of these dogs is to wrap them in metaphorical ‘cotton wool’, not walk them and then expect them to be social. A Chihuahua can have a great hunting instinct and take guard duties very seriously. If not trained, and allowed to be aggressive, if not socialised, they can often be given the unfair ‘small dog syndrome’ tag.

Mr sniffy is remarkable for many other reasons than where he came from.

He instinctually knows how to greet other dogs, and doesn’t start trouble. He is not aggressive and only stands up for himself when another dog wants to seriously pick a fight with him (which rarely happens because he is so social). He much prefers just pottering around following Tilly most of the time when we are out at off lead parks.

He also likes just doing his own investigating. Sniffy is neutral on recall, meaning that he doesn’t run away or stray too much and can easily be put back on lead.

Sometimes living with an unsocial dog and not being walked daily can dramatically change a good dog’s behaviour, but seemingly not mr sniffy. Perhaps age has mellowed him, but for his 2 kg weight, he is one of the most stable social rescue dogs, that is not regularly walked that I have ever met.

Mr sniffy is the kind of dog that helps restore our faith in dogs, and rescue dogs in particular .. with or without regular walks ..

Article by Bruce Dwyer. If you wish to use any of this information please refer to the article as a reference and provide a link to www.healthydogtreats.com.au

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