Chihuahuas really do have the most amazing personalities! We got that white one from the pound when he was about eight months old, and he had been raised as someone’s obnoxious, yappy little lap dog...I don’t think they even let him outside, because he wasn’t housetrained and he had almost no fur! His underside looked like a bald, pink chicken carcass.
He’s since developed into a fluffy, very independent little guy who still is only marginally housetrained. We love him though, he has the heart of a lion, the ego of Napoleon, and a penchant for stealing everyone’s left shoe. Doesn’t chew them up, just takes them away and hides them. Such a wierdo.
There must be something about the small dogs not housetraining well. This guy was a rescue. My daughter had been pestering me forever to get one, so we went to Denver where they had brought in a whole bunch of chihuahuas from LA. We didn’t get to visit any of them because they had kennel cough, and we had 3 dogs at home, one with lymphoma nearing the end of his life, and a new basset pup on the way in a couple of days...
But this guy was a healthy, six year old chihuahua, that had been relinquished by his “family.” They said they gave him up because he wasn’t housetrained, they kept him in a kennel 22 hours a day... just too hard to handle. The guy showing him to us said he thought it was the first time he had seen a dog happy to be at the shelter. Needless to say, he has never been kenneled/crated since. He is still messes in the house periodically, but they are such small messes. He always tries to hit the pads or the bathroom. But with the other dogs, he does like to go out the dog door and be in the yard.