Chihuahua's Get A Bad Rap...Is yours the exception?

Well in my Chihuahua's case the reputation was well deserved. He would bite anyone who came into the yard if one of us weren't out there to stop him. He thought he was a Rottweiler! Quite the little protector. Heaven forbid even one of us in the family would jokingly smack another. He'd go after the smacker with a vengence. I always had the feeling he did it to get attention because any time he'd get upset (or appear upset) we'd always pet him and try to soothe him so he'd calm down. I'm sure he figured out that if he got all bonkers that we'd pay attention to him. There was a Chihuahua that lived a couple of doors down. The owners never put him on a leash, just let him outside. The little dickens thought he was king of the neighborhood. He was always out there every morning just waiting for people to walk out of their houses. When I'd go out to get in my car to go to work he'd stand behind my car and bark and nip at me until I got in and shut the door. He always gave me a good laugh. Then he'd go to the neighbors house and taunt their huge 180 lb monster dog.... really big mistake. He got a bit too close one time and it was his last taunt unfortunately. By the time we heard the yelp and got out there it was... well let's just say I don't ever want to see anything like that again. But my Aunt had a Chihuahua who was a real sweetheart. All she wanted to do was sit on your lap and love you. I'm sure that it had something to do with the fact that the first two were unfixed males and the third was a female.

I have a chihuahua/Dachsund mix and she is mean with her bark. Once that gets out of the way she's fine. But it's only in the house. She won't bark out on the street, At other dogs, Cats..nothing. She doesn't know a stranger. And sometimes she doesn't care to know anyone at all. She's weird like that. Tiffany

My 9 month old chihuahua is a sweetie. He is so friendly and lovable, although he will bark like crazy at other dogs especially big dogs. But he is so playful. Other people always ask if it's ok to pet him. Right away they ask if he bites. I'm always a little taken off guard by that comment, because I don't think he would ever bite anyone. Guess people just assume that chihuahuas bite.