Chihuahuas are small dogs with big personalities, and these pups tend to be divisive in the dog owner world. While some individuals love chihuahuas, others find them hard to handle. However, this doesn’t change the fact that chihuahuas can be service dogs, and this breed is beloved by many who enjoy the silly personalities and loyal bonds that these dogs form with their owner.
In our guide below, we tell you more about service dogs and whether or not chihuahuas make suitable service dogs for owners in need.
What Are Service Dogs?
Service dogs are dogs that have been trained to perform disability-related tasks for their owners. These tasks can include retrieving items, guiding their owner, opening and closing doors, turning off lights, and performing medical alerts. Service dogs may also perform deep pressure therapy, interrupt self-harming behaviors, and keep their owners calm in public. Simply put, if the task a dog is performing helps their owner manage their disability, they are a service dog.
Can Any Dog Be a Service Dog?
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), there are no breed, age, or size restrictions on service dogs. This is done to allow any individual to train a dog to be a service dog, and it recognizes that any dog could potentially perform service dog tasks if they have the right temperament for service dog work.
That being said, certain dog breeds are usually more popular than others when it comes to service dog work – golden retrievers, standard poodles, German shepherds, and Labrador retrievers all have the right combination of intelligence, willingness to learn, size, and strength to be effective service dogs in numerous different situations.
While chihuahuas aren’t usually big enough or strong enough to perform certain service dog tasks like guidance, mobility support, and deep pressure therapy, they can be useful as medical alert dogs or a psychiatric service dog in some cases.
For the most part, chihuahuas can be a little stubborn and hard to train, but some chihuahuas do have the temperament for learning service dog tasks. When training a chihuahua, you will need to be consistent and firm with your training while using the positive reinforcement method.
What Tasks Can My Chihuahua Learn?
Chihuahuas can learn a variety of tasks that may help you manage your disability or psychiatric condition. You can teach your chihuahua to identify hallucinations or strangers, check around corners for you, and retrieve items that aren’t too heavy. When teaching your dog to perform medical alerts, they may be able to detect and alert you to oncoming seizures, blood sugar issues, or blood pressure issues.
You can speak to a professional trainer or research training courses online that may help you teach your chihuahua the service dog skills they need to know.
Do I Need a Specific Type of Training For My Service Dog?
Fortunately, there is no specific type of training or training course required for individuals who wish to turn their dogs into service dogs. The ADA allows owners to train their own dogs or pick from the variety of service dog training lessons around them in order to teach their service dog skills in a way that suits their lifestyle best.
That being said, your service dog must be trained and well-behaved if they are to take advantage of public access rights. Service dogs that are out of control, dangerous, or destructive are likely to be denied public access legally, even if they are supposedly acting as your service dog.
Teaching Your Chihuahua
Chihuahuas can make good service dogs in certain situations, as long as their service dog tasks do not involve a need for lots of strength or size.
Your chihuahua can be a perfectly good medical alert or psychiatric service dog depending on your needs, and all you need is a little bit of patience as you go through the training process. Speak to your doctor or mental healthcare provider for more information on adding a chihuahua service dog to your treatment plan.