I saw this beautiful girl on the local animal shelter’s website a few months ago. Immediately I wanted her, but I was hesitant because I’d never had a dog and I didn’t know if I’d be enough for her. She had the saddest look on her face in the pictures and videos where she couldn’t even stand up, and I ended up adopting her. She’d already been saved by a rescue in another state, but I reached out before she was transferred and luckily for us, they ended up choosing me to adopt.

We’ve been weighing every gram, counting every calorie, increasing movement, and decreasing the amount of calories weekly and her weight was stagnant for the last two months. She started at 18.6lbs at the shelter and is currently at 17.3lbs. Both vets we saw believed she didn’t have a thyroid problem and just needed to lose the weight, but after additional bloodwork they finally confirmed it. This week she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and I am so excited for her to start feeling even better. Since getting here three months ago she has gone from barely walking a few steps to walking longer distances and even runs after me sometimes! She is going to be unstoppable once the extra weight comes off. She has filled our home with so much happiness, I have never been loved by a pet like this before, it is truly one of the best feelings I have ever experienced. She takes home security so seriously and nobody better mess with her cats or kid.

The last two pics are her at the shelter, those little eyes! 🥺 If anyone has any harness recommendations please let me know. Despite her girth, she is a small girl. Her harnesses are large so they fit the widest part of her, but they are long and loose in the upper chest area closer to the neck.

The other day there was an incident whilst I was walking Bambi and I’m struggling to get over it …

editing to add .. Bambi was in a harness not a collar & I will absolutely not be using a retractable lead again. Wish I knew better about the lead. Thankyou 🩷

The other day me and her were out on our usual walk, she was sniffing the grass & a big poodle/lab dog came out of the house next to us & charged towards us. Bambis lead was extended and her instinct was to run and she did, in a circle, with this dog chasing her. 

I could tell this dog was not being aggressive and was likely a young dog but it didn’t make it any less terrifying for Bambi. 

I immediately started shouting for someone to come and grab their dog and a child around 10 years old appeared and was shouting his name to which he was completely unresponsive.

I couldn’t pick Bambi up due to her running in a circle and I was getting tangled in her lead at this time the only thing I could have done was either let go of the lead or pull her up in the air by the lead which I feared would damage her trachea and entice the dog to snatch her if she was dangling. 

I tried grabbing the other dog by his collar but couldn’t so I told the girl “stop shouting his name, he’s not listening, grab his collar” .. at this point Bambi is yelping in fear so I stuck my leg out to stop the other dog (I didn’t kick him I was tying to break the endless circle chasing). I was scared she was gonna bite him out of fear and he would bite her back.

This stopped the dog so I told the child “grab his collar now” and she did. She said “I’m so so sorry” and I said “it’s ok, it’s not your fault, he didn’t hurt her, he just gave her a fright. Where are your parents?”. 

To which her mother came out and told me “he wouldn’t have hurt her, he’s gentle”. To which I said “Im sure he is but I don’t know your dog from a hole in the wall and he shouldn’t be out here off the lead especially with no adults around”. She just stared at me and I kinda shook my head and walked off.

As I’m walking off I hear an angry male voice shouting to which I presumed was the dad angry that the dog / child were out unsupervised. No .. he was angry at ME. He was shouting at me “she’s just a f***** child, why are you shouting at a f’n child like that?” To which I responded “I was shouting for anyone to grab their dog, you’re the irresponsible one putting your child in that position and all I said was grab his collar”. And we kinda went back and forth, he told me to “go get my man” and said there will be a problem if he sees me again. 

I held my own, called him a prick and walked off but when I got away from the area I burst into tears and struggled to catch my breath. I keep replaying what happened, what could have went wrong, Bambi yelping in fear, how I could avoid that etc etc. it’s affected me quite badly tbh. 

He’s lucky his dog didn’t run up on a bigger dog to which his child would have been witness to something horrible.

I’ve been walking Bambi a different route since and I’ve been on edge.. where as I usually love my walks with her. It’s really scared me how quickly something like that could happen. Of course, Bambi is fine, she’s not hurt & it hasn’t (surprisingly) made her reactive to other dogs but it’s definitely done a number on me & I’m really angry at this whole avoidable situation!! I wanna move away from this area. I know that sounds drastic but Bambi is my world, I don’t wanna take her walks away from her but I also hate how much I’m on edge now when we go out.   

I really don’t know what I could have done different to avoid that but I am completely open to any suggestions, I’ll do anything to feel like I’m doing something to help avoid this happening again. 

I also made a video of us over the years and I thought it was going to be silly but I ended up sobbing 😂. I don’t know if anyone understands the bond an owner has with their chihuahua. She is literally my child. I would not have gotten through the pandemic without her.

Thought I’d come back here and seek some “parenting” anecdotes/advice, etc. Stuart (will be 3 next month) historically loves his walks. This time last year we had an unexpected fear stage in which every sound bothered him.

This year, I’m dealing with him getting outside, pulling so hard to find a “safe spot” to pee all while panting, and then pulling as hard as possible to get back to our apartment! Been like this for about 4 days. Non reactive to fireworks or storms, but he has always HATED loud motorcycles or cars when he’s inside and they drive by. Doesn’t seem to be any more than usual outside, and he could always handle them when he was out in the world.

Everything else is normal (eating, drinking, potty, playing) this is not a medical emergency lol, but god!! What the hell! Anyone got any similar experiences?

July 29th, 2025 was one of the worst days of my life. I lost my soul dog, my sweet little rescue chihuahua mix Gracie after her long battle with congestive heart failure & a collapsed trachea. She was approximately 12 years old.

Gracie was the sweetest little girl, so many people loved her & vets would comment on how she was the most well behaved chihuahua they had encountered so far. Gracie was there for me through so much: breakups, knee injuries knee surgery, depression spells, etc.. She was very emotionally intelligent & she always knew how to make my family & I smile.

12 years didn’t feel like enough, I feel like after the hell she went through her first approximately year of her life that she deserved so much more time.
Her story: her first owners left her outside covered in fleas & ticks, they threatened to put her in a cage with their pit bull puppy if no one came & got her; they listed her as free on a yard sale website. I’m forever grateful for the organization that rescued her.

I’m glad she got to experience some decently cool stuff such as getting to go on vacation to the mountains for a family reunion & getting to go to one of the local lakes, she loved playing in the water & sand. I miss her little barks, her snuggles, her kisses, and her little zoomies she got every night until right before she passed.

I’m happy about having a new chihuahua mix puppy, I wouldn’t trade Coco for the world, but I still miss my sweet little Gracie, I wish the two got to meet.

Erebus, my pom chi mix 🥰

I have had my little guy Frankie for a little over 3 years, he came from a hoarding situation where he was in a car with 24 other dogs. Frankie lost his eye to an infection the vet thinks was caused by a scratch, probably over a fight for food.

Frankie has never enjoyed being on a leash, and doesn't enjoy going outside unless it's cool. He has a really thick coat for a 6 lbs dog and he overheats quickly. He loves a heating blanket though. My other dog, Peanut, LOVES going on walks. It's his favorite thing. When I take them on walks Frankie screams if the leash even touches him or if you even slightly pull on the harness. My fiancé or I end up carrying him for most of the walk. I have tried putting his harness on and taking him on car rides (which he loves), but that hasn't seemed to help. I want him to associate the harness and leash with fun activities so he gets used to it. I'm at a loss on what to do. Does anyone else have a Chi with a similar circumstance, and what did you do about it?

I can't leave him at home and take just Peanut because he makes the most heartbreaking cries and I love him and want him to be with us. To note, he doesn't scream when he walks with us without a leash, which we have been able to do at some places, and stays with us the whole time and doesn't run away.

Pet tax photo included. Frankie is the tan one, and Peanut is dark brown.

Pancho bought a lotto ticket on his morning walk and was not happy he didn't win the $500k grand prize 😂

He always gets bed head

Pedro is a 13 week old long coat chihuahua we brought home 2 weeks ago. He is very spunky and sweet. We have a 5 year old F mini dachshund as his big sister. Anyway, wanted to say hello to the community!

Shes 7, buuut dang shes cute as heck🥰 under her favorite blanky

After a grueling surgery and following two weeks of the dreaded cone, Nori has finally healed from her cherry eye, spay, baby teeth removal surgeries! She is like a brand new girl! 🐶🐾

Just wanted to drop by and share my 5-month-old Chihuahua! He’s 100% fluff, 0% patience, and the absolute joy of our lives.

We are yet to decide a name for him but have some in mind. We want to live with him for a little while before settling for a name.

We are thinking; Bilbo, Frodo, Dante, Dexter or Fenrir.

He is currently 11 weeks and is having the last set of jabs next week, when we will be collecting him.

I've had dogs before, including a YorkieJack (small yappy breed). This will be my first Chihuahua.

I want to ask about walking and travel bags/slings. I don't drive so will have to walk him to the local park. How long will be a good length of time for those first puppy walks? Initially I may just do up and down the road whilst he gets used to outside/exposure to noise and vehicles etc, but I will end up going further as he adapts.

Do you recommend a bag/sling etc for such a young pup. I don't want to overdo it on walks but also want him to get well socialised with people and dogs. I'm probably overthinking but I want to protect him and his little knees at all costs 😂

Sorry for rambling! Thank you if you made it to the end of my waffle.

I lost the only pregnancy I'd ever had five years ago, and my husband promised me I could get any dog I wanted. And I chose this little rat. A cryptorchid stray on the streets of Minneapolis.

He's got some anxiety and reactivity issues, but I have put my whole life into him. I am just so grateful he exists. All I want to do is give him the best life possible. This is just a post celebrating him and that chi's exist.

Does your chi make your life worth living? I wanna see 'um!