A small white Chihuahua or similar breed with light brown markings, wearing a red bandana with white bone patterns, indoors on a neutral-colored wall during daytime.

24:27

Cesar Millan 193K views Save

Grandma's love was scaring this Chihuahua mix

Name: Grandma's love was scaring this Chihuahua mix
Uploaded: 2025-02-28T21:34:06Z
Duration: 24 min 27 s
Description: For Kathy, every day with Target runs the same way. "It's a nightmare from the moment I wake up in the morning until I finally get to bed at night."

For Kathy, every day with Target runs the same way. "It's a nightmare from the moment I wake up in the morning until I finally get to bed at night." more

Target is a small terrier and Chihuahua mix who belongs to her grandson, Nick. When he gets set off, Kathy says, "it's like someone has hit a switch." He growls and snaps at anything and everything, and that morning he bit her. "As little as he is and as tiny as his teeth are, he hurts."

A person holds a small white dog with a red collar indoors near furniture and plants. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — Target is small, but Kathy says his bite hurts all the same.

Nick is 14. He moved in with Kathy and her husband when his parents separated, and he lost a lot of his things along the way. Kathy says he came to them because he knew he could keep his whole zoo of pets there. Target is his first dog, and Nick has had him since he was about four. "We're buddies," he says. "He's been there through thick and thin."

Now Target has to stay in a kennel, and Kathy is at the end of her rope. "I adore my grandson," she says. "I just don't know how much more I can take." Nick knows the pound could be next. "At this point it's almost like deciding between Target and my grandmother."

Kathy calls Cesar Millan for help, and he starts by watching. She goes inside with Target, and Cesar watches on a live feed. The little dog goes from unsure to excited and back again, and she pets him just as he goes tense. "Don't touch him," Cesar says. When Cesar goes in to handle him, it looks for a minute like he may have met his match. He hasn't. "My energy is stronger than his."

What Cesar sees is a terrified dog. Target goes stiff and his ears go back before he bites. The good news, Cesar says, is that he gives plenty of warnings. "The bad thing is nobody's reading the warnings." Kathy has been giving love and affection at the wrong time, and it feeds his fear. "It hurts to think that here I am trying to save this dog," she says, "and I'm the problem."

Cesar takes Target to his Dog Psychology Center for a few days, partly to give Kathy a break. With the pack, Target is friendly. With the chickens, tail up and ears up, he wants nothing to do with them, which is just how Cesar wants him to act at home. Then comes Lorenzo the llama, who really pushes the boundaries, and Target is overwhelmed.

A man with gray hair and a beard looks ahead and speaks outdoors near greenery. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — Target's trigger turns out to be someone getting right in his face.

That was the lesson when Kathy and Nick came to the center. "Lorenzo means no harm," Cesar tells them, "but his energy of being so in your face will make Target tense." Kathy, a dog lover who only ever wanted to give him affection, had been doing the same thing.

There was one more surprise. Target's teeth were rotten. Once they were taken care of, teaching him to relax got easier.

A person with pink hair and a purple shirt sits outside holding a small white dog. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — With Cesar's help, training Target to relax starts to get easier.

Target is livelier now, and with more training, Nick may get to keep his first dog after all. Someone in the comments caught a small moment near the end. After Kathy pets him, Target gets up and follows her out.