Well, Charlee is pretty confident and he usually doesn’t shake, but Neva shakes all the time. She will just look at you and shake until you call her name. I’ve heard other people talking about their chihuahuas shaking too, so I know that it’s too uncommon. But I always had to wonder: Why do chihuahuas shake?
Most of the time, shaking is just part of the chihuahua’s normal behavior, and you should have nothing to worry about.
Energy.
Chihuahuas have a ton of energy packed into their tiny bodies. You can think of it, like drinking too much caffeine. If your body is hoarding a lot of excess energy, it burns it off by shaking.
Attention.
Neva loves attention. She will jump on my lap and look up at me (just like she is looking in the picture) and she will shake. I usually respond by baby-talking to her. She loves for me to acknowledge her and I always respond when she shakes, so she probably knows she can do it by shaking. I’ve read somewhere in the past, that they have evolved to shake, because people feel sorry for them and pick them up. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it makes sense.
Excitement.
When they are excited to go somewhere or know something exciting is going to happen (like getting a cookie), they will shake. Neva gets the most excited when I say “Do you wanna go to Grandma’s house?” She always jumps around and then runs in her cage, and shakes. She even cries sometimes because she is so excited.
Nervousness.
When Neva knows she is in trouble, she shakes. She hates being in trouble, so she gets really upset. The great thing is that I never have to punish her; she punishes herself. For instance, she knows she is not supposed to hop the gate into her uncle Nick’s room and eat the cat food. If I happen to walk by and she is in there, she knows she is in trouble. She will start shaking (and unfortunately, sometimes she pees). She usually hops the gate, runs in her cage, and shakes.
Cold.
It surprises me, that in the middle of summer (and remember, it gets over 100 degrees here in the summer), Neva will be cold. Her little body is so tiny, and she hardly has any fat or fur, so it makes sense that she would get cold easy. But anyways, she always loves to sleep under the covers and cuddle up to your as close as she can to get warm. Even when it feels to me, like a million degrees outside, she will crawl under a blanket and get warm. Anyways, their body shakes to keep warm, kind of like how we shiver when we are cold.
If they are having other problems or illnesses, accompanied by the shaking, I would consult with your vet. Otherwise, just know that shaking is part of being a chihuahua.
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Do your chihuahuas shake? Leave me comments in the feedback.
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