New Chin owner

Matts - Get a good quality dust such as blue cloud or blue sparkle, let her dust in it and you should be able to gently pull them out of her coat.

"Taming" - Give her a few days where you ONLY interact with her to feed/water her. Make sure she's in a quiet spot of the house. Then, start out slowly talking to her, letting her get used to your smell and voice. After a while, you can put your hand in her cage, let her come up and sniff it. If you have treats (look up a thread on safe treats started about a week or so ago), and offer her one. She'll come up and take it as she feels comfortable, and then you can start working the treat up your arm til she's jumping on it. This could take a few days, a few weeks, or a few months. She may also never be fully sociable. Just be patient.

Congrats on your first chin!

First thing, are the mats very big? If they're small, I would be inclined to leave them until she gets a bit more trusting of you. Of course if they appear to be painful, then I would remove them. But you'll have to grab her, hold her by the base of the tail and attempt to comb them out, by combing from tail to head (opposite of how you'd do a dog) with a flea comb. Otherwise you can try to rub it between your fingers and see if it comes out. Lastly you can try some baby wipes and try to work the mat out if it isn't too huge.

As far as getting her to trust you, it will take some time. I'm not sure how new she is to you, but for some chins it can take a month or more until they really trust you. What I would do is go by her cage every day and just talk to her. Don't stick your hands in yet and just talk. Then you can work up from there by putting healthy treats like old fashioned oats, an apple twig, a small shreddie, a cherrio, rosehips etc. into your hand and just putting your hand in there and letting her come up to you and get them out of your hand. Once she's comfortable doing that, take her to a chin safe room (like the bathroom) and let her run around on you. If the cage is small enough, take the whole cage into the bathroom, so that you don't have to worry about catching her to put her back in.

Just take it slow. Don't let her out to run around until she's used to you, because if you spend time chasing her to try and get her back into the cage, you'll only be taking a step backwards.

Some chins are friendlier than others, and some will never like to be held. They aren't like cats or dogs and many actually prefer not to be handled. Only 2 out of my 4 actually don't mind being held.

Good luck and feel free to ask more questions

When Heiney came to me she had HUGE matts...all the way down to her skin. If they are small-just leave them. Dust baths will take care of them. If they are really bad-like Heiney's-just snipp them out. In addition to not knowing you and not feeling comfortable with you holding her yet, you combing out the matts probably hurts. Think back to your parent brushing your hair when you were a kid with knots-not fun at all...


Slowly brush them out as you slowly get to know her. Take care of any that seem to be hurting her and leave it at that.


To get to know her, you can try a couple of things-I know Alli already started the list above, so sorry if there are any repeats....


I love to read, so I used to sit next to the cage and read out loud. My chinnies would sit right against me though the cage and just sleep...also, like Alli said, the bathroom is a great idea. Don't force her to come to you, just sit there and occupy yourself and the chin will come to you-I promise. Even the shy chins are little curious bugs...it's all about patience-and don't ever chase, especially in the beginning. Chins have great memory-and they are the best at holding grudges-well unless you're holding a treat:thumbsup: