OT new puppy
 

So hopefully tomorrow I am getting a little boy chihuahua who is about six weeks old. I am sooo excited!

I have never had a small dog before and I am going to be having it at my apartment so if anyone has a small dog (specifically chihuahuas), knows anything about them and has any advice I would really appreciate it :)

Oh, new puppies, puppy breath! Gotta luv 'em! I haven't shared my life with a chi since a kid, but I firmly believe in crate training, especially if you aren't around for long periods of time. I know there are owners of this breed on the boards - do a search across all forums for more help on this breed.

We have had numerous pups in our house over the past 20 years and always used crate training, although most of the dogs started roaming the house unsupervised when we were gone as soon they were housebroke. Having at least 2 pets probably helped them from being bored and getting into trouble. Although our last retriever mix did eat a hole in the sheet rock one day for no good reason :)

Well I have a dog in an apartment... but she is not small! I have a 6 month old collie. She is about 30 lbs right now. Will probably get to around 60lbs.

I was definitely thinking about crate training the puppy since I will be at school for 2-3 hours a day on most days so I am going to figure out how to go about that!
thanks for your responses :)

I have a cute Chihuahua boy named Harrison & I live in an apt too. He was 2ish though when I got him so he was mostly trained. He's such a good dog! He still has some accidents but mainly only when he gets excited and never when we're not home so we leave him out. I would suggest leaving potty pads out for him too along with crate training while youre getting him potty trained. You definitely have to be on the ball with taking them outside every couple or few hours!!

Good luck!!! Post pictures!!! =)

ive worked with dogs for 5 years and have owned many dogs and one thing about the little ones in POTTY TRAINING!!! they can be so much harder to potty train.. best advice to take them out often... after eating... after drinking... and playing.. after waking from a nap!

I have a little dog, a papillon, and the most important piece of advice I can give you is POTTY TRAINING! My dog is 9 years old now and still will go in the house if she doesnt get outside every 2-3 hours, its a huge pain.

But have fun puppies are always so much fun :D

Crate train. I crate trained mine and she has never had an accident in the apartment. Its a god send. Just make sure you get a crate that is the proper size. If its too big the dog will go potty in a corner of it and then sleep in the other corner.

Crates also make animals feel so much more secure. I wasn't really comfortable with crates until I adopted a year and a half old golden retriever/australian shepherd mix about 2 months ago. She had some pretty severe separation anxiety when left in small rooms, and destroyed one small section of carpet by our guest room door. Though she was already housetrained, the separation anxiety almost completely went away when we got her a crate and trained her to go into it when we leave...now we just tell her to "kennel" and she runs right in...no more panic, no more destruction.

I am a crate believer!

Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate! 6 weeks is awfully young for a puppy to be weened. Be sure when the 8 week mark rolls around to get that baby it's shots! (I know - so controversial, but I work in a vet clinic and Parvo is a nasty, nasty virus!) It is so much more effective to get a 25 dollar vaccination, than to deal with the $5,000 dollar hospital bill from trying to fight Parvo (which, even if the dog DOES recover, leaves long lasting permanent heart damage). Otherwise, enjoy the puppy!

Thanks for the responses everyone!

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to feed him. The previous owner sad he was eating regular dog food but he has not eaten at all today. I have him on purina pro plan puppy food for small breeds but he just does not seem to want it.

How much does he weigh? I have two chihuahuas.... Itty bitty ones... they are both full grown now and weigh 3.0 and 3.2... The littlest one I got when she was 8 weeks old... She was still eating moisten food and nutra-cal in between to keep blood sugar constant... Did the breeder tell you about nutra-cal for the little ones? He needs to eat little meals ever 2-3 hours to keep his sugar stable... You said he didn't eat all day? :( That is not good... I would mix his food with moist water to soften it and try to feed some of it that way to him... what was he eating at the breeder? 6 weeks is very young to bring a puppy home(usually 8 weeks in min.) also Chi babies tend to stay with momma till they get a bit bigger- I hope he is eating now... He is probably sad to be away from siblings and mom.

Also talk to your breeder to see if they have ideas about the food... What they did... etc- Did they start paper(potty pad) training him? My dogs are now litter trained.. We LOVE it! :) They are too little to go out in the snow and rain so they don't go out to the bathroom unless it is warm out.

let us know how it goes...
I added a few pics of my chi's for you to see... The dark one is Coco - 2 1/2 years old and the light one is Rocky almost 2. :)

When my little guy was younger my boyfriend made him what he called "puppy cereal" (he's such a dork). We bought both dry food and wet food and mixed those together with a little water so it's more appealing and easier to digest. Just make sure you are looking at the recommended feeding amounts and not overfeeding!

Have fun!! And I also recommend a book called "Be Your Dog's Best Friend". It was really informative about how my actions translate to "dog language".

That's exciting! I'm getting a puppy soon, an alaskan malamute. I live in an apartment and work long shifts so she'll stay at my b/f's house the 4 days I work and then I get her the 4 days off. It's exciting!

My dog is crate trained, and she actually will circle the room and stare at us if her crate door is closed. She loves it, it's like her own little room, and she has no problem with going in there. She loves sleeping in there.