1. Decide where your puppy will sleep, make sure the area is secure, free of drafts, not too hot
or cold, and will be quiet at night. Make sure it is close enough that you can hear your puppy if
they need you. Set up the crate or playpen now. While your puppy is here, they sleep in a
playpen in our living room when they are very young, older puppies are crate trained.
2. Make a decision on potty training now. Outdoor training, potty pads, dog litter, newspapers,
etc. Think about your schedule, what type of weather you might have, and the fact that a tiny
Chihuahua bladder may not last ten hours while you are at work. Make sure the whole family is
ok with the decision. You want to be as consistent as possible with your new puppy. If you
keep changing your mind after they arrive, eventually your puppy is going to give up on you
and poop where he wants. Puppies here are trained to use potty pads, *PLEASE NOTE: while
potty training your puppy, it is best to keep him confined most of the time in one room such as
the kitchen, using a baby gate. After you have seen that the puppy has "gone potty", you
could then bring him into the livingroom to play for a little while but do put down a "potty pad"
in the LR while he's in there.
3. Put together a doggy first aid kit. You can run an internet search or call your vet for advice.
Make sure you include Benadryl, guaze pads, Nutri Cal, an after hours number for your vet and
poison control.
4. Speaking of vets, find one now. If you already have a vet, make sure they understand the
special needs of a toy dog, and the possible anesthesia issues.*PLEASE NOTE: Chihuahuas
should never be given vaccines with "Lepto", we give the Proard 5 vaccine by Intervet as we
have found this to be the best, none of our Chihuahuas has ever had any reactions to this
vaccine. Also, some Chihuahua's have been known to have severe reactions (even death)
caused by "Rabies Vaccine". If you do not have a vet, see if there is a rescue or breeder near
you that has toy breeds. Call them for a recommendation. Go in to any vets you are interested
in, meet the staff, ask to meet the veterinarian. Whenever you have to take your puppy to the
Vet please use common sense. Keep your puppy in a crate or in your lap when visiting the
Vet's office. Do not let it romp on the floor or furniture and most certainly do not allow it to
socialize with other animals that also may be in the office at the same time. Where do all people
take sick dogs? To the Vet!!! Where is the best place to pick up germs or contract disease?
Naturally, it's where everyone takes sick dogs. TO THE VET !!!!!
5. Vacuum & Vacuum again! A lost earring, a penny, an old Christmas hook, all these things
can become deadly to a tiny puppy. Look around your house from a 4 inch tall standpoint. If
you have coffee tables with bottom shelves that stick out at a point, they can take a puppy's
eye out. Also look at where your cords are hanging and decide what to do to make them chew
proof. Decide which rooms are safe, which rooms are only safe highly supervised, and which
rooms are off-limits. Baby gates are wonderful ways to leave rooms open to human access
while keeping curious little dogs out of trouble. We have several baby gates up at all times.
6. If you have a combination of low cupboards and cats or small children, think about what is
in your bottom cupboards. The cat may only climb in there to hide but if your puppy follows
the cat, it could spell disaster if you keep cleaning products in there. Saftey locks for babies
may be needed.
7. Talk to your family about what is acceptable and what is not. The puppy needs to know the
rules are the same for everyone. Make sure any children understand how to behave properly
with a puppy and that you supervise the childrens playtime with the puppy at all times. The
puppy will need some time to adjust to his new home. It is not advised to have half the
neighborhood and all of your family showing up in the first week to pass the puppy around
and ooh and aahhh, you will stress your puppy, make him feel unsafe in his new home and
possibly bring on illness. *PLEASE NOTE: If really stressed going to a new home, some
puppies may react in a negative way, if this happens just let the puppy come to you on his own
terms, do not chase the puppy, do not force the puppy to be held if he is struggling to get free.
In other words, do not try to rush him into bonding with you, he will bond to you and the family
when he feels safe and secure. This process can not be hurried along, some puppies bond
right away, others take longer, there is no "magical" time limit. We can not guarantee how the
puppy is going to act in your home, we can only tell you how he acted in our home.
8. If you already have a dog(s) or cat(s) in the family you must introduce them to the new
puppy slowly and always supervise them when they are together until they have excepted one
another. Here again, there is no way of telling how long this will take, they may like each other
right away or it may take time for them to get use to each other, they will work things out
between themselves at their own pace.
9. Research and pick a dog food. When they come to you, it would be best not to change their
food for a few weeks until they have settled in. Once they are relaxed and happy, if you would
like to use a different food, you can start switching them over. You don't want to buy a different
bag every time you go to the store. Make sure you have some meat baby food on hand in case
your puppy needs enticed to eat. Here, they are weaned onto Bil-Jac Puppy Dry Food and
Royal Canin Baby Dog Dry Food which is soaked down with hot water and mixed with Gerber
Chicken Baby Food, later we put them on just the Royal Canin Puppy 33 which is what they
are eating when they go home with you.
10. If you want your dog to wear clothing as an adult, start now. Puppies usually adjust to little
sweaters very well. Your adult dog may object strenuously if you wait however. As you can
see on our Fun Photos pages, our dogs are wearing clothes in a lot of the pictures, they don't
normally wear clothes except for "picture taking time" but we still had to start them out young
to get them use to the clothes. *PLEASE NOTE: when walking your puppy/dog on a leash
always use a "harness", never use a collar on a Chihuahua as they have a very fragile neck
and throat and severe damage could be caused.
11. If you do everything the right way from the start, your puppy should be a happy, well
adjusted family member who will give you years of pleasure.
Bringing Your New Puppy Home..