toydogs

i've written an article on how to show dogs in my website as well, and its not only directed at chis but for all breeds as i;ve owned other breeds in my life. but atm took out some pages to do with showing as i had 24 pages which is quite a bit of work to maintain when you work f/t and have dogs, so i am now coupling them together. but i had classes on there too, and the point system etc. how to show a dog in australia

we've had many owners that have been too generous with their chis and given them tidbits between meals which is the real killer. sure enough they give them to us to mind and they are fat as fat. one dog my mother put her on a diet and then advised the owner that she had to change her habits for the dog. becasue at the end of the day you get the weight off for the owner and then they go back to the same old routine and kill the dog. so we advise one meal a day about quarter of a cup of food. mine are used to plain old milk so to make them feel full i fill their bowl up with a bit of milk. and just put in half a hand full of dry food. if they don't like dry food, they always like chicken chis so bit of chicken wouldn't go astray. i wouldn't give them any dog can food as i was looking the other day and they had a layer of fat at the bottom, can't control fat intake with can food. i cook the dogs food every day for them, also, watch that you don't drastically change the dogs diet as this can cause the runs for them. and make them sick. vegies whilst not too many can make them regular. and gentle exercise each day and gradually build it up. sometimes to keep weight down and to keep my dogs health i will get a nice meaty chuck bone each cut small and that is their meal for the night. never feed late at night and then get them to go to bed, sleeping on a full stomach puts weight on too. also watch carb intake. keep it low. learnt that from a body builder. there is this page i wrote: feeding chihuahuas hope this helps

usually between 5 - 7 o'clock at night there are heaps of people walking their dogs after work? that is the ideal time, my brother has the same breed as you and he has an off leash park near him and goes there and there are heaps of dogs around that time weekdays or even on the weekend. so look for an off leash park you might have to drive though. also, visit dog events some at KCC Park or might be near you and I often walk my little dogs and the pointer cross to get some socialising in at the shows and go and have a look while im at it and see whats on.

Hi, I am reading some of the responses particularly the ones that say, rehome the puppy. I disagree. While i would really think twice about finding a home for my puppies where the whole family are not committed, I did have a family member that was terrified of dogs becasue they'd had a bad experience just like your wife. now a few years on, they absolutely idolise that puppy (now an 8 year old dog), that i gave them, she looks after it like a child! My Grandmother was even scared of little chihuahuas would you believe. so family members can change over time my grandmother is testament to that. the fact that the kids and your wife liked well behaved adult dogs is a good indication that they will come around in time. your puppy will not be a puppy forever you have to remember that and she will grow into a well behaved socialised girl if you keep up the good work, reading what you are doing with her is very very good going.

I recommend Charlie's-mum to have a look at the sub forums where we talk nothing but chihuahuas it might help you rather than putting questions to general breeds. I can tell you that 600grams is smallish, compare my little chihuahua boy that i bred who has just turned 9weeks on last Monday and he is 800 plus grams. it depends how old is your girl? come into the sub forum headed "chihuahuas".......then you can talk about your new girl to your hearts content with other chihuahua lovers and owners. cheers Louisa SANRITA CHIHUAHUAS

puppies don't really from my experience anyway, do things that complicated. usually if they are going to pee in bowls it happens much later when they are mature, puppy's brains are too under-developed.....the way it is written it looks like the puppy meant to pee in the water bowl or maybe it happened like you described it dog sense, only the owner knows i suppose!! this puppy has a bladder issue thats for sure. but its quite common. If it was me, no i wouldn't as this will confuse him even more. I get the impression puppy is not put into one area, he is allowed to roam, i try to advise against this with our new puppy owners, even with adult dogs i advise against for the first few weeks at least. everytime they go to a new house, they have to learn all over again as it confuses them in a new area. if this was presented to me by one of my new owners, i'd say to them, keep your dog confined to one room or an area in a pen etc. and don't give them an opportunity to mess, once they start its very hard to retrain the other way, its slow going. it takes them a while to relearn once they've learned the wrong way. to answer this: waking up at 1am, nope. I work full-time and my partner is a shift worker so we have no need to wake up at this time. even with a 9week old puppy atm. if you keep him in a confined area with paper you won't need to do this especially if he is having bladder problems where he often toilets, if you keep taking him out at 1am and 3am you will get him into the routine of toileting at that time. give your puppy the option of using the toilet by himself then once he has that idea and can have better control and i'd say when he matures a bit more then attempt to move it outside or take it away taking it one step further in your training. its worked for our puppies and dogs. they now get the message, you don't do it in the house only in their designated litter tray when that is down if its not down it is outside. this is my humble opinion: with astro you need to decide how you are going to house train him and then stick to it be consistent and don't change the routine then he will get it eventually. if you are all overthe place not sure what you have to do so will he be, he'll be confused as well..

interesting theory. i have seen dogs wee in their food bowls though, usually because they don't want any of the other dogs to get it, it depends whether the OP has other dogs/puppies or if Astro???? is the only one.

what breed of dog is the puppy in question? do we know? the reason i say this depending on the breed, small or large, talking to many many owners/breeders of particularly toy breeds, it takes a while for toys to get the toilet training downpat. Some owners even have given up I know not good! but have ascertained that Chihuahuas particularly, are dirty....i've had many say that. But I've spent some time with mine and have actually trained them so i don't agree......... i have had smaller breeds for, as i said earlier, 25 yrs and i've also owned larger breeds as well and my family have had farm/racing dogs for many years. comparing the two, larger breeds are easier to train in that area. just a fact. toys breeds yes, they mature earlier but that has no bearing in my opinion on how easily they are going to house train, im not saying they will never get it, im just saying it takes a tad longer it seems watching many of our dog/puppy purchasers and talking to many owners. it depends on what toileting means to you also, toileting could mean going in a designated spot in the house, (litter tray, papers etc.) or toileting could mean the dog indicating that it wants to toilet outside only. different courses for different horses. it is very involved owning a dog and having an animal that is a pleasure to own, as indicated above by dog sense's post, usually dogs like this, have owners that have time for their dogs and it shows with the dogs/puppies behaviours just like human kids. so yes, i agree definately no excuses when you own dogs and its not the puppy's fault if they muck up, when owning a dog you either put time into them or not and this does determine whether you end up with a naughty child or not the more you put into your puppy/dog the better it will be for you and for ultimately for your dog or puppy. makes sense

at 11 weeks they are still babies and it is going to take a few months for a pup that young to house train. Like babies, yes they do their business often and now because he has done it pretty much everywhere in your house it sounds like? he has gotten into that routine. I'd recommend to keep him in one area, the best way to do this, like we do with our puppies, is to buy a puppy pen and set it up over the tiles (we have tiles in the kitchen area and living area so it makes it easy) you are going to have to start from scratch again as he has gotten into another habit, so cover the whole area with paper, once he has been on paper for about a week gradually reduce the area, this may take a few weeks to accomplish given his bad habits he has gotten into. eventually you'll end up with a stack in the corner and he will only go there. I have a 9 week old puppy at the moment that we bred, he is going into the litter box (i put papers in a litter box) he is pooing and weeing in there. he also still goes on the newspaper randomly. all our puppies for the past 20 odd years have been trained this way. and plus i have males that are housetrained even when bitches are in season, other breeders have said how is that possible? well its possible through training....... with puppies you have to be consistent and repeat repeat and repeat and be patient not raising voices, if you manage to catch your puppy in the act of toileting where he is not supposed to go, then grab him and take him outside or on the paper. they don't like this been interupted! it gets the message across where they are supposed to do it. you cannot expect much from a puppy, their attention span is short and their bladder is not strong enough to hold wee for long periods. ETA: if you take the paper away from the adults, im not talking about pups, they will not do it anywhere they will wait until taken outside they know not to do it inside but for puppies because they no.1's and 2's so often you have to have something for them otherwise they will do it anywhere like your puppy is doing. you can't really expect them to hold it for very long not a baby. hope this helps and good luck with your house training.

and.....no haven't known one to, at 5 months they are still babies really. when you get her have a good talk to your nominated vet they'll be able to give you the soundest advice. but it is a good idea to be quick about it, yes, you don't want any of those problems discribed in here with her season, i can tell you from experience, it is a nightmare especially when they are just pets and you have no intentions of breeding, can get a bit messy.

amen to that!!!!!!! :p

desexing has never curbed our males from getting the urge to mate. infact we have 2 adult males desexed at the moment, one was desexed at around 8 months and the other at 4 yrs. they tried to both mount a desexed female. others in the past: one was desexed at 2yrs old and he still had the urge to mate as well. infact he tied with a bitch not long after he was desexed. we did own a stud that was obtain at 4 and he had by that time sired pups, he was never desexed but he never went crazy over females chasing them. he never marked he was a perfect little angel that one. so i guess it does depend on the dogs themselves as to how they react.

Chihuahuas are just too small to get done any earlier than 5 months old, and yes better to get them desexed before they come into season as if they are in season, having a close relationship with our vet of 25yrs it is MESSY for the vet to operate on if she is in season. even if she is starting to come into season it will still be messy for the vet and you can tell she is going on by the vulva swelling up about one to two weeks before the actual season. some dogs go into season at 6 months to 12-13 months as we have experienced. it depends on the dog as to when she will go into season. sometimes the first time takes a while sometimes not. to answer the other questions: all male dogs will be able to smell her scent from the season a mile away. your male desexed dog will go crazy trying to get to her. i don't know if he will be confused they generally go on instinct alone. yes, i have known dogs to jump fences and climb fences to get to a bitch in season so it is wise if you can't get her desexed before she gets her season to lock her up for approx. 3 weeks. a bitch can conceive pups from 5 days to 21 days into the season. been known. PLUS, experienced this myself as have many other breeders in chihuahuas, they sometimes go on "silent" which means that you can't tell they are actually in season, they don't swell they dont' bleed they don't do anything and next thing you know they've mated the male.

it says "do not show the dog you are upset", hmmmmmmmmm scolding the potty instead, wouldn't that now show the dog you are? hmmm very strange but if it works what the hell.........lol ha ha that is a classic haven't laughed like that in ages.

well this topic has certainly brightened my day - thanks for that! lol must of missed it down the bottom! i'll read that again......