Hi Susan! Welcome to the group! It always makes me really happy to see
people wanting to learn about their dog BEFORE they get them.
About
the crate training; I think it's a wonderful idea and method,
especially
for Chihuahua puppies. Think about it this way; they are
soooo tiny, that
if left out alone (while you aren't at home) they
could get hurt very
easily. Also, it helps housetrain them. With my
Selena, I used to leave
her in her crate any time I would have to
leave her at home; if I knew I
was going to be gone longer than I
thought she could "hold it", I would
put her crate
(door open) in the bathroom with her food and water, and a
pee pee
pad. She learned to go on the pad very quickly; now she's actually
litter trained. Even when I'm at home, she goes to the bathroom in her
box.
Now, I can leave her out free in the apartment when I go out; but
I
make sure that everything is put away so nothing will fall on her, I
move everything away from the bed so she can't climb on it (I'm afraid
that if she jumped off, she might land wrong and hurt her legs), and I
close the door to any room that it might not safe for her to be in
without me.
The thinking behind using a crate in housetraining is that
a puppy
won't go to the bathroom in a place where they have to stay (Of
course, tell that to the beagle I fostered-- he new that if he went in
his crate at night, I would let him out to clean it up, so he used it
to his advantage). This also means that it would be very cruel to
leave them in the crate longer than they can hold it.
Start
socializing the puppy as soon as you get it-- take him
everywhere, and let
other people hold him all the time; this way, he
will be used to
strangers, and he won't be afraid to let other people
handle him.
Chihuahuas are very prone to being fear-aggressive, and
very protective if
you don't train them at an early age.
Sorry this is so long; hope it helps
though! Your new puppy is
gorgeous!
Hillary and Selena in
Florida
gohillarygo@yahoo.com
--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED]ups.com,
"starr1_32703" <[EMAIL PROTECTED].> wrote:
>
> Hi!
Everyone,
> I'm Susan from Central FL. Since I am getting a new puppy in
eight
> weeks, I wanted to join this group and hopefully learn alot
about
> sharing my home and life with a Chihuahua.
