First, Welcome to all the new members!!! WE have several today!!!! I am Marsha in Ky and I am owned by 5 adult chis and a few other pets as well. I have a litter of 4 chi pups that are just now ready to leave, so two of them are now gone, one will hopefully be leaving later this week, and one I will be keeping. I look forward to sharing about chis with each of you.
To Steve, welcome to the wonderful world of being owned by a chi!! Personally, I free feed my chis. I leave food out at all times and they eat whenever they get hungry. So I don't worry about how much they eat...their bodies let them know how much. If you are going to feed on a schedule, I am not sure I would limit the eating time to 20 minutes......at this age they are generally too interested in everything around them to actually set down and eat. If you decide to feed on a schedule, I would suggest an amount limit, not a time limit..... As for neutering changing personalities...I have had chis for 20 years and have never seen anything like that. Never even heard anything like that. Some people say neutering makes them stop marking and/or humping...personally, I have never found that to be true either. Unless you plan to breed, neutering should be done simply because it is the best for your chi's health. I have always found that a chi pup's personality start showing pretty early. I can tell by 5 weeks which ones are gonna be lovey dovey and which ones are gonna be alphas, ect. but for the most part, the personality is shaped by the new owners. Your furbaby will become whatever you make him.....it all depends on you. You have an opportunity to mold his personality, just as parents mold their human children's personality. The environment in which any living creature is raised will determine what type of personality that creature has..... Marsha ----- Original Message ----- From: Steve To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 5:05 PM Subject: [Chihuahuas] Hello all. An introduction. Hello all. I would like to introduce myself. My name is Steve and my wife an I just got a Chihuahua puppy on 12/13/2006. This is our first Chihuahua breed. Parents were rescued a month he before he was born on 10/13/06. His name is Brutus. Brutus is the runt of the litter. He is a whole 2 pounds, 4 ounces at nine weeks of age. The markings are a short, black hair with white toes and a white starburst on his chest. So far we have gotten him potty trained by the crate method. He can sit, lay down, come, fetch and understands the command of off. He is probably the smartest dog we have had. We try to expose him to everything and is doing very well with all the new experiences. I do have a few questions though. If anyone can answer them, that would be great. 1. How much does a dog like this eats? Some days are better than others (meaning he eats more one day than the other). We feed him twice a day for twenty minutes. Is this the correct way? The vet told us to do this but we just want to make sure. 2. I met someone at Petsmart the other day saying that a male Chihuahua will go through some personality changes. When? And what type of changes? This person said that male chi's after being nuetered will be more guarded if not a little standoffish. Is that right? Thanks so much. I look forward to contributing to the group. Steven and Laurice
