Hi Ruth. Putting Shivers in the bathroom should be fine as long as he can see family activity and doesn't feel all alone and lonely all the time. Dogs are pack animals and need to be with their "pack" whether it be another dog or their human family. When I can't watch my Chi puppy Gizmo, I keep him in my kitchen in an exercise pen made for small dogs. He has his bed, toys, water bowl and pee pad in the pen. He is pee pad trained now at 8 months. I find it is easier on the little ones to train to potty inside on pee pads, paper or in litter box, JMHO. They generally don't like cold weather and because they are so tiny, they can't hold their pee pee as long as big dogs. Gizmo stays in his crate overnight, right by my side of the bed. He holds his pee pee and poopies all night until I take him to his pee pad in the morning. When we are home to supervise him, he can run around the house and has designated pee pad areas. When he was younger, I did not give him too much freedom at first. I had to block off most rooms so he would learn to use his pee pad in certain areas. Gradually, I opened up more and more of the house when I was sure he knew to only go on the pee pads. For food, I feed Gizmo 1/2 cup a day of dry (Canidae brand) split into 2 feedings. He gets very tiny bits of treats (Organic Tuna treats with Omega 3) in between feedings when he is a good boy (such as when he comes when called or sits for the treat or when I am training him new commands). As far as bathing, I wouldn't bath him too much, maybe once a month at the most. It really drys their skin out, especially in the winter, if you bath them too much. Only bath when necessary. Hope this helps. Congrats on your new Chi pup! You will have LOADS of fun with him, I am sure! Share a pic if you can! Stefanie
--- On Wed, 11/12/08, lilacs4angels <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: lilacs4angels <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Chihuahuas] Hi To: [email protected] Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 7:49 PM Hi, Our little Shivers is 13 weeks old today and weighs just 3 pounds. He is very lovable. He is also the first puppy we've ever had...so not sure we're doing things right. We got a baby gate and put it across the door to our front bathroom which is a good size. We put paper in one corner...his bed in another...water bowl (which is always full of fresh water) in another corner...plus some toys. Our daughter (grown with three labs) think we are mean to put Shivers in the bathroom (it is an inside room and the warmest in the house). We take him outside about every hour or two. When we got him he was on Beneful...we are changing him to Natural Balance Ultra Small Bites for small breeds...he is doing fine with the change which we've done gradually... in a couple more days he'll be on the good stuff completely. We've been feeding him about 1/3 cup in the morning and again in the afternoon... not sure if this is too much...any suggestions. .. Shivers will use the paper if we don't get him out in time which we do like as we're not always home on an hourly schedule. Our daughter thinks we should litter box train our little one... He does stay in the bathroom overnight and will go to his bed when he is told too. Another question we have is...how often should we bathe him...we picked up some tearless shampoo at Petco (who also trimmed his nails for us). We know we're not supposed to get any water in his ears...great to know that. He had his first shot in October...when is he due for the second and third.... sorry this is long...it seems that we are having a hard time getting straight answers... Thank you for all your help. Ruth
