Welcome Linda! Hope you post some pictures of your babies, we are all a bunch of show-off mommies on here, LOL!
-------Original Message------- From: raggyk Date: 5/10/2011 10:22:56 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Chihuahuas] New to the List Hi Everyone, I'd like to introduce myself to this list. My name is Linda and I own two long haired Chihuahuas, and love them dearly. I hadn't had a dog is almost 20 years when I got my first Chi. I bred Ragdoll cats for all that time. When I was breeding cats, it was easier not to have a dog, but then I didn't have any experience with Chi's, so maybe that would have been different. I was raised with dogs though, and even did some obedience training with several. I'm a sucker for any animal, and if I didn't have a levelheaded husband, I would probably be a hoarder....just kidding. I do know my limits. The two dogs I have, plus one older Ragdoll left over from breeding live with us in a condo now. The two dogs are related, but couldn't be more different. Cricket, we got as a puppy, and then later got Sparkle as a retired breeder. She was five when we got her last year. Both girls are very loving and attentive and I wouldn't give either of them up, but Cricket very much enjoys going for walks, where Sparkle would be happy if she never left the house. We are taking them out almost every day for a half mile walk on part of the nature trail behind our condo. I figure if we take the same route every time, maybe Sparkle will eventually get more relaxed when she knows what is going to happen when she goes out. We stop at the same spot every time, and then head back. Once she gets used to that route, maybe we can extend it a bit. I admit we have spent the entire winter in the condo. It's cold here in Wisconsin. I have the two dogs trained to use a pad, or a grass pad we bought. We do have a travel trailer that we spent about 4 months in last spring and fall. Cricket is fine with traveling, and Sparkle is fine in the car and in the trailer, but doesn't like to be outside in the RV parks. We picked her up during our spring travels down to where we bought Cricket, so traveling is new to her. Cricket spent 5 months and 15,000 miles on our travels to Alaska and back in 09. In dealing with cats, I found that there are some cats who have a tendency to want to hide in a bedroom (doesn't happen too often with Ragdolls, but I ve had a couple). I found that letting them hide just made matters worse. So I would force them to come into the liviing room, dining room and kitchen, and then would just ignore them, and let them see that nothing would hurt them in that area of the house. If someone came over, I would instruct them to just ignore the cats, so the cat learned that it was safe to be around people. It did work, and pretty soon the cat no longer hid all the time. I'm hoping that showing Sparkle that nothing will happen to her being outside will do the same thing. Any comments? I look forward to following this list. BTW, I picked the Chihuahua because it was a lap dog that attached itself to it's owners. Certain breeds have certain traits, and should be bred for them, as well as purchased for those traits. Linda
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