Care and feeding your new puppy.

Keep in mind it is not a good idea to change your puppy’s diet at first. If you must change his food, do so gradually by mixing the food I give you with the new food so you won’t have an abrupt change. I suggest that your puppy has food available to him or her at all times. Yorkies & Shih Tzu's don’t eat a lot at one time. Instead, they eat small meals, several times a day. It is also advised that you monitor your puppy the first few days to make sure he or she is eating. A change in home may make him or her upset and your puppy may not eat. If your puppy doesn't seem to be eating, you can stimulate his/her appetite by mixing a little chicken broth with your puppy’s food. Yorkie puppies use a lot of energy! If they get too much exercise and don’t eat enough food, they run the risk of becoming hypoglycemic.

Hypoglycemia is a condition that can occur in very young puppies. If a puppy doesn’t eat for a long period of time, or if he/she has played especially hard, he/she can become hypoglycemic. He or she may become weak, start to stagger, or even start to lose consciousness. The puppy has run out of energy. If this happens to your puppy, quickly put some Karo syrup in his or her mouth. The puppy should soon be okay and should be offered food within 15 to 20 minutes. What happens is that the puppy’s blood sugar level becomes too low. Once you have brought the sugar level up, the puppy will need more nourishment or his sugar level can crash back down. This is not a common problem, but it can happen and it can be deadly. If the puppy does not react quickly, you should get it to a veterinarian.

When holding or carrying your puppy, please be aware that most puppies have no fear of heights and will leap from your hands in a blink of an eye. Always keep your finger around one of his front legs. When a visitor picks up your dog, always caution him to hold on to the dog. Your puppy can decide he has had enough and bail out at any moment. Always insist that children sit on the floor to hold your new puppy. If something happens, he won’t have far to fall.

I highly suggest a puppy carrier (purchased at Wal-mart or other department store for $25 to $30) to transport your puppy home in. For two reasons. One being this will be your puppy’s first car ride and it is likely your puppy will get car sick. A carrier is much easier to clean than your car seat. The second reason is if you are traveling alone and need to stop, for one reason or another, your puppy will have free roam of your car. Not a good idea. A friend of mine sold a very expensive small Yorkie. On the way home with her new baby, the woman stopped for gas, leaving the puppy on the truck seat. When she came out from paying for the gasoline, she did not notice that the puppy was leaning on the door. When she opened the truck door, the puppy fell out, to his death, on the cement. Your carrier can also be used for crate training, which is highly recommend. Also, please be aware that you puppy is not fully immunized. Although I have given him or her 1 or 2 shots, your puppy still needs another shot or two to be fully immunized. For this reason, please be very careful about using rest area dog runs with your new puppy. On that note, keep your puppy away from public dog areas until he or she is fully immunized. Parvo doesn’t leave the ground where an infected dog has used the bathroom for a year or more.

Yorkshire Terriers and Shih Tzu don't shed, Aussiedoodles shed less than most larg dogs, but All do require some grooming. Whether you want to keep your Yorkies/ShihTzu / Aussiedoodles hair long or short, you should get your puppy used to being brushed. Then you can easily do maintenance grooming while spending time with your new baby. Your puppy will learn to associate being brushed with a special time of love and attention from their favorite person, you! I also recommend that you get your puppy used to being bathed I find it easiest to put them in the shower with me, or bathe them in the kitchen sink. Either way, you will find that keeping your puppy clean and well groomed will be rewarding for both of you.

The most frequently asked question and I don't have all the answers! We have doggie doors so they don't have to ask to get out. That helps, but I had to train them to use them first. Then, I had to get them to realize they need to use them to go out to go potty. The best way to potty train a puppy is to keep them with you ALL THE TIME. I mean ALL the time. So, tie their leash around your ankle or waist. You'll always know where they are, so you should notice when they get restless and start to show signs that they need to go potty. This obviously will not work for everyone, so crate or paper training might be the option you choose. I start puppies on crate training while they are here, with piddle pad training as well. If you choose the crate training method, please remember that a puppy can not hold their bowels or bladder for more than a couple of hours, so don't expect them to not soil their crate if they are left in it all day. Whichever method of potty training you choose, be diligent and get your puppy potty trained as soon as possible. There is no way around the fact that potty training requires WORK ON YOUR PART. You must train yourself to PAY ATTENTION to what your puppy is doing. Learn their body language and watch for them to tell you when they have to go. Don't give them the run of the house and expect them to find the one little pee pad in the kitchen. And don't rub their nose in old pee. Dogs live in the "now". If you are gone for an hour and come home to a mess, clean it up and learn from it because your puppy/dog won't have a clue if you punish them for it at that point. I don't condone or recommend ever rubbing a dogs nose in their waste, but, if you catch them going potty in the house, it is your best opportunity to let them know it is unacceptable behavior. Take them immediately to the place they are expected to go, and praise them lavishly when they do. If they have already completely relieved themselves in the house though, don't expect them to go again in the proper place right away, but be sure to take them there anyway. Dogs are a lot like kids. They will terrorize your household, and eventually the neighborhood, if you don't teach them proper behavior. If you left your kids home alone all day with the bathroom door locked and no way to get outside, they would pee and poop on the floor, eventually. They may even really be pissed at you for leaving them with no access to the bathroom and poop in your shoes! Then, they would get bored and start making other messes, like chewing up the shoes they have not yet pooped in. Get the point? Puppies, like kids, get bored. Bored puppies (and kids) get into trouble. Get to know your pup. Don't expect too much too soon and help him to avoid temptation by eliminating ways for him to get into trouble when you cannot be there to stop him. The best way to guarantee your Yorkie will be happy and well behaved is to spend time with them. So many people tell me they wish their dog was like mine, or they want a dog just like mine. When I question them about the problems they have with their dog, it is always the same story. They don't spend any time with it and expect it to act the way they want. I tell them my dogs weren't born the way they are; I made them good dogs by spending time with them. I am not a dog trainer, but my dogs do what I want them to (most of the time!) because I'm with them a lot and they want to please me. Like children, if you are not there to correct bad behavior, they will keep doing it. I truly believe there are no bad dogs, just bad dog owners. You can have the best dog ever, if you are willing to invest the time it takes to make it happen. The rewards are so great, you will never regret it. I think I have covered most of the basics for you. If at any time you have questions or concerns, please feel free to call me.