Shit, I have somehow acquired a puppy...

[Theoneandonlyitchymcitch]

Help!! She is a teeny tiny baby shitzu crossed with something equally obscure. She is slightly larger than my foot. I have zero experience with puppies. What do j need to do? I've made her up a bed with towels and puppy food in a dish near her. I got her a baby bottle to try and get her to drink milk (kitten milk!) from that. She is ignoring all my efforts and is snoring on my foot...

Loving home ffs!

Yeah we had no luck... Doesn't help that it is blowing a gale here. Will give her 15 mins (she is snuggled in her new blanket snoozing again!), then try one more time. If not, I might give the puppy pads a go... Just to try and get her to realise what she is meant to do. My friend recommended them as working for her shih tzu pup. With regards to her food, obviously she is super tiny, so I am only giving her half a pouch (or less at a time, as she just doesn't finish it). Can I put the rest back in the fridge to reuse??

Hi there, we're moving this over to The Doghouse topic now. Thanks to everyone who's offered advice so far.

Thanks dawn

8 weeks isn't too young btw, it's standard puppy leaving age, though teensy breeds tend to be kept an extra 4 weeks, but there's no real reason for it.

Shihs are notorious for taking a long time to housetrain, honestly puppy pads will only make that worse.

At this point all you're trying to do is take her out often enough that she accidentally goes outside and then you can reward her...but it'll be a good few weeks before you'd expect her to grasp the idea at all.

Ok cheers for that! Quick question, obviously she is sleeping a lot. Should I wake her every hour on the dot to take her out? Also, is it utterly ridiculous to consider buying her some sort of coat?! She just gets so shivery and cold being outside in this weather... (Totally prepared to be told I am an absolute prat!)

If you store uneaten food in the fridge, make sure you bring it back up to room temperature before feeding her.

DS2 fed our kitten (about 12-13 weeks) fridge-chilled food, then panicked when the poor wee soul started shivering! A warm cuddle later and he was fine, he's coming up to 11 now.

Wake her up? God no, enjoy the peace, lol.

You want to take her out as soon as she wakes up, after eating and about every 20 minutes or so that she's awake...but she'll sleep a lot in between that, that's what they do.

I wouldn't bother with a coat just now on the basis that when you want to get her outside, often it's a case of needing to do it right that second and you'll not have time to put one on her.

I am enjoying the peace! Might even get the chance to make some dinner! I know I am being ridiculous about the coat thing, but she gets so miserable being plonked outside, proper full on body shivers and climbing up my ankle. Is she just having me on?? Silly gorgeous ball of adorable fluff

I have a toy poodle, but a big one iyswim, so he was a bit bigger than your puppy.
Before he had all his injections we used to take him out places and carry him so that he could get used to noise and people and busy-ness. And loads of people wanted to stroke him. He doesn't have any 'poodle nervousness' but I don't know if that's just his personality or the socialisation. He's actually a bit too well socialised - he 'knows' that everyone wants to be his friend, despite what we tell him

I do think it's particularly important to socialise little dogs though, because it's so easy for the world to seem big and scary to them. I'd also recommend puppy training classes just so you can all cry on each others shoulder when everything is going wrong!!

I think that negativity was because of the mention of the bottle, I suspect that early responders to the thread thought that the puppy was very young. Pups taken from their mums when they are tiny have poor prognosis and need really specialist care. Eight weeks on the other hand is pretty standard.

Oh and we did pee training in full on Canadian winter. Our dog said it was very horrid to be taken outside at 3am (so did I!) but it was only for a couple of minutes, and we both survived it (granted I certainly did wear a coat!)

Good luck with toilet training! It took my madam 8 months to stop peeing in the house. And a year to stop eating her own shit. The name Shit-tzu is there for a reason .

You are doing really well! Don't worry about a collar yet- believe me it will fit in 2 weeks time. It might be a good idea to get her a harness. The food- it should say on the puck how much to feed her. Mine wasn't and isn't a drinker either, bot boy did she like to pee everywhere!

Here she is riding a teddy bear.

Awwww!!! dil you have given Me hope! And nooka... I am about to take her out again to try... It is hammering down with rain. I have several hundred layers on, she will have to make do with her fur...! Feel like a bad mummy as it really is working up a Storm here...

With regards to toilet training, it will take a while but i agree with those who say if you can do without the pads then do because you are training her to go indoors by using these.

What you need to do is make sure you spend as long as you can outside with her (yeah i know, its cold but thats why God gave her a fur coat innit!) let her sniff around and reward her when she goes. BUT don't make a fuss, keep your voice level and not high pitched "good girl" but have some high value food (chicken) that will appear as if by magic when she goes, so wee - chicken - good girl. No big fuss that might startle her. Dogs will sniff around in circles, head down when they need to go, its quite a subtle thing but you'll get to know over the next few days what her "i need to go" signs are - then you can put her out, asking "garden?" in a singy but not too loud high pitched voice. Clean any mess inside with biological washing powder and dab with meths - this will stop her returning to the place she goes. If she poos inside, don't scold her (really important) but let her see you put it in the garden, leave it there for a bit so she realises thats where poo goes. She will soon learn.

Yeah not getting annoyed when she goes inside is hugely important because usually what it teaches them is not that going inside is bad, but that you seeing them is bad, which can cause all sorts of hassle.

As far as a collar goes, it's quite a good idea to have one for her i.d tag to hang from but for attaching her lead you'll need a harness for such a small dog as pulling on their throats - she will pull at first until you train her not too - can seriously damage their trachea and lead to life long problems.

In a few weeks it'll be a good idea to start taking her out in your arms so she can see the world. I always had my dog on a lead for those trips as you never know if they are likely to jump.

She's gorgeous. So tiny. I also have a small breed (not Shitzu) forgotten how tiny they are when they're young.

If the weather is really foul where you are, it's awful here, I'd use the pads for tonight, one night can't do too much harm and it's so nasty outside. And try Johnsons Stain and Odour if she wees or poos on the floor. Most pet shops sell it and it's brilliant and getting rid of the smell so dog doesn't go back to same place.

Just had to shift a sleeping puppy off my lap to put her into her bed. She hasn't been taken to try to the loo for an hour or so... Can I leave her to snooze for an hour more and then try her? Think I will take the advice and use the puppy pads for this eve, it's miserable outside

She is downstairs, I am upstairs... Would setting my alarm and checking on her in the night be a step too far??? I am going to make some dinner now anyway (proper cooking and shit doncha know!) so I will be with her til I go to bed... I will try and get her to have a wee at least on a puppy pad before I start trying to be nigella... It's too horrible and wet to take her outside.

I have a Shih Tzu boy. You can look foward to consistent and reliable outside toileting in about, ooh, 5 months from now?!

Also, ditch the collar and get a harness.

Good luck!

She seems ok now, tucked herself into her own blanket... I shall check on her in a second. Setting out puppy pads now in case of accidents... 5 months oh god, what have I let myself into?!!