6 week old puppy

[CleverQuacks]

So for reasons out of my control on Monday I am taking on a 6 week old puppy. She is a shihtzu and absolutely tiny. I already have a 2year old shihtzu which I have had since she was 10 weeks so I have experience of puppies but not this young and tiny.

Is there anything I need to know or do differently with her being small. She is eating puppy food but the vet has said she needs fattening up and has prescribed a high calorie paste to build her up a bit.

Anything else I need to know?

Had pup been with Mum up until now?

Pup was with mum until the start of this week (5 weeks old)

Hopefully she will learn manners from your other dog, I found that helped when we rescued our second dog who was 6 weeks old.
That was my only concern. We also had issues introducing him to people because he was so nervous (street pup and parents were street dogs so not been handled from birth), and realistically we should have done more socialization with him alone rather than with our older dog.

He’s a fucking great dog now though (10 1/2 years so getting on a bit), is the most patient and loving dog with kids, bulletproof when it came to them tripping over him or falling off couches on to him (or using him as a step stool to get cookies from the counter).

So the biggest thing I found when fostering a 4 week old was having to teach him bite inhibition from scratch. Those puppy teeth really hurt! Get the whole family on board with that one.
Be ready for some very sleepless nights to start. I think I spent a week on the floor while we got over the shock of him losing his Mum.
It's not easy but it's rewarding. Good luck.

Thank you for your replies. My biggest worry is overnight. The plan is for her to sleep in a crate. Should I put it in my room? I can’t have her sleep on my bed because she is so small I could easily squash her. In an ideal world she would sleep in her crate downstairs but maybe she is to little for that?

Could you put her in a doughnut bed and put that on your bed?

I'd put her in a crate by the side of your bed, be prepared for lots of sleepless nights!! It will be like having a tiny baby 😬😁

For my current puppy, who is a tiny 9 week old yorkie, and my last (now 4 years old) who is a toy poodle, I have used a cat carrier at night. It is essentially a very small crate and sits at the head of the bed next to me (where my h would be if he didn't sleep in another room!). My toy poodle outgrew it quite quickly and went onto a dog crate on the floor until she was reliably house trained. With them so close to me, I have had no problems with night time crying (or else they are stunned into silence by my snoring).