I am picking up my new chi on Wednesday and I am so excited! But I am also nervous because this is my first dog ever in my adult life. I have never trained a dog before. I have been reading a lot about training but I am most nervous about the first night. I want my pup to sleep in her kennel. I got her a nice big kennel and put a comfy blankie in there. I set it up in the laundry room with her litter box and lots of toys. I really do not want her to end up in my bed (we have enough stress on our "alone time" with two young children in the house). I also don't want her to hate her kennel. What do I do if she doesn't want to sleep in her room? I am not going to lock her into the kennel, just into the room. Any advice? I am picturing situations where I give in and end up sleeping on the couch for the next 15 years with my dog on my chest lol.

She will sleep where you want her to, you are in charge, not her.
A baby puppy away from its mother and littermates is going to cry on it's first night alone. Make her bed warm and cosy, and ask for a blanket with her mum's scent on it. The idea is to make the crate her safe place, somewhere she wants to be, not a prison.
Then you have to put her to bed and ignore any crying. It is really hard, but you have to teach her to sleep where you want her to sleep.
I am too soft to ignore the crying, so I opt to have the new puppy in a crate in my bedroom. If she can see and smell you, she is less likely to cry. Once happy in her crate, you can move it gradually to where you want it.

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My advice would be to stick with it. If she whines, you just have to ignore it. If you keep giving her attention and bringing her out when she whines, she is gonna learn all she has to do is whine and carry on to get your attention to bring her out. If you just ignore her whining she should learn pretty quick that it is not going to get her anywhere. If should should wake during the night and start crying you still just try to block it out till she goes back to sleep, since she will be able to get out of her crate to pee on the pad there shouldn't be any problem.

It is hard to resists those cries, but just dont give in and she should go off to sleep. If you stick with it, it shouldn't be long before she doesn't give you any problem. She will learn that is her space and she will probably start going in there on her own to take naps.

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Unfortunately the majority of puppies cry a lot when they first come home, sometimes for a week (like mine LOL)
It is heartbreaking, but bear with it and make sure you don't go checking on them all the time when they cry because then they just do it to get your attention
If you can, take a little blankie or toy to the breeder and leave it with their mum to get her scent. I found this very helpful (I took a snuggle puppy to my breeder, it has a heartbeat and heat pads and they dogs loved cuddling with it).
Just stay strong and enjoy your new puppy, they really grow so fast

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If you want the best seat in the house, you've got to move the Chihuahuas!

All I can say is best of luck. I am a softie. The first night I ended up sleeping on the floor with Lupita because "There will be no dogs in bed!". That was my husband saying that! The next night my husband said, "I don't think Lupita feels good. I think she has a belly ache. I think we should let her sleep with us JUST TONIGHT!". 6 1/2 years later... Lupita looks up at me about bedtime as if she is saying' "come on mommy, I know it's bedtime, let's go! Pleeeeez!. Darn, I love my little girl!

Bitsy's home all ready for her. What do you think? The green thing is the litter box with wood pellets.



Also- does she need to eat at night? I usually go to bed between 11 and midnight and wake up around 7. Will she be ok that long?

How big is she? Very tiny puppies need to eat in the night to avoid hypoglycemia. When she is settled you can leave some dry food for her overnight, but a lot of Chi's don't eat much for the first few days so you might have to get up in the night to make sure she eats something.
The set-up looks great, but is she used to a litter box? If she isn't you might be better using pee pads or even newspaper until she has settled, whatever she is used to at the breeders.
Too many changes aren't a good idea at the beginning. Once she is settled you can introduce whatever you like, but it is a good idea to try and keep things as similar to what she is used to as possible at the beginning.

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all she is used to right now is going outside which really isn't an option for me. I will take her out on the front lawn and walk her a bit but at night she will have to get used to the litter box. I have no intention of using pee pads and she is not used to them so I see no reason to introduce them. Thanks for the suggestions! edit- she is only 7 weeks but bigger than her half-brother was at 8 weeks??? Not sure how big exactly since I just have pics and haven't seen her in 3 weeks.