1. if your first one was older before you got your second how did that go, and do you have any tips for me to help chiwi not get stressed with a little brother. (the obvious is to give her plenty of attention and love....)
my pheobe was 3 years old when i got mr. beefy as a pup. at first she would try to attack him every time i wasn't looking, so i had to put him in a playpen when i couldn't supervise (i never have used a crate since i'm home all day, and my dogs are big enough to sleep in bed with me safely) after the first week she quit trying to eat him and decided to mommy him to death instead. at the time he was much smaller than her (he was 3 1/2 lbs, she was 6lbs) so she would just lay on top of him and hold him down while she cleaned him.. they still do this, and even tho he is now 9lbs he can't excape her grip, lol. the only other problem we had was that she was old enough that she didn't want to play, and it was all he wanted to do. occasionally he would corner her and growl, just trying to get her to play, but she didn't understand and would pee herself in fear (shes a rescue dog, she pees herself over alot of things) but eventually she figured out shes a better jumper than him, and would just go lay down somewhere like the top of the sofa where he couldn't reach her.
2. carriers. any carriers that look like purses but will hold a 5-6 pound chi as well as a 3 1/2 pound chi? or do you do 2 different carriers and how silly does that look? hellllp!!!!
i don't use carriers...can't help there. beefy alone is too big for one, and pheobe hates them.
3. feeding. i'm free feeding chiwi right now her royal canin chihuahua formula. i can't feed her any other way but free feeding, she eats like 5-6 kibble every so often. i just couldn't put her on a time schedule not with her itty bitty tummy i'd have to feed her like 5 times a day with how much she can consume at each feeding. so what do you suggest for when jumba comes home? i will be giving him royal canin mini puppy. how will he know which bowl is his? what if he only wants to eat the chi formula? how do you free feed 2?? should i have seperate water bowls too?
i have one big water bowl for both. now as for free feeding and knowing whos eating what... we ended up just putting out the puppy food for both until we switched beefy to the dog food that pheobe had been eating because they would eat eachothers food. if you free feed them both from the start then you shouldn't have a problem teaching the new guy that thats how its gonna be. i would give them each their own bowl tho, even if its the same thing in both, so that if they both want to eat at the same time they don't fight. mine like to take a piece from one bowl, eat it, then switch bowls, lol.
5. any helpful hints on having 2 or any info you want to give me please please do so!!!!!!!!!!
if you are giving treats to one (like while training the new pup) then be sure you find a reason to treat the other. for example, phoebe can sit on command, but thats the only trick she knows, so when i was teaching beefy to go on the puppy pads to potty, if i saw him do it i would give him a treat, but then pheobe would be jealous so i'd tell her "sit" just to have an excuse to give her one too, lol.
good luck, it might be hard at first, or they migh take to eachother right away, but i'd bet that in the long run they will be the best of friends.
