Older versions - [[Pepina Care Guide 2025-07]] (USA) - [[Pepina Care Guide 2025-05]] (Spain) ## Walking & Potty Schedule We walk her 3-4 times per day, depending on our schedule. She definitely needs to go after waking up and before going to sleep, but the times in between can be variable. She knows not to potty in the house. If she really needs to go, she will let you know by either hiding under a table/couch/desk/furniture (kind of frustrating), or by sitting near the front of the door. ### Walking Behaviors - She knows "vamos", "por aqui", and "ven", but she is stubborn and might not move. A light pull on the leash usually helps - She's young and curious and wants to meet every dog. Recently we notice she's been getting more confrontational, so just be aware. Sometimes when she sees another dog, she will go into a prone position and sneak forward. When she does this, she usually charges at the dog or pounces at them. I try to discourage this by getting her to walk, but it usually provokes a negative response from other dogs - Sometimes she gets stubborn and won't want to go back home or down a certain street. In that case, you can pick her up and walk like half a block and then she won't get interested anymore Example of prone position ![[dog-prone.jpg]] ### Potty - She has pooped either once a day or up to 3 times per day. It really depends - She should pee each walk ## Feeding Schedule ### Breakfast - After her first walk - 1 heaping teaspoon of wet food + 1/2 cup of dry food ### Dinner - Time: like 7pm or whenever you have dinner - Quantity: Same as breakfast ### Human Food She likes any of the following: - Meat (raw or cooked), but in small quantities - Cooked egg - Tortilla chips - Cucumber - Carrot - Cooked potatoes - Cooked rice ### Poisonous to Dogs Just as a reminder, these common human foods are poisonous to dogs - Chocolate - Onion, leeks, chives - Garlic - Cooked bones (especially chicken bones; when cooked, they get brittle and then can splinter in the stomach/intestine) - Coffee & tea - Avocados - Mushrooms - Cherries - Grapes - Peaches - Citrus - Nuts ### Treats Her daily limit is one greenie or one duck stick, and 2-3 training treats (they look like bones or stars) ## Playing - She loves chasing her toys when she has the energy or interest - She also loves playing tug - She loves to dig for things hiding under blankets, like toys, toes ## Leaving Her Unattended It's okay to leave Pepina by herself for up to 10 hours. She will probably nap the whole time while you're gone. In this case, just be aware that she will probably want to pee as soon as possible. Additionally she will have a lot of energy because because she's understimulated, and she would appreciate a longer walk + play time if you are away for a while. ## Quirks - She doesn't like to be picked up but she loves laying on laps and bodies in general. - She doesn't the process of putting on clothes, but she's totally okay with having them on. - She is friendly to most things *except* - Flowers or new objects in the house (especially if they show up out of the blue--you'll have to introduce them to her slowly). She hated the Valentine's Day flowers I got Hannah and barked at them for multiple days straight. She also knows when new, large objects show up in familiar places, so she'll bark and avoid those as well - When she's on a person's lap in public, she will bark almost at any dog - Jumpy children (she's fine with calm children) - Puppies of large breeds that are excitable and try to step on her - When she feels afraid or ashamed, she'll hide under the couch or under the table that has two chairs. For example, when she really needs to go potty, she'll hide under either of the places mentioned because she doesn't want to go potty inside the house, but she'll also be afraid to go potty on the walkway, on the elevator, or in the lobby ## If People Ask - She's a girl - She's a pure chihuahua - She's 1 year old - No, she's not really afraid of people or dogs, but she does not like certain bigger dogs - No, she doesn't bite ## Bath If for any reason you need to give Pepina a bath, she does great with warm water. She can use gentle human soap, but do not let it sit on her for too long (longer than 1 minute) because it will irritate her skin. ## Emergencies We haven't had any serious emergencies with her, so we don't have any concrete plans. Please call us if anything happens. We take her to do her check ups in the same clinic from where we adopted her in Sesena Nuevo, which is obviously far and inconvenient, but we will find a closer vet if needed. ## Appendix Amount of wet food ![[pepina-wet-food.jpg]] Amount of dry food ![[pepina-dry-food.jpg]] What a typical meal looks like ![[pepina-food-total.jpg]]