chi behavior, appropriate

Hey everyone...I got a lot of great responces from my last post and just wanted to ask a few more questions and see if my behavior with my chi is good and appropreiate for her future developement and training. After readin a lot on chis (way before i even got her) i read that socializing your chi with other dogs is a good way to have the pups learn, and for the future so they are not aggressive toward others humans/animals..so our next door neigbor has 3 chis and another semi bigger dog(forget the breed) they play nice and get a long well.

BUT...I have the pup sleep with me in my bed, I take her out hor about an hour a day outside so she can get her energy out there, BUT i stay out there with her...I'm worried that she'll be too dependent on me. Shes not as comfortablle with my husband as she is with me....although she goes to him, when hes holding her too long she looks for me and cries for me. I have a baby coming within the next two months, so I worry that she will be affected by this... I havecommitted to spending all the time she needs to love, train and care for her, but wonder is it too much and if so how can I break it a LIL w/out getting those puppy eyes? Or do you think it will even a problem? I dunno I just hope I'm creating appropriate boundries and not leaving my pups in the cold at the same time

As far as you going out with her there's nothing wrong with that I'm there with mine when they're out--I afraid of hawks or eagles or about anything that could happen--I sleep with mine--now about her crying when your husband has her I would just let her cry and tell her no so she'll settle down, don't forget they KNOW how to train us--now with the baby, we had a chi growing up and when my Mom had my brother Dixie wanted nothing to do with him and would sit up and beg--she wanted him gone BUT my Mom just told her it was too bad and the baby was staying--she pouted about a week, she'd just stay away from everyone under a chair or table BUT she learned the baby was staying, she got over it and was just fine---these chi's are really smart and will really try to work you, it's really funny--I wish you lots of luck--to me they're my favorite dogs on two legs--I love them all but I adore the chi.

Sheila

I think it is a great idea to stay outside with your baby, I don't let sammy out by himself even though we have a fenced in yard. We have bobcats that like to sun themselves in my side yard, so sammy would make a nice snack for them. Also it is perfectly normal for your chi to be more attached to you then your hubby because you are probably the one who tends to her needs(feeding, bathing, love and attention).

If you didn't have a baby on the way I would say that having her sleep in bed with you is wonderful, but from experience I would say that getting her used to sleeping in her own bed BEFORE the baby comes would be best.
You don't know what things will be like once the baby comes. When my husband and I first started dating years ago we adopted a very sickly puppy at the animal shelter and I insisted she sleep with us everynigt and have access to our bed whenever she wanted and that backfired on us big time when my daughter came along 10 years later. She resented the baby from the very beginning because she could no longer sleep on our bed because the baby was there. By the time my daughter was walking my first baby was growling at her whenever she walked in to our bedroom. We had trainers come in and tried everything possible, but she hated my daughter until she had to be put to sleep about a year ago from liver failure and cushings disease. We had her for 13 years, and I wish we would have just given her a bed and space of her own when she was a puppy because I know she was extremely resentful to our daughter for having to be kicked out of our bed . So, when I got sammy almost 3 years ago I made sure he was going to be crate trained and he LOVES having his own space now. I leave his crate opened all the time and he goes to bed on his own every night before anyone else in the house and we don't hear a peep from him until the next morning. I think it is rough on our fur babies when we bring in a human baby and they were there first. I know it wont be easy with a new baby and all, but try very hard to show the same amount of love and attention to your chi after the baby comes that you always have. especially once your baby becomes mobile your chi will need a safe place of it's own away from the baby. Also, try to find a CD of a baby crying and play it often before baby comes, your chi will have to get used to hearing that noise in the house, also try to set up all the baby gear early on so she will be used to all that stuff being around before the baby comes. once the baby comes have your husband bring home a blanket the baby has been wrapt with and let your chi sleep with it for a couple of nights.

I would also say to try and get you chi used to children if she has not been around them much. I that well supervised time with smal children is a great way to keep these tiny dogs from becoming fearful of children. Take her to a park and let small children pet her and assure her that they are ok. My chi was pretty fearful of children when I brought him home, but I took him everywhere I thought there might be small children and had them pet him and give him treats, he is now perfectly comfortable with a house full of 4 and 5 year old when my daughter has playdates and actually prefers them over adults at this point.

Ok, I rambled...sorry, but you get the point