I am so excited.  I am getting a mini dachshund puppy!  His name will be Dempsey and he will be coming home with my on February 9th!

I cannot wait to get him and hug him and love him and sqeeze him!

Awww.  Congrats!  You'll have to share pictures of him!

I will...I pick him up in two weeks and I will definitely do that!

Any advice out there for me?

Congratulations!  Doxies are so cute!

My best advice would be to take him to all the training classes you can.  It's not always easy to know how to interact with a new dog, but the classes give you exercises to do with him, both at home and in class.  The one's I've been to at Petsmart are all positive reinforcement classes (rewarding for good behavior rather than punishing for bad), and have been very effective with my dog.  It's also a great way to bond!

Oh yeah - be sure to handle his feet a lot.  Studies have shown that the more a dog's feet are exposed to different stimuli, the better his brain grows.  If you watch nature shows, you'll see zookeepers doing this with orphaned animals too.

That's great!  New dogs are so much fun!

Sharon,

Thank you for the advice.  I plan to do training classes when the time is right (age wise).  I am very excited!  I have never house trained a dog before and that is what I am most nervous about, but I have heard that crate training is the best way and that includes a lot of positive reinforcement!

Thank you all for your good wishes.  I am really excited and I will post pics when I get him!

Amy

Amy - there are "puppy classes" out there.  I don't know what they cover, since my dog was a year old when we got her, but they may give housebreaking tips.  I've never housetrained either, so I can't help you there!

Puppy classes cover everything to do with puppies. Mostly they are for socialization for the dog, and tips for the owner. You can join a puppy class as soon as your pup has had all his shots. These classes are so important for puppies, it really helps with the socialization. And it's never to early to start training, as long as you keep lessons short and fun.