Here is some of my basic dog advice, just dispensed to a Twitter pal and thought I’d share it here:

–Vet–
We use Laguna Hills Animal Hospital, they are a bit of a drive, but they are excellent! Really sweet people and they love animals. http://www.lagunahillsanimalhospital.com/ (The website is awful, but trust me they’re great!) Highly recommend Dr. Sultzer and Sullos, those are the 2 we’ve seen most.

–Home Alone–
I definitely recommend setting up a smaller area to close her up in to start. Once you get an idea of her temperament you can expand that area or let her have the run of the house. Make sure there are no cupboards she can get into with food or cleaning products. No wires, nothing that might fall over and no paper. Also, close her off in her area when you are home too (might be good to leave a bed in there for her all the time), so she gets used to it and doesn’t panic when you put her in there and leave her alone. Try to walk her/exercise her before leaving her alone and always leave her with raw hide or a stuffed kong (best toy ever… http://www.kongcompany.com/worlds_best.html) to keep her busy.

If she is house-trained she should be able to hold it up to 8 hours, so there is not really a need to put out papers (unless she is paper-trained) but just be ready for anything those first few weeks. And don’t fuss over her when you get home or she might piddle. Take her out right away, then fuss.

–Food and Treats–
– We used Iams dry food, that worked pretty well. I think they might even have a doxie formula.
– Pupperoni (or a piece of one) work great for training, the dogs LOVE them.
– Milkbones are always safe. (I think of milkbones as cookies and pepperoni as candy, if that makes any sense.)
– Greenies are good for cleaning their teeth once in a while.
– Raw hides are good for curbing the chewing (you’ll have to experiment to find out her favorite kind).
– Baby carrots (1 or 2 per day) are excellent healthy treats.

We are anti-table scraps, keeping their weight down is important.

We are also pro crate training at night. You’ll all sleep better.