Cherry, congratulations on getting a dog! If your dog is cared for properly, she will reward you with years of love and happiness!

Have you ever have any dogs before? Do you need advice on dogs in general, or just Shih-poos?

I think the most important things to remember are that dogs generally really, really want to please their owners. If they're doing something wrong it's not because they're bad dogs - it's because they don't understand what it is that you want.

Housebreaking is a prime example. A lot of people think that their dogs know they need to go outside, and that if they make a mess inside then they're being willingly disobedient. That is absolutely not true. If your dog goes potty indoors then there are a lot of things that could be going on, but being a "bad dog" is definitely not one of them. Either she tries to hold it but can't because she hasn't been let out often enough, or she doesn't understand that she's supposed to only go outside, or there's something physical wrong with her, or maybe she's submissively urinating.

Physical punishment is never effective, and it's never OK. It doesn't work - it leads to a lot of behavioral problems. Don't hit her or rub her nose in anything, jerk her by her collar etc. etc. etc. You must always always be gentle with her so that she knows you love her and she'll love you back.

There's just so much to know - you really should buy a book. I recommend "Good Owners, Great Dogs" but there are a lot of really good instructional books available. The only one I haven't liked is "Dog Training by Bash". The author of that one takes up a lot of space name dropping and bragging about himself, and doesn't give a lot of good advice about dogs.

Please come back to Pet Talk often. There are a lot of very nice people on here who can help you out with any problem you can possibly have with your new furbundle of joy.