I certainly recognize your excitement!! It doesn't get any better!!
I don't think you are ever, ever prepared but you can certainly learn answers to your questions here! I believe that most of us "learn by doing" ... what works for one of us doesn't necessarily work for others and you will find a lot of trial & error!
Like Jeni said, your breeder should be able to answer all your questions and if you follow her instructions as much as possible, you will be doing what little Daisy is accustomed to and it will be an easier transition for her. Actually, ours provided instructions, food, shampoo, etc. that she was already using. This is how we did it when our Toto was a baby, she is 22 months old now and we haven't killed her yet!!!
1. How would you recomend bathing a small puppy for the first time?
I use one of those rubber mats in the kitchen sink ... use the sprayer with lukewarm water. I simply set her in the sink with the water already at bath temp and gently wet her all over [I never turn the water off while I bathe her]. After she is wet, I pour the shampoo in my hand and rub my hands together and just lightly "wipe" it all over her and then just massage her hair. If you rub it hard with your fingertips as you would yours, it will cause the hair to mat. I shampoo Toto twice and rinse, then apply the conditioner the same way and try to let it stay in for a few minutes. Rinse well and wrap her in a warm towel. After towel drying, most everybody uses a hand dryer while brushing ... I don't because Toto doesn't like it. She prefers being wrapped in a couple of towels and snuggling on my lap until she is just damp dry and then I brush her out!
2. What shampoo/conditioner would you recomend?
I use Coat Handlers [my breeder recommended it] but there are other good ones out there. Also, dilute some conditioner and keep it handy in a spray bottle to mist the hair while brushing. It helps get the mats out and decreases breakage of the hair.
3. How often and when should I give her a brushing and trim her hair?
I try to brush Toto every day ... it makes it much easier, especially when they are babies and are getting used to it. If she protests, don't worry, if you are persistent she will begin to look forward to it! Toto will lie on her back and let me brush her belly!!
Trimming ... I suppose that will depend on how fast her hair grows.
4. Would I need any special things? Like skin care products?
I have never had a skin problem with Toto, but others who have will advise you, I'm sure.
5. What would you recomed for flee and tick provention?
You should ask your vet about that, again, there are differences. Our vet has us use Advantage [applied between the shoulder blades]. When Toto was tiny, we could use only half a tube. Because Yorkies are small, they need smaller doses in medications, etc. We only use what our vet recommends, she never, ever recommends flea/tick shampoos, collars, etc. because they are just too small and lots of that stuff is toxic to them.
Topic #2:
What should I give her to play with? She's such a small dog I'm worried that all the toys our old dog have will be too big, or have parts that will fall off and choke her!
We simply "puppy proofed" our house because they will get anything that they can get their little mouths on!!
And they can indeed choke on tiny things that they can pick up off the floor and chew. We just bought safe little doggie toys at PetSmart, Petco, Wal-Mart, etc. Just make sure that they are safe and they can't get them stuck in their throats. She will need lots of little chew bones ... we used Nylabone and any other small safe bones & rubber chew things that they can't gnaw pieces off of until they have cut their teeth. We found that if we always had one handy, whenever Toto put her mouth on something to chew that we didn't want her to, we just gently took it from her and gave her one of her Nylabones. It wasn't necessarily the
object that she wanted to chew ... she just
needed to chew on something because her gums hurt because of teething! BTW, Toto has never, ever chewed on anything that wasn't hers! [with the exception of paper!] I don't know if it was her early training or she just doesn't want to! Another thing, never, ever raise your voice & yell ... you will only confuse & scare her.
Topic #3:
Well I thought I'd let her sleep in her carrier for a while until she gets old enough, but the other day while I was visiting her she barked and cried and whined and carried on whenever I put her down! When I picked her up she was fine, and when I put her down the same thing happened. As long as she was near my feet it was okay though, but when I put her in the pen she pitchd a fit! I'm afraid the carrier plan won't work, so the only other choice I can think of is to put her in the bed with me! But I'm afraid I'll roll over her and crush her! What should I do?
If you can train her to sleep in the carrier, that's great. I think it's really a personal choice. Toto is such a "velcro dog" but she was fine sleeping in one of her crates at night ... then she would fall asleep with us watching TV on our bed and my husband just hated "disturbing" her to move her to the crate ... she now sleeps with us every night! We haven't squashed her yet! You are always "aware" that she is there!
Topic #4:
What else should I get do you have any ideas? I have so much planning to do! Just tell me anything else that I need to get or know and I'll be so grateful!
If you have time to go back through some of the older threads ... there's so much great information that it's just impossible to recap it! I think you're doing a great job already and will make a good Yorkie mom for Daisy just by doing your research and asking questions!!
Take the advice of your vet [that's most important] and your breeder.
Sorry this is so long ... there is just so much involved with caring for these little furbabies but don't let it overwhelm you ... it's absolutely worth it!!