Excited Soon-To-Be Yorkie Owner

[TSB731]

I just wanted to say hello and how happy I am to have found a place to find out all I can about our new family member. After being pet-free for a few years, we decided that we are ready to become dog owners again. My husband has been periodically sending me pictures of dogs from our local shelter, and, while they were all precious in their own way, none of them really grabbed me. That was until a few days ago when he showed me a picture of Kayla, a 10-11 year old Yorkie. I couldn't stop thinking about her, so my husband, children and I went to see her after church yesterday afternoon, and now I'm in love. She is just precious! We spent an hour and a half there getting to know her some. We are waiting for our reference check and approval, and should hear something back by tomorrow or Wednesday. The waiting is so hard!!

I feel like I am ready for this responsibility again, and that from what I could gather from our short time together, she will be a great addition to our family. I look forward to learning all I can about Yorkies and how we can make the rest of her life a wonderful one. I have a couple of questions that I am hoping you guys could answer for me. I don't think negative answers will deter us from getting her, but will help us be prepared as to what to expect.

1. Although one of the workers at the shelter commented that Kayla was just the quietest little thing and never barked, I am skeptical that she will remain this way once she is home and feeling more comfortable with her surroundings. We have a glass front door, and, although we don't live in a heavily trafficked neighborhood, we do have cars that periodically drive by and several people who walk/run by our house with and without dogs. I'm fine with her barking when someone comes up to our door, but not crazy about the idea of her barking every time there is activity on our street. If it does turn out that she yaps at every little thing, is it possible to train a dog of this age to not bark as much? And, yes, I've read that they are terriers and that's just part of how they are wired, but I'm hopeful she can be trained to control herself a bit.

2. If we decided to crate her at night, how long is too long to expect her to stay in the crate without being let out to go to the bathroom. We usually sleep 8-9 hours at night, and I am wondering if this will change when she arrives because she will need to go out.

[Lilbit123]

not totally sure you are ready for a dog and a senior one at that. but nice of you to consider

[TSB731]

Just curious as to why you think we might not be ready for a dog?

[SirTeddykins]

Congrats!!!!!

You can teach the QUIET command using the command and treats upon compliance. This has worked to REDUCE my yappy Teddy but I have had him since he was a puppy. I'm sure that older dogs are just as receptive to treat training as younger dogs but others will help you further with their experiences, I'm sure!

Also, Teddy is crated 8-9 hours a night and is fine. You will need to make sure she's actually trained, though, before expecting that she can hold her breaks this long. If she is, it'll be no problem. If not, as soon as she's trained, it will be no problem assuming she has no medical conditions which would cause incontinence.

Welcome to YT!

[TSB731]

Thanks for the information SirTeddykins! I appreciate your advice.

The 11-year-old has actually already been adopted, but we were given the opportunity to pick up an 8-year-old Yorkie from there later this afternoon. We are so excited. I will definitely check with the vet when we pick her up and see if she knows of any reason by she shouldn't be able to handle being in the crate for 8-9 hours at night. (Although, this is probably a moot point, as I have a feeling she will end up in a dog bed next to ours.)

As far as the barking goes, we'll see how she is and work with her if we need to. We had a Maltese for years that barked at EVERYTHING, so I am thankful to hear that she might be trained to tone it down a bit if necessary.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by TSB731

Thanks for the information SirTeddykins! I appreciate your advice.

The 11-year-old has actually already been adopted, but we were given the opportunity to pick up an 8-year-old Yorkie from there later this afternoon. We are so excited. I will definitely check with the vet when we pick her up and see if she knows of any reason by she shouldn't be able to handle being in the crate for 8-9 hours at night. (Although, this is probably a moot point, as I have a feeling she will end up in a dog bed next to ours.)

As far as the barking goes, we'll see how she is and work with her if we need to. We had a Maltese for years that barked at EVERYTHING, so I am thankful to hear that she might be trained to tone it down a bit if necessary.

Hi and welcome to YT ! Bless your heart for taking in a senior dog, that's just so awesome.

On the crate...hard to say bc you don't yet know if she is even crate trained. All 4 of ours just *hate* the crate so much, so we would never force confinement upon them. You may want to think about getting an Iris Pen (Amazon or Walmart) instead and just use it to fence off where you want her to stay when you're not watching her.

For the barking, you could try a Bark Genie if it gets excessive.

[Wylie's Mom]

Originally Posted by Lilbit123

not totally sure you are ready for a dog and a senior one at that. but nice of you to consider

Don't really understand why you would say this to this member? Confused.

[Lilbit123]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

Don't really understand why you would say this to this member? Confused.

no worries I was distracted so glad you always no whats best..

[Maximo]

Congratulations on the new addition to your family! Welcome to Yorkie Talk.

Regarding the crate, I agree with Wylie's Mom about considering an xpen. My boys can handle a crate for a brief time, but they were not trained to sleep overnight in one. I think they would be devastated if suddenly crated overnight.

Barking: you may not have any reason to worry. My boys do not bark at everything. They will bark at the door bell like lunatics.

Best wishes and enjoy your new baby!

[chickensmith]

Congrats! Looking forward to seeing photos of your new family member!

[JadeD]

Thank you for taking in an older baby like that! In January I was given a 9 year old Yorkie. No warning, I literally was handed the dog and took him home with me.

He did not bark when I got him home. He rarely barks even now. He is a very quiet little guy.

My words of advice. Be patient. It will take time for them to adjust to their new home. Be loving because you don't know what kind of love they had before. Keep trying. It took my little guy 5-6 weeks before he would play with a toy with me, but I kept trying and he has actually taught me games he plays and also loves tug of war and taught it to our Yorkie puppies we got in May.

Sleeping in a crate at night is fine if they are crate trained, if not you will need to crate train them. My husband told me I could keep the dog I brought home as long as it slept in a crate at night. This was a Weds night. I put him in the crate and he was fine. I put him in the crate Thursday night and he was fine. He was in the crate from about 10:30 pm until 6:30 the next morning when I got up to get kids ready for school. Friday evening my husband said he was going to bed about 9pm and I was like "I am not ready for bed, I will be down in a little while." I walked the dogs (we had 2 at the time) and then locked up and turned things off. I put the dog in his crate and headed downstairs and my husband is playing video games. I ask him how long he plans to play and he said about an hour. I tell him I am going to get the dog and bring him down so he can hang out with us while I am on my ipad and that I can take him up to his crate later. Well, I fall asleep with the little guy curled up against me. My husband leaves him there because he said it was so cute how he was curled up with me. So, long story short, it is 8 months later and we now have 2 Yorkies that sleep in our bed and 1 sleeps with our teenage daughter. He slept that night from about 10pm until 9:30 the next morning. He prefers to sleep until about 9am, so he holds it about 12 hours at night.

Good luck and enjoy getting to know this new addition to your family. It can months for their full personality to really show with some dogs. Enjoy getting to know them!

[Yorkiemom1]

Originally Posted by Lilbit123

not totally sure you are ready for a dog and a senior one at that. but nice of you to consider

Personally, I am thrilled this member has chosen to find a precious Yorkie that is living in a shelter, to provide this baby with a loving permanent home. I have read and re-read her post.....seems genuinely interested, invested, and in love with an unfortunate little soul that has ended up in a shelter situation. I do not see what this poster has said or implied that triggered your response, your concern that they may not be capable to adjust/care for this little senior. Would love for you to share with us what you have seen in this member's post that triggered your concern.....I am a pretty good judge of character, as I have successfully screened prospective owners of my puppies for many years.....I did not see any reason for concern in this members post that indicates or gives me concern that they were not ready or were incapable of being great parents of this little soul. Please share what generated your concern, prompting your comment.....I would certainly hate to think that I missed a glaring example that would indicate this person was not suitable to own a Yorkie.

To the new YorkieTalk member, welcome to the site and you just take off your hat and coat, sit down and enjoy the ride....you will learn an enormous amount of information from this site, and as you become familiar with the different posters, you will get comfortable with some, be amazed by some, be intimidated by some, learn to toss the shaft from the wheat, and you will do just fine! Responding to your questions as best I personally can....
1) My dogs are all running around in the den area, at the back of the house...I have baby gates up all over my house in order to prevent any dogs running past me, out the front door, into the street/neighborhood. Mine would have to cross over 3 barriers in order to access the front door....that is a major safety concern for me and I take no chances with that.
2) My dogs are all crated twice a day...from noon until around 4pm...this is "nap time" and everyone has done it since they were little babies. I need this time to do chores and run errands, etc, and I dont leave home with dogs running loose around the house. They all get up and out at 4pm, and we all go back to bed for the night at around 10:30pm....dogs all go into crates (except the 5 that sleep in my bed with me)overnight.....I do not want to have to be searching the house for dogs in case of fire or in case we have to get out in a hurry. They go down for the night at 10:30pm and we get up 9 hours later...and the dogs go out for bathroom break and a lively trot around the back yard. My dogs are crated in 24 x 38 inch crates, with water and a pee pad in the crate....they may pee on the pad overnight, but most hold bowels until they get out in the morning.

Welcome to YT....hoping you get your little lady soon and you can become all tied up in knots and goofey head over heels in love with her just like the rest of us are!!!

[Russpilot]

Welcome to YT!! I have a yorkie who almost never barks, so they are out there. As for crating at night, that is really dog specific. Some love the crate, others abhor it. Ours sleep with us and uses a potty pad at night if she has to go.

[Yorkiemom1]

Originally Posted by Lilbit123

no worries I was distracted so glad you always no whats best..

Thank goodness for your clarification! Wouldn't want to confuse a new poster/member about where to go for helpful, valid information, especially from "Wylie's Mom"!

[yavenay]

Originally Posted by Lilbit123

not totally sure you are ready for a dog and a senior one at that. but nice of you to consider

Not sure how you came to that conclusion. She is asking questions about the best way to provide care is more than ready. I've had two yorkies and I still ask questions about them.