just some questions.. still loooking into getting a yorkie!

[puppy_love]

new here. posting again to ask some more questions.

going to get a puppy in aproximately 3 months. strongly partial to the yorkie, but not certain yet. please be honest though in your answers.

are yorkies known for biting or nipping excesively? did you find it hard to "train" your puppy to not do this?

i've heard that they can be yappy, constantly barking. first off, if this true? if it is, is it easy to train them not to bark excessively?

after reading the post about eating the wall and carpet, etc... to be honest. i'm scared. we have a nice home.. with nice furniture. i understand that with all puppies some accidents and damage are to be expected. however, eating the wall! eating the carpet! honestly, ar these dogs destruction machines? is there anyway to train them not to do this? does this typically only occur during puppy stage? how much do they chew the furniture, etc.? we are planning on keeping a watch over our puppy and trying our best to train her not to do this.. however.. if it runs in the breed, i'm sure it is harder.

i believe that's it at this stage. any help is greatly appreciated.

[Missy's Mommy]

Sorry we scared you off with our silly stories

My 1st puppy Missy never chewed on anything, but my 2nd one Max did, he chewed on a few shoes and started in with the carpet, Missy thought it was a good idea so she tried to help him with the carpet lol

But I think the chewing is a puppy thing no matter what breed. My friend has a Lab and a Maltese and she's told me stories of them eating her bills, her husbands wallet, shoes, furniture, carpet etc..

Teething puppies should have things to chew on like bones and toys etc. if not they get bored and go for the walls and carpet lol

My two are not yappy at all and have never nipped at anyone. They are very friendly and try to shower everyone they meet with kisses.

The one thing about yorkies I didnt fully realized until after I had a yorkie of my own is.. They are like babies or childeren. I dont view them as my dogs, I view them as my furkids . I have 2 childeren and 2 yorkies and I take all 4 of them into consideration before we go on vacations or even out for the evening. I've owned a black lab and a golden retriever before and thought they had my heart but there is something different about the love you get from yorkie.

[red98vett]

I tend to agree here...my girls are like what my real boys were when they were young...I put them before anything I do.... and when I'm gone I worry about them....

As far as high maintenance - I have had cockers and yorkies ARE higher maintenance but WAY more fun - cockers and other breeds are sweet but yorkies rule in my house.

Mine only want to nip if the meter man is in their yard - they don't chew on the furniture...well...maybe a few times but nothing serious - they don't bark obsessively unless bossing me around and only one does THAT....

Training was 2 WEEKS with Chanel - 8 months with Cheri ...so it varies...Chanel my 3 year old never had any - but with Cheri who is under a year...we still may have a few.

Actually - I have 2 very very different yorkies and love them both to pieces and wouldn't trade them for anything. Good luck - if you decide on a yorkie - they do love attention...but you'll love to give it to them..... you fall in love it's REALLY EASY to be infatuated with your yorkie ~!

[Missy's Mommy]

Originally Posted by red98vett

Actually - I have 2 very very different yorkies and love them both to pieces and wouldn't trade them for anything. Good luck - if you decide on a yorkie - they do love attention...but you'll love to give it to them..... you fall in love it's REALLY EASY to be infatuated with your yorkie ~!

I 2nd that, I have two very differnt yorkies too one easy to train one took a bit longer, but they are both lots of fun and I am infatuated with mine too LOL

[bkessler]

I've only had Mocha for 2 months but I am learning that she barks alot at night and early morning, however, the past couple of weeks I have been experimenting and she doesn't bark at all (at least i can't her her).. They love attention.. I work a 7 hour day and Mocha is left by herself for all those hours but from the minute i go home to the minute we go to bed, i give her all the love and attention she needs and wants.. At times, i have felt lost and like i was ready to give up on her however these people, "my YT friends" have been so good.. Good luck with you decision and keep us posted

[cometsmom]

...even though yorkies share alot of similarities, they also share as many differences. My Comet has never chewed on any furniture. At least not yet... and he is 5 months. The best advice that I can give is that yorkies are extremely smart dogs and you can train them to do anything you want them to, even with their strong personalities.

The key is persistance and determination. Start out by puppy proofing your home and introduce the dog to his/her toys in the beginning. If you plan on crate training (which I highly recommend) crate train as soon as possible.

Put away all shoes and remove any items off of the floor that you do not want damaged, as soon as you bring him home. Little yorkies see everything and they really help you to keep an immaculate floor!

Do not take anything for granted. If you leave something in his/her reach....he/she will definitely try and eat it.

A dog is certainly a trainable animal. You have to set aside the time and patience to do the training. The dog will follow its leader!

[nancynancy]

It's a little hard to generalize about yorkies because there's great variation among individual dogs. I have two yorkies, and my two year old male Pookie is a very different dog from my one year old female Boo Boo.

As I remember, a yorkie doesn't really bark when it's a three month old puppy. My dogs are older and do bark -- usually when people come to the door, when my husband waters the lawn, and when the dogs are outside and see cars coming down the street. Otherwise they're usually pretty quiet.

As far as furniture and other household items go, the dogs can be destruction machines. For this reason, we put up a babygate to keep the dogs out of our living room and dining room. We also bought a 8in1 No Chew Spray to stop them from chewing the throw pillows in the den.

When Pookie was a puppy, he had a pretty hard time with teething and practically destroyed the wooden chairs in our kitchen. But we could have nipped that problem in the bud, had we known about the No Chew Spray. Boo Boo had an easier time with teething and wasn't as destructive.

The biggest problem with my dogs is that we never really made the effort to train them to pee and poop outside. I wish we had been more diligent about housebreaking them. Pookie generally pees outside, but Boo Boo doesn't. I use an enzyme cleaner Out Pet Stain and Odor Remover to clean the carpets in our bedroom. We also replaced the carpet in our den with a good wood laminate floor, which is much easier to keep clean.

That said, I love Pookie and Boo Boo dearly and wouldn't trade them for their weight in gold. I am a much happier person since my babies entered my life.

[rnnw62]

I am the proud Mom of an 18 week old little boy that came into
a house that had 2 Labs, 1 Dachshund and 2 cats. My honest
opinion is that I find the puppy behavior to be no different than
any other puppy I have ever brought into the home. If they are
bored of course they will get into trouble, but that's with any
puppy. My personal experience has been nothing but wonderful
and I will probably own nothing but yorkies for the rest of my
life just because of how actual human they make you feel they
are. Mine doesn't nip or bite except when he is playing and we
always make sure to never let that get out of hand. If anything
I wish mine made more noise. The only time I hear him bark is
when he is playing with the other dogs or my daughter and then
he is just being a funny little guy. As far as potty training goes
as long as you are consistant again it isn't any different than
any other puppy. Mine is about 98% potty trained at this point
and the accidents are becoming fewer and further between. I
am an animal lover but I have to say I have never in my life enjoyed
or fallen in love with another puppy the way I have with this little
guy. Good luck in your final decision!

[Diego]

All puppies of all breeds do bad things . Yorkie pups are not meaners than any others . A puppy is a puppy .

[orinskye]

Toby has never destroyed anything, but then again he was crate trained, so that keeps damage to a minimum....
Toby doesnt bark excessively at all, he is a very quite terrier actually he growles when peole are outside our apartment, but it isnt loud at all, he is very pleasant that way...
As far as nipping, yes....... he does this, BUT we are constantly telling him "no" and not playing with him if he does this, and he has now learned when not to nip and when (during playtime) it is kind of ok.........

[sshaw]

I have had 3 yorkies, all under 3 pounds and none of them barked, ever chewed anything but their chewies, and all were the most precious intelligent babies! There is nothing like yorkie love!

I was always with my babies 24-7, and am expecting my new little bundle in about 2 months and 3 weeks. She was just born last week and weighs 2 Oz. The breeder just sent me some pictures and she is just beautiful! I can’t wait to see her!

Don’t be afraid to get a Yorkie.
Sue

[AYork]

I am still relatively new to the Yorkie world - Peanut is just 5 months old - and I too had heard some of the "horror" stories about Yorkies. I am sure that it varies from dog to dog and depends some on genetics, but my little Peanut is the best! He does nip and chew, but I think that is common for all puppies. Plus Peanut is teething right now, so the chewing on fingers has intensified some. As far as furniture chewing, you can buy something called "bitter apple" or an equivalent that has a bitter taste when sprayed on furniture, walls, electrical cords, etc. It has really worked with Peanut - one application on his favorite corner of the couch and favorite wall corner stopped that for good! Also, when Peanut chews on something he's not allowed to, I give him a firm "NO" and give him a toy to chew on. Once he is chewing on that I make sure to praise him - and it seems to be working pretty well. Housetraining has been going well, with a few days where he just seems to "forget". We started with wee-wee pads all over the place, then cut them back to just at exit locations, and now we have none at all. Peanut goes to the door and barks when he needs to go out (although he has learned to do that if he just wants to play outside, too! I am still trying to decipher the two!). As far as barking goes, he does bark occasionally but usually just when he needs to go out or if he sees a squirrel running by outside.

As long as you are sure you are ready for a puppy of any kind, I highly recommend Yorkies. I love my little Peanut and getting him was one of the best and most rewarding things I have ever done! He is very loyal, loves to play, is friendly toward guests, and is SO CUTE!

Good luck with your new puppy and I hope you get a Yorkie!

[Shanatink]

my min pin was horrible at eating walls and carpet. Needless to say I didnt get my deposit back at my apartment. I now have my own house and 3 dogs. So far I have a yorkie pup and she hasnt been much of a problem. We are working on the potty training and luckily I have tile so it is easy to clean up any accidents. So far she is 5 month old and she doesnt "yip" that much. She only barks when she is playing around. She does like to bite things but as long as she has a toy or greenie to chew on, my personal items(furniture...) is safe. Before I gave her toys she was eating some electrical wires so it is really important that they have something to chew on. This is just a puppy thing. My Min Pin ate alot of wires. I now have a yorkie, a chihauhua and a Boxer and honestly my yorkie(mostly because of size) has been the easiest to deal with as a puppy.

[centralnewyorki]

Originally Posted by nancynancy

We also bought a 8in1 No Chew Spray to stop them from chewing the throw pillows in the den.

Where did you get that? Sounds like it's pretty effective. I haven't had much success with the bitter apple in the past.

[lycansmom]

I find just like with any other puppy if you give them things they like to chew on and praise them when they do chew on that particular item you shouldnt have any problems with them destroying your home. I do however have a small side comment if you are a very neat person and are really worried about your things maybe a puppy isnt the right decision. I think its the same as when people decide to have children you pretty much need to go well i wouldnt mind if this were to get destroyed the love for them matters more than any material thing.