General Info: Temperament and Food

[ylwdog]

Hello everyone,
I have some general questions regarding Yorkies. I am dog trainer, clicker-trainer specifically, and have not worked w/ Yorkies previously. A new client called and asked me to help w/ some general issues.
Before I advise her I am doing some research on the breed. Rather than go to the AKC site and get sort of generic stamp of approval, I came here to get the real stuff. Would you guys mind helping?

Specific questions:
How are Yorkies' appetites, do you find they eat all their food at feeding time or are they more of nibblers? She is feeding Eukanuba and lets her free feed which is causing some house training issues. My thought is she may not like her food too much.

Temperament: I have read about them here: All About Yorkshire Terrier
How accurate is this and especially regarding the children description?

Any other particular information or insight regarding Yorkies would be extremely helpful and appreciated.

Thanks,

Doug

[marcerella02]

Originally Posted by ylwdog

Hello everyone,
I have some general questions regarding Yorkies. I am dog trainer, clicker-trainer specifically, and have not worked w/ Yorkies previously. A new client called and asked me to help w/ some general issues.
Before I advise her I am doing some research on the breed. Rather than go to the AKC site and get sort of generic stamp of approval, I came here to get the real stuff. Would you guys mind helping?

Specific questions:
How are Yorkies' appetites, do you find they eat all their food at feeding time or are they more of nibblers? She is feeding Eukanuba and lets her free feed which is causing some house training issues. My thought is she may not like her food too much.

Temperament: I have read about them here: All About Yorkshire Terrier
How accurate is this and especially regarding the children description?

Any other particular information or insight regarding Yorkies would be extremely helpful and appreciated.

Thanks,

Doug

I would say, most yorkies are picky eaters. Layla was free fed at first because she just NEVER ate- so i wanted to make sure when she was hungry she had food available. I home cook now so that is not an option, and because she isn't a puppy i dont' worry AS much about low blood sugar, plus i'm working on that whole alpha thing- so i want her to know I control the food.

I would suggest that your client change foods- Eukanuba is not a great quality food at all- you might suggest Canidae, Orijen, Wellness, Halo, Natural Balance or Solid Gold.

I would say that discription is more or less accurate but i'm sure as you know, not all dogs are what they typically should be Layla LOVES kids- isn't nervous at all around them, unlike the description. Most yorkies are very "foot shy" as they have probably been accidentily stepped on a time or two. I think many yorkies think they are a BIG dog- Layla does- probably because she is often carried places and is at "eye" level with people. It is true that if you dont' tell a Yorkie "no" from day one (and boy ti's hard- they are a cute puppy) you wil have HUGE problems on your hands.

I hope this helped. Good luck with your client Tell her about YT!

[Miao]

My girl has always been free fed since she was 4.5 months old. Prior to that, her breeder left out Eukanuba kibbles for them to graze on while she fed her dogs a diet of ground raw chicken and bones at specific feeding times. She came pretty much paper trained with accidents in very specific spots. Once that problem was solved, she soon had zero accidents except when she pees a little off center. She would also go outside on her walks when she finally got to touch the ground after her puppy shots. Of course, I've never crate trained, so that would work differently. I'm always home with her.

Although I leave food out, she rarely eats it on her own unless she finds some stray kibble on the ground or under furniture. I make sure she gets food before bed and when she wakes up. She became a non-morning eater but generally, after a good morning chase with the cat and/or a walk, she'd eat at least a little bit before she goes back to nap with me. Then later in the afternoon, I just make sure to "treat" her with another brand of kibbles for various tricks, grooming session, and during later walks. She's more than ready to eat it if it doesn't seem like it's her regular food. Then when her Daddy comes home, she'd paw at her other food dish Daddy feeds her out of that's left on the coffee table sealed. That's when she's hungry and she wants to be fed by Daddy. She wouldn't take it from me unless she's REALLY starved. For the most part, she's an evening eater and she really stocks up and stores it in her belly right before bedtime. Her stools are produced generally first thing in the morning and sometime in the afternoon. It used to be more regular and predictable when she was on certain brands of food. Now she does 2-3 runs of stools a day while with the past brands of food, she'd only go twice and they were smaller.

That link you posted, it seems to pretty much match my girl to the "T". Especially the part about the interaction with children. She reacts better to my toddler nephew who hardly takes interest in her, so when he does, it's okay and he had never chased her down before. While with my older nephews, 12 and 9 years, she trembles in fear on the spot and she even becomes too afraid or lost to run and hide somewhere. They are loud, even if not towards her, they are bouncy and loud on their own. And it did NOT help that they've run right up to her once before when they arrived at the house and in her eyes, they had cornered her just to say "hi" and pet her. I'm sure if we had tried some calm treating and such by the hands of the children, it will turn out alright, however, they don't visit enough for it to matter. I had tried to hold her while a nephew pet her gently, but all of that time, she's shaking with fear. She's okay with kids who want to pet her when we're out. When she spots the little children from a distance, she gets excited, pulling on her leash because she thinks they are potentially dogs. By the time we walk within a foot from them, she relaxes and moves on to her next target as she notes fairly quickly that they are only human.

[Miao]

The part about them being sensitive to temperature that's stated in that link, can't be more spot on. From what I've read of other board members and from observing my own. She may not complain about it, but you know when she's miserable and cold! Just yesterday, while we were out, there was sun, but in the shade it was CHILLY. When we're not on the move, I can see her shivering from the cold. Once we're in the sun again, even when we're not on the go, she does not shake. She only shook a little bit after I wrapped my jacket around her while I was sitting outside waiting for someone.

What I've also noticed is that as much as she hates baths, she doesn't whine and whimper when the water is warmer than recommended for bathing dogs. Especially when I just use the shower head on her, she gets miserable while she's wet and getting colder with only shampoo, etc, on her. If she's continually under the warm water, she doesn't shake at all and no whimpers. So in this way, she's no different from me.

[Gingergirlsmom]

Here's my response to the link you posted

Hunters: Both of mine are hunters. One has had a couple of chipmunk kills. The other, likes to "ferret them out of hiding" but hasn't actually killed anything. Both are very proud of their hunting feats.

Both are very affectionate snugglers who love to spend time attached to my hip.

I don't have children so can't comment on that. One of mine does love anyone with grey hair though.

Both will bark at strangers approaching the house, but generally they are pretty quiet.

One of mine has been incredibly easy to train (basic obedience, tricks, etc...she'll do anything for food). The other takes forever to learn a command but, boy, oh boy is he TRYING to please. He just doesn't get it.

Both of mine love walks, wrestling with each other, chasing balls, chasing critters. One loves swimming and digging. The other could care less about the last two.

Hope this helps

[ylwdog]

Thank you to everyone for you wonderful and thoughtful responses. This helps a great deal and will be valuable to having accurate information rather than hearsay.

Miao, might you be like to discuss and elaborate on the feeding since you are experiencing some of the same issues as my client?
I have a few thoughts/questions and I would appreciate your response to them, whether you agree or disagree- you have real time w/ the Yorkie where I am working on book info?

If she is not overly active in her eating in the morning could she not see this as something to look forward to?
I am stating this might be her natural genetic behavior, but one likely possibility is that she may not like it very much and only eats when she is really hungry, later in the day.
Also for the time when Daddy feeds her, she may get really excited and her behavior reflects this.

If you would indulge me with what you were feeding her and what you are feeding her now, and her age and weight?
One thing I can offer is that if her bowel movement times have changed, this could very well be the shift in foods. I can provide more data on this if you care to have it.

What if you changed her food... try and experiment and see if she gets excited about eating and if she eats it all in the AM?

I feed raw to my dogs, so I don't have suggestions other than what I know top the lists as the top food brands, but you could try putting down some chicken breast in the AM and see if she eats it all, this could provide some good info.

Thanks Miao.

Thanks again everyone!

Doug
DogTalk Training
KPA CTP (Karen Pryor Academy Certified Trainer)
APDT

[dogbert]

I think they are as individual as humans. Ten dogs ten different descriptions. There is a bit of a common thread to tie them together but they aren't cookie cutter dogs, they have BIG personalities.