YorkieTalk.com Forums - Yorkshire Terrier Community - View Single Post - A few puppy questions for a first time owner. :)

MyFairLacy · 08-06-2007, 10:12 PM

A little background for me as I answer your questions

I have a yorkie named Lacy that will be three this September. She is about 7lbs. I got her at 11 weeks and she was about 3lbs at that time.

1. I live in a townhouse, so I have stairs in my home. Should I keep my puppy in a playpen most of the time to avoid it getting hurt on the stairs? I'm guessing it may be a good idea to keep it in the pen in general for a while. Any certain age when I could stop? I too live in a townhouse (two stories). I can't remember when Lacy first used the stairs but I think I remember her going up and down them pretty soon after I got her. She never had any trouble going up and down the stairs. I think your puppy will go upstairs easier at first than downstairs. Puppies usually learn to go up stairs pretty quickly but may be scared to go downstairs. I would supervise a puppy all the time at first and crate or put the puppy in a pen when not supervised. This way the puppy doesn't get hurt and this will very much help with potty training. When you can stop crating or using the pen will depend on the puppy and how fast you are able to potty train it. When your puppy is doing well at potty training and you think you can trust it, give it more time out. Work slowly up to eliminating the crate or pen. Lacy still uses her crate sometimes.

2. I have three cats. Would the puppy do ok with them for the most part? The cats like to tackle each other, but none are overly aggressive. None have ever been around a dog before. I have two cats currently. I had one 5 year old cat when I got Lacy. My cat, Kira, didn't like her at all but honestly, Kira doesn't really like anyone and is a pretty antisocial cat that wants to be left alone for the most part. I tried to teach Lacy to leave Kira alone but now that she is older she will chase Kira around pretty regularly. Yorkies have a pretty high prey drive and enjoy chasing things. When Lacy decides she wants to chase Kira there's really nothing I can do to stop her - no matter how much I yell No! I got a new cat about 4 months ago - Sophie, who was five months when I brought her home and almost 9 months now. She and Lacy get along great! They've gotten along great since day 1. Sophie is a very social cat and will rub all over Lacy and they even play some. Sometimes Lacy will chase Sophie some too but Sophie tolerates it a lot better than Kira. I recommend trying to train the puppy to leave the cats alone and be nice to them as best you can. If your cats have their claws, keep them trimmed regularly so they don't swat at and scratch your puppy - could scratch an eye or something. The cats will probably not be happy at a new puppy in the house and I wouldn't get onto them for displaying unhappiness - they will eventually get used to the puppy but may resent you if you get onto them. If your cats are very social they may get used to the puppy and get along with it well.

3. I'll get my puppy around the first of November. Would it be safe to take it visiting when I do the family holiday stuff? I'll have had it a month by that point, but I don't want to expose it to anything bad. I would like the chance to socialize it though. I do know I'll have to be extra careful if children are present. I also got Lacy in November right after Thanksgiving and she traveled with me to my parents in December for the Christmas holidays. We have all our family over to my parents on Christmas Day so there were a lot of people there and she did great. I think it's really good for them to be socialized around different people. Be very careful with your puppy around others though as they may not realize how fragile a yorkie puppy can be - make sure it doesn't get underfoot with a lot of people around and get stepped on. Other than that with good supervision, your puppy should be fine around others.

4. Are there any types of toys that would be dangerous to a puppy? I have an absolute TON of cat toys that end up laying around, so I'd most likely need to do a puppy-check on all of them. I'll need to puppy-proof my entire home, actually. O_O Lacy loves to tear up the cat toys - the little furry balls and mice - she loves to tear off the fur and chew on them. Plastic balls with bells on them could be chewed and the bell swallowed. Any toy with feathers will probably be chewed on - Lacy always pulls the feathers out of cat toys. Be careful of a puppy swallowing a lot of feathers and fur from toys as it could cause a blockage in the intestines. A lot of cat toys should be fine for puppies as well but I really reccommend supervising your puppy playing with any toys.

5. Is it safe to let the puppy sleep in the bed with me? Should I avoid letting it until a certain age? I usually have two cats asleep there already... I wouldn't let the puppy sleep with you until potty trained. It may wake up and potty in the bed at the middle of the night or may try to jump off the bed. Lacy slept in her crate until she was about a year old. She could have slept with me earlier than that but I was so afraid she'd jump off the bed and pee somewhere. I didn't sleep well the first couple nights she did sleep with me - I kept waking up to see if she was still on the bed. But she did just fine and has slept great with me since then. I just recommend waiting until the puppy is potty trained and old enough that you aren't worried about it falling off or jumping off the bed and hurting itself.

6. Is there a certain brand of harness that anyone can recommend? I know that I'll need a harness for walking. I use a leather step-in harness for Lacy. The harness and leash are attached as a one-piece set. It's so convienent, has held up well, and is very safe and secure.

7. Same for food - any recommended brands? Right now I'm leaning towards Innova, since I feed Innova EVO to my cats and they're all incredibly healthy and have wonderful coats. Lacy is on a raw diet. She used to eat Wellness Fish & Sweet Potato dry food before I switched her to raw over a year ago. She eats Nature's Variety Raw medallions in Rabbit and Venison. So far as Dry food, there are some good brands out there. Innova is one, Wellness, Canidae, Merrick, Nature's Variety...I tried to feed my cats Innova Evo for a while and they both ended up having severe diarhea after about six weeks so I took them off of it. My favorite canned food is Merrick - one of my cat's eats that.

8. Some friends have golden retrievers. Would it be dangerous to bring the yorkie to visit? I would wait until your puppy has had all of it's vaccinations before interacting with another dog. Lacy has played with big dogs before, including a lab that she plays pretty rough with. I would just make sure the golden retriever isn't too rough with your puppy. But yorkies are really pretty tough and think they are big so it should be okay.

9. Are there any questions I didn't ask, that I should be asking? Be sure to buy your puppy from a reputable breeder and ask the breeder lots of questions

Good Luck finding your new puppy!

08-06-2007, 10:12 PM	#8
MyFairLacy Donating YT 10K Club Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: DFW, Texas Posts: 11,003	A little background for me as I answer your questions I have a yorkie named Lacy that will be three this September. She is about 7lbs. I got her at 11 weeks and she was about 3lbs at that time. 1. I live in a townhouse, so I have stairs in my home. Should I keep my puppy in a playpen most of the time to avoid it getting hurt on the stairs? I'm guessing it may be a good idea to keep it in the pen in general for a while. Any certain age when I could stop? I too live in a townhouse (two stories). I can't remember when Lacy first used the stairs but I think I remember her going up and down them pretty soon after I got her. She never had any trouble going up and down the stairs. I think your puppy will go upstairs easier at first than downstairs. Puppies usually learn to go up stairs pretty quickly but may be scared to go downstairs. I would supervise a puppy all the time at first and crate or put the puppy in a pen when not supervised. This way the puppy doesn't get hurt and this will very much help with potty training. When you can stop crating or using the pen will depend on the puppy and how fast you are able to potty train it. When your puppy is doing well at potty training and you think you can trust it, give it more time out. Work slowly up to eliminating the crate or pen. Lacy still uses her crate sometimes. 2. I have three cats. Would the puppy do ok with them for the most part? The cats like to tackle each other, but none are overly aggressive. None have ever been around a dog before. I have two cats currently. I had one 5 year old cat when I got Lacy. My cat, Kira, didn't like her at all but honestly, Kira doesn't really like anyone and is a pretty antisocial cat that wants to be left alone for the most part. I tried to teach Lacy to leave Kira alone but now that she is older she will chase Kira around pretty regularly. Yorkies have a pretty high prey drive and enjoy chasing things. When Lacy decides she wants to chase Kira there's really nothing I can do to stop her - no matter how much I yell No! I got a new cat about 4 months ago - Sophie, who was five months when I brought her home and almost 9 months now. She and Lacy get along great! They've gotten along great since day 1. Sophie is a very social cat and will rub all over Lacy and they even play some. Sometimes Lacy will chase Sophie some too but Sophie tolerates it a lot better than Kira. I recommend trying to train the puppy to leave the cats alone and be nice to them as best you can. If your cats have their claws, keep them trimmed regularly so they don't swat at and scratch your puppy - could scratch an eye or something. The cats will probably not be happy at a new puppy in the house and I wouldn't get onto them for displaying unhappiness - they will eventually get used to the puppy but may resent you if you get onto them. If your cats are very social they may get used to the puppy and get along with it well. 3. I'll get my puppy around the first of November. Would it be safe to take it visiting when I do the family holiday stuff? I'll have had it a month by that point, but I don't want to expose it to anything bad. I would like the chance to socialize it though. I do know I'll have to be extra careful if children are present. I also got Lacy in November right after Thanksgiving and she traveled with me to my parents in December for the Christmas holidays. We have all our family over to my parents on Christmas Day so there were a lot of people there and she did great. I think it's really good for them to be socialized around different people. Be very careful with your puppy around others though as they may not realize how fragile a yorkie puppy can be - make sure it doesn't get underfoot with a lot of people around and get stepped on. Other than that with good supervision, your puppy should be fine around others. 4. Are there any types of toys that would be dangerous to a puppy? I have an absolute TON of cat toys that end up laying around, so I'd most likely need to do a puppy-check on all of them. I'll need to puppy-proof my entire home, actually. O_O Lacy loves to tear up the cat toys - the little furry balls and mice - she loves to tear off the fur and chew on them. Plastic balls with bells on them could be chewed and the bell swallowed. Any toy with feathers will probably be chewed on - Lacy always pulls the feathers out of cat toys. Be careful of a puppy swallowing a lot of feathers and fur from toys as it could cause a blockage in the intestines. A lot of cat toys should be fine for puppies as well but I really reccommend supervising your puppy playing with any toys. 5. Is it safe to let the puppy sleep in the bed with me? Should I avoid letting it until a certain age? I usually have two cats asleep there already... I wouldn't let the puppy sleep with you until potty trained. It may wake up and potty in the bed at the middle of the night or may try to jump off the bed. Lacy slept in her crate until she was about a year old. She could have slept with me earlier than that but I was so afraid she'd jump off the bed and pee somewhere. I didn't sleep well the first couple nights she did sleep with me - I kept waking up to see if she was still on the bed. But she did just fine and has slept great with me since then. I just recommend waiting until the puppy is potty trained and old enough that you aren't worried about it falling off or jumping off the bed and hurting itself. 6. Is there a certain brand of harness that anyone can recommend? I know that I'll need a harness for walking. I use a leather step-in harness for Lacy. The harness and leash are attached as a one-piece set. It's so convienent, has held up well, and is very safe and secure. 7. Same for food - any recommended brands? Right now I'm leaning towards Innova, since I feed Innova EVO to my cats and they're all incredibly healthy and have wonderful coats. Lacy is on a raw diet. She used to eat Wellness Fish & Sweet Potato dry food before I switched her to raw over a year ago. She eats Nature's Variety Raw medallions in Rabbit and Venison. So far as Dry food, there are some good brands out there. Innova is one, Wellness, Canidae, Merrick, Nature's Variety...I tried to feed my cats Innova Evo for a while and they both ended up having severe diarhea after about six weeks so I took them off of it. My favorite canned food is Merrick - one of my cat's eats that. 8. Some friends have golden retrievers. Would it be dangerous to bring the yorkie to visit? I would wait until your puppy has had all of it's vaccinations before interacting with another dog. Lacy has played with big dogs before, including a lab that she plays pretty rough with. I would just make sure the golden retriever isn't too rough with your puppy. But yorkies are really pretty tough and think they are big so it should be okay. 9. Are there any questions I didn't ask, that I should be asking? Be sure to buy your puppy from a reputable breeder and ask the breeder lots of questions Good Luck finding your new puppy! __________________ ~Magnifique Yorkies~ Purchasing from backyard breeders, pet shops, and puppymills perpetuates the suffering of other dogs. Educate yourself and buy from reputable breeders or rescue.