We live in a somewhat rural area of Pennsylvania and I've sat on our deck and watched as two hawks circled the area. We have a fenced in area off the lower tier of our deck which the Yorkies use but the only time we let them out without us is when the Doberman (120 lbs) and the Jack Russell are outside with them. The doberman barks at any animal he sees approaching and he likes to chase birds. The Jack is very protective of her family and will fend off anything that approaches.
Although our females are on the large side of the standard (easier on them for breeding imho), our male is small at 4lbs. We never let him outside alone due to his small size.
I don't think I'd recover if anything happened to any of my babies. We know many breeders (including close friends of ours) that tend to see their Yorkies as a "business". To us, the Yorkies are family, that we just so happen to breed. We don't kennel them and we don't segregate them from others in the household. It makes for better socialized Yorkies in my opinion. Because of how we raise them, they aren't afraid of other animals (dogs, cats, etc) or people.
Terry Ferragame
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Terrance & Eileen Ferragame |