[alaskayorkie]

Ha, my favorite topic. I'm obsessed with booties for my Yorkies.

First of all, yes, they can handle short trips outside without booties on. I let mine out all the time in the backyard to do their business.

For longer walks, I would recommend booties for walking on snow. I find that, even though it can take a while to get them to tolerate them, they stay out longer on walks and don't shiver when I make them wear them.

Just be careful what kind you get. Some of the fitted "shoes" out there are not conducive to walking. All a dog needs is a fleece or water resistant sack with Velcro around the top. Fleece is easy to make, but the disadvantage is they soak up water if the snow is slushy.

I'm not sure this site makes booties small enough for Yorkies anymore, but this is the type of bootie I'm talking about: http://www.dogbooties.com/