I posted last week that I had a Yorkie that I was "given" that some people had found wandering around the desert.
The little guy was starving, matted and scared. He's not neutered. The lady who found him cleaned him up and fed him and then started looking for someone to take him. I said I would and would try to find his real owners. I have not been successful at that unfortunately. I would think that someone would be searching for him everywhere they could, but I've looked, called and emailed every ad for a lost male yorkie from the Los Angeles area or NV or AZ that I could find. Had a couple here in the LA area that were "maybes" but then when we realized the ears were different, they were ruled out.
He is such a sweet loving little dog. It just breaks my heart to think of him wandering around a strange place with nothing to eat and not knowing where to find anything, and being scared to go to sleep at night b/c he's so small and vulnerable.
Every day that he's here, he gets even better. He follows me everywhere. He's learned from Max the "proper Yorkie greeting" when I come home from anywhere~ race to the door like mad, jump up and down and yelp, run around in circles until you're picked up and then lick the lips all over til I put them down
. He is sleeping better thru the night, he's fallen into the daily routine here and sleeps next to the chair in the office while I'm working. He and Max are playing together now in the house and out on the lawn. Last night he actually crawled up and slept right next to me (he'd been sleeping at the very end of the bed or he'd get up and sleep in the little bed I have next to our bed (which Max never uses) or he'd go into the office and just wander back and forth between the bedroom and the office. He has picked up a couple of toys but he's obviously never had toys to play with. He's not sure what to do with them and the squeaky ones that Max likes so much, scare him! He knows to "stay" pretty well, and he knows what "NO!" means. He doesn't really potty in the house but he DOES mark, and it's causing Max to start lifting his leg too (but I usually catch him and it goes right back down, LOL). He has had a couple of poop "accidents" in the house, but they were usually in the middle of the night, so it's not anything worse than what Max has done on occasion. I keep the doors open a lot of the day or am pretty conscientious about opening up the doors often for them to go out if they need/want to, and he seems to be at least, pretty well housetrained. Funny that the little guy will scratch on a door to get inside but not to go out (unless I'm outside and he's inside).
My husband is not pleased that he's here. I'm praying that with a little time (and the dog jumping up loving him) he'll fall in love with the dog, but dh is home only on the weekends, so it's hard. And if he had any idea how much he's been marking (I clean it up ASAP so he won't see it when he's home), and the fact that Max is picking up a bad habit, he would be MOST unhappy. He's already told me I can't keep him (which I told him that would be MY decision not his). My sister says she would take him, and I know she'd give him a good home, but she's really too busy for him....although I know if I asked her pointedly if she'd give him the time and attention he needs, she'd be honest with me. I would like to keep him just b/c he's so sweet and I think he's a good companion for Max.
So, I need some guidance here from you all, b/c so many people have such a lot more experience with dogs than I have had.
1. Regarding the marking in the house: Can you train them NOT to do that? I know that sometimes once they're neutered it will at least calm it down. Is that true, or have you had that experience? Is there anything I can do to at least quell it somewhat in the meantime? I am considering belly bands, but would love to be able to train him not to do it.
2. OR...is it an issue of having 2 males in the same house? I can see when they're outside, they just keep peeing over each other's wherever they just peed
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2. Since I have no idea about what shots he's ever had, what should I do about that? The main reason I ask is b/c I intend to have him neutered in the next few weeks, and I would imagine they have to be current on vaccinations to have that done. Which vaccinations/shots should he get?
I just need a little bit of support. My dh is very NON supportive in this and it makes me feel bad. But, he's kind of that way with ANY change in his environment until he sees that it's not going to cause him any angst.
This little guy was brought into my life for a reason and I can't ignore that or just give him away to "just anyone". I don't ever want anything bad to happen to him again and I never want him to be scared or cold or lonely or hungry.