Hi there. Your bad boy is adorable! I love his colors. I wanted to inform you of a great meet up club in Austin,TX. http://www.meetup.com/The-Austin-Yorkshire-Terrier-Meetup-Group/ They are very active & friendly. They all have lots of knowledge and ideas about caring for their dogs. I moved from WA to TX (San Antonio area) and yes there are so many strong strands of parasite and diseases here. You need to get your dog to vet and take the extra precautions. After my first 3months of living here, I lost 2 or 3 yorkies girls in a weekend to parvo Later I learned that parvovirus and all kinds of worms are very common here in TX and you will need to have your dog EXTRA guarded. Now my dogs all have NEO PAR and NEO VAC and a heartworm prevent med. It's very important. Find a reasonable Vet if you don't do shots yourself and keep all your appts. Good luck to you. Our San Antonio Meetup group link: http://www.meetup.com/Greater-San-Antonio-Yorkshire-Terriers-Club
also check our Yorkshire Terriers Club.
www.greatersaytc.org