Quote:
Originally Posted by newdad  a car starting startled Jake and he wrestled out of his collar and ran away. I grabbed Roxy and tried to catch up. For a moment she had wriggled out of her collar, too, and I had two dogs on the loose in an urban area. |
Thank god you got Jake back -- but I have a huge suggestion. It sounds like you are using regular dog collars on both Yorkies. If that is so, please buy well fitting harnesses for them instead. Besides making it almost impossible for the dogs to wiggle out of -- the harnesses, if they are adjusted correctly -- don't apply pressure on the Yorkies' very fragile windpipes. Recently, I had my two youngest Yorkies outside on the grass at a rest stop, where they were hunting a place to potty. Then a very loud car alarm went off, and kept going off. Thank god we had my Yorkies' harnesses and leashes on, because they would have been in the next county -- and a very unfamiliar long way from home county at that. Because of their harnesses, they both just hit the end of their leashes, and it basically clotheslined them, and threw them back my direction. Sounds harsh, but with all the pressure being applied just across the front of their chests, it caused them absolutely no harm, and I scooped them both up and comforted them while they calmed down. If it had been regular collars, I would have hate to think of the harm to their tracheas when they hit the end -- and even worse, they were so freaked I'm sure they would have slipped those collars and been long gone. All the big pet stores carry the harnesses from the tiny xx small size which have fit my pups from age 2 months to their current, almost 6 months of age. The same size fits my tiny 3 year old Yorkie - who is much smalller, at a grown weight of 3.75 lbs. These harnesses generally adjust around the body piece, the "neck/collar" piece, and sometimes on the piece that connnects between the two. You can always get a good fit -- if you buy a good harness. (They are $5 to 7 or $8 at Petsmart, I can't remember exactly.) Good luck with your Yorkie Jake, who doesn't want to be your friend right now. I totally agree with the ignore him / give him treats advice of everyone else. He'll probably be a more loyal dog to you, in the end, than you can ever imagine. These Yorkies, once they trust you, love you and dote on you like no other dog you will ever own -- at least that's certainly been my experience, and I had a lot of different breeds of dogs before I found Yorkies. Once a Yorkie owner, you can never go back to those other pedestrian breeds!!