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Originally Posted by Andjela  Hi Everyone!
I've been reading a lot of the discussions on this site because I'm planning on a getting a puppy soon and I'm doing lots of research! I'm also looking at other small dog breeds, but for now and for the past few years, my first choice would be a yorkie!
I went to go see a couple of my friends yorkies to be sure. The first one was super sweet! He was just a baby and all he wanted to do was cuddle. I was sold after I saw him. The second was a 4 month old and she was very aggressive, she wouldn't let anyone touch her and would growl and snap at everyone. Her owner said it was just the fact that she was 4 months old and it was the "true terrier" in her... After seeing her, I was starting to get nervous. The third yorkie I know, is now a big brother to a human baby and he's not liking it one bit. The owners are thinking of getting rid of him because he is growling and snapping at the baby. After that, I was second-guessing my decision.
Now, this will be my third dog, and both of the family dogs (English Bulldog,2, and Basset Hound, 14) are angels. I just want to verify with you guys that the above examples are not really a good representation of the breed. I want a small, cuddly, smart, playful, and friendly pup. I know these dogs live a long time and if I were to bring a baby into the family within the next 5-10 years, I want my puppy to like it too! I'm assuming if I just continue what I'm doing/did with my older dogs, my puppy will turn out great as well, but I never did this much research for my older dogs so I just feel like I'm psyching myself out.
Are your yorkies aggressive? Do they get a long with kids? Are the friendly? Is a certain gender more prone to aggression?
Thanks for your input! |
I will answer your questions momentarily. But first I would like to focus on an English Bulldog and Basset Hound, easily 10X the weight of a full adult Yorkie.
Now Yorkie puppies need a safety net, especially with much larger dogs in the home. Your future Yorkie needs to be safeguarded from the bigger dogs until and unto such time you see how all interact together. And for me my solution is an Xpen or a playpen or a crate that the Yorkie can be in, when I can't 100% supervise the interactions. It also means separate pee/poo times, and not letting your wee Yorkie run free in the backyard with either or both large dogs.
Now on temperament for Yorkies. That is a great question, and for the first part it will depend upon the temperament of the parents, and how the Yorkie puppy was raised. It is the breeders job to select stable and good temperament yorkies to breed, and then to make the effect to expose the puppies to different stimuli to help develop their temperament. And then it is your job to refine and hone their temperament.
Yorkies and very young children is not a mix I would suggest. First Yorkies are small dogs even when full grown, and young toddlers are well young and clumsy and don't have the understanding on how to behave (yet) around dogs. And we all can bump into and trip over one another, which can seriously injure a puppy or even an adult Yorkie.