[JadeD]

I have had my 9 year old Yorkie for 6 weeks. I got him very unexpectedly, very suddenly.

I expected a 9 year old dog to come with some quirks/strange habits.

Teek is extremely intelligent. When his water dish is empty he paws at it to get my attention.

I have an 80 lb dog as well and he gets fed twice a day and he eats all his food at each setting. The Yorkie is fed in a separate location and has food available all day.

All day long Teek paws at the other dog's dish because it is empty. Is this to tell me that his pal needs food? Is he just doing it because it is an empty dish? Teek knows where his food is in the other room and eats it regularly throughout the day, so I don't think he is telling me he is hungry.

I have thought about just putting the other dish up somewhere between feedings, but I am still trying to figure this behavior out. It only started a few days ago, about the same time the bigger dog let Teek sneak into his dish while he was eating from it and steal a piece of his food. I think they are becoming good buddies. Now Teek tells me 20 times a day that the other dish is empty.

I don't know if it is a quirk (This guy has a few of them) or if he actually wants something. He kept making me follow him into the kitchen all weekend so he could show me that the food dish was empty.

He does other strange things. He does not like to walk on grass and would rather poop on the sidewalk than go in the grass. He likes to walk right on the edge of the sidewalk where I worry he will fall into the road. He is a strange one, but we love him and think he is wonderful even with his silly quirks.