Hi all,
Please meet Toby. He is 8 weeks old today.
I have grew up with dogs but never owned a Yorkie. I did research before hand so know a little bit but though we would join a forum to better our knowledge to help us better look after little Toby.
He is very clingy at the moment, to be expected at 8 weeks. There are a lot of sites / advice that say 8 weeks is fine, and also too young to leave their pack. I've read on here that 12 weeks is the guideline.
A bit about our first 2 days together. The first place he seen upon arival was his crate. So he ventured out into his new home from the crate, i felt this would add extra "security" to the crate for him as his first memory. The door was left open and he was free in the kitchen with toys. He goes in and out his crate already at will, which is great.
His first night alone he cried every 40minutes, the slept again in his crate. At 3am he was really giving it some beans (I had a camera in the kitchen and i could see him from my bedroom) Alarm bells started ringing and i went to get him. He slept the rest of the night with me.
I know some people will say dont go down, as you are teaching him that whining will get a response, which i understand (this is not my first puppy) but when he was giving it his all at 3 is was slightly concering. I think he needed longer with his litter / mom so i won't be leaving him alone for the next month or so.
He slept with us last night and didnt cry a single bit. He was up every few hours wanting to play but again, to be expected at his age. I'm sure he will start to sleep longer as the weeks go on.
Onto toilet training. We are only on day 2 but we have been quite consistant with this. I feed him at set times, then within 20minutes put him in his "toilet" area. He is starting to "get it" with number 2, but still has the randomness to his wee's currently. I think part of it is marking terroritry.
This morning we come down and i put him down in the kitchen, he ran straight to the pad and had a number 2, so what i'm doing is working and he is picking it up quickly.
We have his jabs / worming etc booked in today so will see how he gets on.
Any advice on food / treats / training would be great, and look forward to sharing more pictures / stories of Toby with you
