Can Yorkies detect illness in a person?
 

My little Millhouse has been by my side all day. I have this bad head cold and I have been in bed most of the day. He hasn't left my side and cuddles up next to me, licks my hand or face from time to time. When I go to the kitchen he follows me really closely. Usually he runs to the living room. I walk back to my room and lay down and he lays right back down. Does he know I am not feeling well? I have really enjoyed his company as we sit and watch tv or take long naps together.

Yes they can. Especially from what I've read on here...when yorkie mommy's are sick, they almost never leave their sides. Kaos is especially in-tune to me. From my breathing pattern, all the way to anxiety levels. He knows when I need a snuggle buddy all day, and he is always happy to comply. :p

Can Yorkies detect illnes in a person?
 

A couple of years ago I had a litter of yorkies and only had 2 left a boy and a girl. I was going to sell them but at the time I became sick. The boy Little Man would not leave me. He was constantly by my side and to this day has not left my side because I have not gotten back to where I was before all the sickness kicked in.

I found someone to take the little girl but no one wanted him and he was approaching 6 months old. My husband told to keep him that he would not make it somewhere else because he was to worried and concerned over me. I felt like I was doing him a diservice by not getting him with someone that was more able bodied that I was at the time.

He is still with me by my side constantly, sleeps with his head on my heart and never leaves me at night. During the day he is there not underfoot he knows I have difficulty moving around. He sits under my chair when I am hurting but will put his paws on my leg and tap me as if to ask me if I am ok. If I lay down due to the pain he is right there and will come up and give me a little kiss about every 10 minutes.

He is the best nurse ever and I have to say the best medicine too.

That is a truly wonderful story - I'm just so sorry, for your sake, for the circumstances. Thank goodness you have him :)

And yes, I'm sure dogs in general (and possibly all animals) can detect illness in humans. I can remember our labrador sniffing away at my dad's mouth (she didn't do that to anyone else). A while later he was diagnosed with diabetes - I think she could smell the change.

Brilliant in every way, aren't they?! Sally + Harry x

They absolutely can!
 

Whenever I have a bad migraine that relegates me to bed all day, Rocco will not leave his bed (right next to mine) unless it's to follow me to wherever I go. Amazingly, if I feel ok enough to sleep on the couch (with him :)) during a migraine, he licks my forehead on the side of the headache about every 1/2 hour.

Once he did this at night when I didn't have a headache, so I started to discount my belief. But lo and behold, I woke up in the middle of the night with an excruciating migraine exactly where he had been licking.

Amazing - they never cease to amaze me :)

I was in a shop with my mum the other day and there was a lady in there with a Jack Russell. I was on the floor stroking him, and suddenly the dog stopped me doing that, went up to his mistress, and started pawing and pushing at her.

She immediately laid down on the floor - right there. Apparently she was about to have an epileptic seizure and he always knew when one was about to happen, and made her lay down in time so that she didn't fall down. Incredible :) Sally + Harry x

There is no doubt in my mind that dogs in general and small dogs that live their lives very close to their humans in particular can detect illnesses in their humans. Dogs communicate by body language which involves sight, smell, touch. They can tell by differences in our scent and demeanor.

When I was healing from burn injuries Suzi would not leave my side , she was always next to me , day and night. It was very comforting to have her there right at my bedside. SOmehow she knew all was not right. I never told her to lay next to me or stay with me, she would always do that on her own. From my experience dogs can sense something and feel it when we are not well or at our 100%.
Suzi is a dog who is highly energetic, for her to stay right next to me was amazing. Even now that I am healed she will lick at my scars over and over again , I do not know how she realizes this once was a injury , but she does . I let her lick on my arms , it is comforting to know she will always be at my side and try to make me feel whole again.

They are so smart and love us so much, its no wonder that we all are a bit ga ga over them :)

I would love to see Jenna registered as a service dog because she definitely can read my current mood and knows when I'm unwell. And I think it goes for my cats too. Whenever I or my husband are coming down with something or feeling sick already, the cats won't leave us alone. They can be more clingy than usual and my boy cat will keep reaching out to touch our faces...it's so sweet.
I've had cancer so I think I'd become concerned if Jenna began pawing at my left side where the tumor was removed. 0_0

I believe they can> A few years ago my mother and sister and I visited a Wolf Sanctuary. While we were there one of the wolves approached my mother and put one of his paws on her shoulder. These wolves were very large so it was a little alarming for my mother. The owner of the sanctuary asked my mother if she had been having any problems with that shoulder............in fact my mother had been in quite a lot of pain with that shoulder. The owner explained to us that the wolf sensed my mothers pain and was trying to heal her injury!!!! It was an awesome experience!!!! :)

Yes!

Illness & emotions.

Dogs (animals but especially our close companions) are more in tune with us than we really know.

My super friendly shy Elvis became a psycho killer guard dog over me & our house when I was pregnant-Scooters comes & gets me just before Elvis has a seizure, how odd is that-no training what so ever.


Wow your little guy looks so much like my Scoobers as a pup!

ABSOLUTELY! A beloved friend who has fought cancer for several years, was declared "No Evidence of Disease" at one point. Of course, we praised God for the miracle. Unfortunately, one of her yorkies knew before the doctors did that "it" was back :( .

I believe dogs (Yorkies particulary) can sense things. I took Macy to a nursing home with an obedience group to entertain the residents. Macy immediately ran over to a man in a wheel chair and laid at his feet with her head resting on his shoe. I couldn't get her to come to me so I had to go over and get her. None of the other dogs sensed anything different about this man. A few days later the man passed away. It gave me an odd feeling at the time when I saw her laying at the man's feet because that is so unlike her. If this happens again, I will know what may be in the future.

I believe animals have very smart senses about a lot of things...they know who likes them from the beginning, i have never been around a dog that wouldn't come to me, but they sense my love for them..

To bad humans can't equal them in the love dept. :D the divorce rate would be much lower

I most definitely believe that animals 'sense' things, and not just human ailments, which they do seem to sense. They also seem to recognize the babies of other species, and treat them as babies, even taking care of them and teaching them. Females of many species take the infants of other species and nurse them like they were their own.

Our late, non-barker, 120 lb. Shepherd/Lab mix saved a 3-month-old kitten's life by barking and leading me through the house, until I finally found the kitten bouncing up and down in a deep 'garden' bathtub we'd filled...we had 4 hurricanes in Florida in 2004. The kitten couldn't stand on the bottom of the tub with his head above water even on its hind legs, so he was sinking, and bouncing up, catching a breath and sinking under the cold again. Ziggy had somehow heard the gentle slapping of the water or something because the kitten was not making any noise whatsoever, and he did not stop barking until I rescued the kitten. We are not sure how the kitten got into the tub because we were still building the bathroom and when the hurricanes started, we just filled the tub with water, and blocked it off...or so we thought...from the kittens since they were so small.

Another Shepherd/Lab mix put herself between me and a (bad) Golden Lab that was coming to attack me. The owners knew the dog was bad, and were supposed to have put the dog down months earlier...but didn't and it got out again.

I knew a lady who said her three (3) little doggies kept pawing and scratching at her chest, and she thought it was too odd so went to the doctor where he found she had breast cancer. She'd been having regular negative exams and mammograms, but the doggies knew about the problem.

Oh yeah...they know! I believe it is impossible to convince me otherwise...I have just seen too much of 'untrained' animals helping other animals and humans. In fact, I saw a YouTube video where one dog pulls another dog that has been hit by a car off a very busy highway.

Aren't our animals friends/babies great? ;-)

They are so smart :thumbup:

I really think animals have senses that we just don't have. I saw Dateline or something similar, and this woman had devastating seizures - the kind where you can't leave the house safely. She had become so isolated. Then she was paired w/ a Golden service dog - the doggie could alert her up to 45mins before the seizure - - so then she could get herself to a safe place.

That is just awesome! :)

i have diabetes and i have been sick since Christmas had been doing good so i over did it my lil one has not left me since monday as i sit here typing this she is in my lap she has gotten me up 3 times this week in the middle of the night and hubby once to check on me all 4 times i was having a low blood sugar she is 28 months old and has never had any training she was 15 weeks old when i got her with in a week of getting her she was waking me up the man i got her from also had diabetes not sure if that has anything to do with it or not all i know is yes she knows when i'm sick

I know they do. I have a new girl Abbie that sleeps on my pillow at night. I was diagnosed with small vessel ischemia in my brain. Which is basically my veins in my brain are too small for enough blood to get through causing me Migraines. I had taken Verapamil from 2005 til 2010 My Dr. took me off of them. For an entire year I didn't have Migraines just small headaches. Around the middle of this year the Migraines started back up. Abbie came to my home at the End of November and at night when my headaches would start she would start licking the top of my head. After the first couple of times I started to understand she was warning me that I was getting a headache. Now when she does this I can get up and take aleve and i don't get a headache or a migraine.