How do I introduce a GSD to a Yorkie?

[gemy]

Originally Posted by lpham

My brother has a German Shepherd that is 5 1/2 months old. My yorkie is 4 months old and she weighs only 3 1/2 lbs while he weighs over 50 lbs. They have the exact same amount of energy even though they are different sizes. We've had them both for about the same amount of time but when my yorkie came to me she was a tiny little puppy the size of my hand and so we did not let them get close to each other for fear the GSD would hurt her and because they were both in the process of getting all their shots.

We have tried to slowly get them acquainted with each other under supervision but letting them sniff each other and be in each others presence but after 5 minutes the GSD wants to play but it would be far too dangerous to allow that. She is terribly afraid of him and will roll onto her back in a submissive position. She is a very shy puppy when it comes to other dogs but she absolutely adores people.

My question is how do I go about getting them use to each other? I don't want her to fear other dogs. My GSD doesn't know his size and he will try to but his mouth over her head and will bite and snap if he gets too excited. Will I always have to keep them apart? I want them to become good friends without anyone getting hurt. Thanks in advance for any advice.

I have one Yorkie and 2 Black russian Terriers - these are large dogs.

On sleeping arrangements : Razzle is crated in our room, and the two blackies have free run of the bedroom.
On awakening: Everyone loves to run over to say hi to Mom be4 my feet truly hit the floor: so Razzle stays in his crate and I let the blackies out in the back yard for the morning run. Blackies come back in - Razzle goes out.
Now both Blackies are adult but our female was 7 months old when we got her and Razz at that time was only 5mths old or so.

They were not allowed to "play" together, we did walk them together one dog per owner, until Zoey was obedience trained to heel, sit, stay come etc. Now we walk all dogs I have Magic on left lead and Razzle on right Lead.

All our dogs are taught the STOP command. This means any action is stopped immediately and you freeze stay in place.

They are not allowed to run free together ; just too dangerous too risky for the Razz man - besides which our female has a "high" prey drive, makes it more risky in the heat of the fun that she might flip into a prey drive on Razz man.
The only activity other than walking on lead the three are allowed to do is swim together. and that only if my husband is around too.

Now we do feed all three at the same time in the same room, but when younger the blackies were fed first then Razzle.

Now as adults when we are home, they are allowed to be in the same room together, but almost always supervised. Each of the main rooms in our house that the dogs like to congregate in has a crate or xpen for Razz man. All three just love to be guard dogs !! Barking cessation training is a must for all dogs, but my experience is our Yorkie is the worst barker. We still are working on getting him to stop barking "immediately" when told.

That's it for now must run

[nana911]

Originally Posted by Maximo

Nana, you make an important point: serious injury can occur even with non-aggressive behavior. I'm glad your Baby was not hurt.

Yes, Bear is usually very 'dainty', he will not even push a kitchen chair aside to get to a favorite toy. But, he was not paying attention. Accidents happen, that is why they are called accidents and not 'on purposes' as Judge Judy says. So, even not playing, not being aggressive, not doing anything except 'being', it can happen, it's just a difference in size and weight issue. Not long ago there was a posting on here where an owner sat on her own dog and injured it, wasn't there? She certainly wasn't being aggressive or playing. Just can't ever ever leave them alone together, so when the accident does happen you can handle the aftermath i.e. ER vet, as quickly as possible. JMHO, YMMV.

[Maximo]

Originally Posted by nana911

Yes, Bear is usually very 'dainty', he will not even push a kitchen chair aside to get to a favorite toy. But, he was not paying attention. Accidents happen, that is why they are called accidents and not 'on purposes' as Judge Judy says. So, even not playing, not being aggressive, not doing anything except 'being', it can happen, it's just a difference in size and weight issue. Not long ago there was a posting on here where an owner sat on her own dog and injured it, wasn't there? She certainly wasn't being aggressive or playing. Just can't ever ever leave them alone together, so when the accident does happen you can handle the aftermath i.e. ER vet, as quickly as possible. JMHO, YMMV.

Yes, you are correct. I don't mean to make light of a serious issue, but I often joke that I pose enough of a danger to my dogs with my own big, fast-moving feet. Constantly have to remind myself to do the "Yorkie Shuffle" to be careful.

As I noted above, I separate my male Yorkies with xpens when they aren't supervised. There is less than a pound difference in their size, and they both are neutered and have great temperaments (not hyper). However, they do like to run fast and play hard. If no one is around to say, "Hey guys, slow down," they would probably end up swinging from the chandeliers and breaking a leg.

[Maximo]

Originally Posted by gemy

They are not allowed to run free together ; just too dangerous too risky for the Razz man - besides which our female has a "high" prey drive, makes it more risky in the heat of the fun that she might flip into a prey drive on Razz man.

I'm so glad you posted Gemy. You are one of the people I thought of to refer the OP to for advice.

In the case I cited of a YT member whose larger dog unexpectedly killed her Yorkie, the prey drive is what many YT members suspected caused the tragedy.

It's important to keep in mind that even the best pets are animals with instincts bred into them. Those instincts and certain traits aren't character flaws or unfair stereotypes conjured up by ignorant people.

[gemy]

Originally Posted by Maximo

I'm so glad you posted Gemy. You are one of the people I thought of to refer the OP to for advice.

In the case I cited of a YT member whose larger dog unexpectedly killed her Yorkie, the prey drive is what many YT members suspected caused the tragedy.

It's important to keep in mind that even the best pets are animals with instincts bred into them. Those instincts and certain traits aren't character flaws or unfair stereotypes conjured up by ignorant people.

So very true. It is a concern always with a large/small mix in your dogs. My breeder/trainer told me we need to train RAzz man from a puppy to always get out of the way. Also door training, not to rush door, to stay back when door is opened or closed. One of her breeding was inadvertently killed when owner closed door on her little puppy. I still try to do the Yorkie shuffle particularly in kitchen where all beasties like to follow me around.

The other thing the poster will need to be aware of - she has a guard breed. Once this GSD matures, dependent on their particular level of guarding instinct, this dog will always protect owner and "her" pack, which includes the Yorkie. If their Yorkie is also protective, and they walk together there may occur situations that the Yorkie either instigates, or contributes to when their two meet strange dogs.

Always stop aggressive behaviour whether it be from Yorkie to large dog or vice versa. Here it is Razzle that aggressively protects his toys, and tries to steal the big dog toys. My trainer said I must correct Razz very firmly for this, even though Magic man is very accepting of this behaviour. Actually Magic couldn't care less, he knows he's the boss But it is bad behaviour on Razz's part, and other dogs might not be so placid about it.

[nana911]

Ahhh, Maximo...the 'Yorkie Shuffle'...LOL we do that at our house as well, and when backing up you learn to step lightly and never ever put all your weight down until you know there is nothing underfoot. It truly is a lifestyle change, permanently.

[Lorrainelola]

We have 2 German Shepherds 3yrs and 10months and Yorkie Alfie who is coming up for 9 months. The german shepherds are highly trained, the older one tends to ignore Alfie even when he's humping his tail, Alfie is gay, bless him. Alfie plays for hours with the female 10months and they are all fed together. They all know their own bowls and that of the others. They sit with the bowls placed infront of them and do not touch the food until they are told "good, take it". They have learnt to live together, just as cats and dogs can live together. They live as a pack and its so lovely to see them all running together when we are out in the forest.
My hubby is training to be a dog trainer, he is a policeman. Mind you if one strats barking then they all start which can be deafening sometimes.

[KathyMiller]

I had a friend who had a rottweiler and a yorkie..........They were slowly introduced to each other. The rotty btw was a wonderful dog. Not a mean bone in her body. The rotty while "playing" decapitated the yorkie right in front of a room full of adults and children. Im sorry........this is a BAD idea. They are so little and so quick even the best dog will go into prey mode. They cant help it. Its in there psyche.

[afrye06]

When I introduced my yorkie to my friend's GSD we let them sniff each other and we make sure they were both ok with the other. They were acting super excited so we let them go, and they started running around, and playing. We had to make sure Luchi (GSD) didnt run over or pounce on Roman (yorkie) or get too rough.
They love each other! Luchi and Roman were both about 2-3 years old at the time. Luchi had never been around a dog Roman's size, but it's like he knew he couldnt play super rough. With a puppy it might be different because part of being a puppy is learning how hard you can play with something.
You should make sure that the GSD isnt too rough with the yorkie and make sure the yorkie isnt super scared. If the yorkie were to snap out of fear, that could cause the GSD to snap back and that would not be good. They didnt have much room to run around as we were in a living room, which I feel helped because Luchi couldnt run and chase Roman...i wouldnt want Luchi to think Roman was prey. They were always in site, so we could monitor what they were doing. So my experiences have gone good, but I would never let them be together unattended. It wouldnt take much for a GSD to hurt a yorkie. I hope the meeting goes well!
Here's a few pictures of Roman and Luchi playing

[afrye06]

I also want to add that while little dogs have been hurt and even killed by big dogs, it does not happen that frequently. People can't live in fear that something *might* happen. Yes, it's possible that something bad could happen, but it's not very likely.
I'm VERY over protective of my yorkies, but I love dogs of all sizes. I'm going to own big dogs one day, when I still have my yorkies. I will not let them be together without a knowledgable adult, but I plan on having both at some point. I'm not going to keep myself from owning a wonderful large breed dog just because someone has had an awful experience.

[Maximo]

Originally Posted by afrye06

I also want to add that while little dogs have been hurt and even killed by big dogs, it does not happen that frequently. People can't live in fear that something *might* happen. Yes, it's possible that something bad could happen, but it's not very likely.

May I ask your source for these statements?

When analyzing statistics to make these statements, you would also have to factor in the frequency or infrequency that 'toy' breeds have contact with certain larger breed dogs.

[afrye06]

I don't recall ever seeing a study done on this particular matter, so I cannot give you actual facts. But I work with dogs. I have ever since I was 14 when I started volunteering at a humane shelter. I know many people who own both large and small dogs, and I have not heard a horror story to the extent that some have talked about on here. In fact, I don't recall ever hearing directly from someone that their big dog killed their little dog. Sure, I've heard he said/she said kind of things, but never directly from the source. I've also never seen a dog kill another dog (little or big), but I fully understand that stuff does happen, even if it's not likely. Don't press for facts that you know no one has. All I speak is from my experiences and those of the people I meet. I'm sorry I can't give you percentages. Do you have these number somewhere? Because I'd love to know them.

[Maximo]

Originally Posted by afrye06

I don't recall ever seeing a study done on this particular matter, so I cannot give you actual facts. But I work with dogs. I have ever since I was 14 when I started volunteering at a humane shelter. I know many people who own both large and small dogs, and I have not heard a horror story to the extent that some have talked about on here. In fact, I don't recall ever hearing directly from someone that their big dog killed their little dog. Sure, I've heard he said/she said kind of things, but never directly from the source. I've also never seen a dog kill another dog (little or big), but I fully understand that stuff does happen, even if it's not likely. Don't press for facts that you know no one has. All I speak is from my experiences and those of the people I meet. I'm sorry I can't give you percentages. Do you have these number somewhere? Because I'd love to know them.

The first statement I made in this thread I indicated that many YT members own large dogs and Yorkies. I then cautioned the OP that it is a risk, especially for novices.

In this forum alone, I have read enough anecdotal evidence of personal experiences (not second hand stories) to argue against statements that large dogs (especially certain breeds) 'rarely' injure or kill small dogs, or that it is 'unlikely' to happen.

I too have a lot of experience with a wide variety of dog breeds, large and small. As I stated above, we need to remember these are animals with instincts. We can tame these instincts and shape behavior to an extent, but I believe it is unwise to think all dog breeds will live happily together.

I agree we shouldn't live in fear, but we also shouldn't be foolhardy or too idealistic.

[afrye06]

Ok, if we're both in agreement that things of this nature could happen, but that people shouldn't live in fear then why have you singled me out? I feel like you're attacking me for sharing my experiences and giving my opinion, when you you are doing just the same. No one has facts regarding this information, so all we have to talk about is experiences and opinions. However, I am willing to argue that more often than not, big dogs and little dogs are able to coexist peacefully. If you do not agree with that, then that is your opinion and you are entitled to it. I am also entitled to mine. I do not wish to take up anymore the OP's thread with your personal attacks. If you have anything else to say feel free to message me, although I'm not sure I have anything left to say to you.

[Britster]

Originally Posted by afrye06

When I introduced my yorkie to my friend's GSD we let them sniff each other and we make sure they were both ok with the other. They were acting super excited so we let them go, and they started running around, and playing. We had to make sure Luchi (GSD) didnt run over or pounce on Roman (yorkie) or get too rough.
They love each other! Luchi and Roman were both about 2-3 years old at the time. Luchi had never been around a dog Roman's size, but it's like he knew he couldnt play super rough. With a puppy it might be different because part of being a puppy is learning how hard you can play with something.
You should make sure that the GSD isnt too rough with the yorkie and make sure the yorkie isnt super scared. If the yorkie were to snap out of fear, that could cause the GSD to snap back and that would not be good. They didnt have much room to run around as we were in a living room, which I feel helped because Luchi couldnt run and chase Roman...i wouldnt want Luchi to think Roman was prey. They were always in site, so we could monitor what they were doing. So my experiences have gone good, but I would never let them be together unattended. It wouldnt take much for a GSD to hurt a yorkie. I hope the meeting goes well!
Here's a few pictures of Roman and Luchi playing

GREAT pics! What a beautiful GSD. It makes me miss my Sadie.

Jackson loves bigger dogs, and I just take each situation accordingly. The other day I went to a dog park during the day and there was barely anyone there. No dogs in small section, about 3 in big section, all 3 were mellow (1 was a Golden, the other 2 were mixes) so I asked if they were good with little dogs and owners said yes, very gentle, so we opened the gates and let them all play. I wouldn't even say play, they kind of just walked around and sniffed each other, lol.

Jackson loves my aunt's Pit Bull

YouTube- Jackson & Pit Bull, Max, at the...

and they get along great. I trust Max and I trust Jackson.

I also dogwalk a Rottie 5x a week and have begun bringing Jackson with me. The Rottie is only 14 weeks old now and they do great together, Jackson actually teaches the Rottie pup stuff, and encourages him etc.