Why my Yorkie stays inside?
 

She wants to eat everything that she finds, especially lizzards, bird poop, gets fleas, smells from the heat and has to have too many baths, can't put insecticides on the lawn because she would bring it in on her feet.
She gets a lot of exercise in the house, we play fetch, soccer, hide and seek, etc. Am I crazy???:D

I let mine out but only when I am right there with him. And he eats everything he can find! I have to take them away from him non stop.. ha ha But he loves being out there. So I just go with him and watch him like a hawk.

I was starting to think I was the only one with a yorkie that stays inside, where I live there are too many stray sickly dogs, or the people that let there big dogs run around unleashed while they are sitting inside with the door closed. Too much poop out there from people not picking it up. Little kids always want to touch my puppy with dirty hands from digging in the dirt or dumpster and I feel bad saying no or giving them a handi wipe first:eek:

I do let him go outside but only in the stroller, and he lays down and goes to sleep, or sits up looks around or plays with his toys while we stroll.

We use to sometimes sit in the breezeway, I would bring a blanket out and he would lay on it and play with toys, but I'm having second thoughts about that because someone in my apt complex dripped foul smelling liquid stuff all over & yesterday when I went to check the mail, a dog or cat took a poop full of roundworms:(

So yea we stay inside, my puppy can run around chase his toys, learn new tricks. etc..

He's more than happy to stay inside :D

Mine stay inside most of the time too. I do talk them for walks ocassionally but Coco won't walk so I end up carrying her.

No you are not crazy.

We live in the country so Onni stays inside unless one of us is able to taker out on her leash; which we do each evening so she can get some fresh air, after it cools off. But she cannot run alone; there are far to many critters that could get her if she ran off. She is trained on the wee wee pads so only does her business outside when she is out for fun.

My spoiled brats to go the door and want back inside with the air conditioning. If it is over 78 degrees inside Zoeybear starts panting.

When we lived in our apartment back in Glasgow, KY I would take Lilly out a few times a week for a breath of fresh air and she would act awful (I'd say from not being used to it :rolleyes:) and she'd try to eat leaves, rocks :eek: and whatever else she could find. Then we moved here :mad: and I hate it here! It's alllll big dogs running around who look like they have mange and only God knows what else. I think she's been outside like 2-3 times since we've lived here since February. Whenever my future father-in law was mowing our yard the other day he killed a snake :scratchhe so that pretty much ruined ANY of our plans to EVER venture outside again.

I hate it and I want so bad to move back to Glasgow into a house in the middle of nowhere so I can take her out every now and then. I know she gets bored even though I play several times throughout the day with her but she'll be alright until we move again.

KitKatJam
I notice you're from TN so I completely understand where you're coming from by being scared to take your dog outside:p!

I do have a big front enclosure that is screened in, she loves that, I can let her run around the pool and the courtyard, But, there are lizzards. Have to watch her like a hawk. Yorkies are so fast!!! I had to put bleach around the pool for stains and when I came back in, took my shoes off, opened the door, immediately said "Sit", she flew out the door and as I caught her, I slipped on the tile and fell on my right side, can't believe that I didn't break a bone.

Roxie loves to go outside. But I'm always with her. We're usually in the garage or on the driveway. There are no dogs running loose here as we have a leash law and the enforce it. If anyones dog gets loose and the police know about it it's a big fine. When I come in she follows me. One day she was out with hubby and he forgot and came in. Grrr...luckily she just sits in the garage at the door staring at it like she's wondering where we went.

Dogs need to get out and socialize, go for walks and such. We don't frequent dog parks, but we take them twice a day for walks and we have play-days twice a month with 8 other little dogs. We also take them with us most everywhere, and take them into Petco and Petsmart in the basket just to see other folks and their dogs. They love the kitties that are brought in by the shelter, but some of them don't like dogs and it gets a bit funny at times.
Speaking of walks..........it's time we go on our evening one. :)

Mine pretty much are indoors. They go out in the little fenced area but just for a couple of minutes.

That's the beauty of having a toy dog. They could live inside all the time. Mine go outside but only on the deck and for walks. A yorkie can get all the exercise he needs inside.

There are other ways to socialize a pet besides just taking them outside. Just sayin'.

Mine loves to be outside when my daughter is out there ..... she has to be chained up or she will take off ... :rolleyes:

She sniffs away for hr. sometimes ..... and kills the bugs and ants ... :eek:

Our new puppy, Trudy, is 11 weeks old. We are training her the same way we did her predecessor, Tasha. We are in the country but not far from the city. We have leash laws but they are not usually enforced in the county unless there is a complaint. Every afternoon, we walk the perimeter of the yard (2/3 acre) so that she will become familiar with what is her territory. She is usually right at my heels but when she lags behind, I call her name and whistle. This way, I am accomplishing two goals at once; territory identification and name recognition. You do have to watch what they pick up and attempt to eat but I think the payoff is worth the extra effort. Yorkies have a strong hunting instinct. I wouldn't allow one to hunt a groundhog or a cat twice their size but they become quite capable in dispatching mice, snakes and small lizards like we have in Tennessee. Hunting was one of Tasha's great joys in life. In the afternoons, she would sit in my lap on the patio; not just because she loved me but because being higher up gave her a panoramic view of her yard and any intruders that were around.

Since she was trained in the same way Trudy is being trained, she rarely ventured outside her turf and would come running when we called. I understand if you just don't have the time to do the proper training but otherwise I would be hesitant to deny your dog the joy of hunting. It is what they were originally bred for, of course. I think back to the many times that I would point out to Tasha that there was a bird or squirrel in her yard (neither of which she could catch) and watch her do her stalking thing. She was the best 6 pound hunting dog you could ask for and I'm glad that she had many happy hunts in her lifetime.


Lee aka tomatoguy

I have one that pretty much stays inside all day.. her choice

Welcome tomatoguy! I love to see my furkids be dogs too!

Took Tricksie to my sisters yesterday with her pee pad and she didn't go so I took her outside several times and when the wind blew a leaf on the ground she got shocked,investigated everything, she was funny. She is constantly hunting in the house but might only find some crumbs on the floor.

Op, I can most definitely see where you are coming from. If I had those things going on in my neighborhood I would probably do just the way you are doing. I am blessed to live in a small town that keeps tabs on stray dogs. Wish they would do something, though, about the dogs that are tied on 24/7 outside. I like to walk my dogs around dusk when it is getting cooler. That proved to be a problem the other day when one of my senior girls came in contact with a baby skunk that didn't have enough sense to run when it saw four dogs coming at it. Rosie was on a long leash, if you are wondering. After tomato juice baths and shampoo baths I still don't want to get my nose too close to her neck. Ugh!!!! My vet suggested equal parts of Dawn dishwashing liquid, baking soda, and peroxide. Then I was supposed to leave it on 10 min. Now how am I going to do that? Besides, where she smells the worst is around her nose and mouth. Anyway, OP, just wanted to let you know that I know there are hazards out there for our tiny ones---some worse than others.

Did anyone ever see the Dr. Phil episode where the woman had a small dog named Pie-Boy? Now that to me was complete extremes. The dogs feet had never felt grass or even touched concrete outside. She chewed his food for him even before he could eat it. She would sleep on the floor so he could stretch out on the bed. Now that to me is out of the norm. and doesn't compare to choosing if your baby is safer in rather then out. Your only trying to keep something tragic from happening...not sure what that woman was trying to do with poor Pie-Boy. I felt sorry for him, wasn't sure what he was to her exactly but he wasn't allowed to do anything!

Oh, yuk! I guess things were a little smelly for awhile then.:D

My Suzi stays inside . Because it is way to hot in California, and the wildfires left a blanket of smke in my area. When it cools off and the air is clear Suzi will go out more for walks and play time. She is 5 months old. :aimeeyork

I am sooo glad to hear someone else's dog eats rocks, and twigs and bugs and anything else they can find in the yard. My Misty loves it outside, but just eats anything and everything! Scares the heck out of me. I wonder why they do that? I can't leaave her out by herself at all, anthoug lately, she runs away from me and refuses to come in. Little brat!
Pat

You could always do what we did, We live on 5 acres not fenced in, and I know my babies love to go out side even if its only for 5-10 minutes. with there being lots of wild animals out here in the country, we ended up getting a very large kennel for them, It also covered and I have it sitting only three steps from my porch. this way they are out of harm and it is very safe for them and they can get out a little too. I still go out with them and I sit right on the step. but it is less stressfull to me knowing that they cant get into any thing and nothing can get to them.

My Sebastian stays inside too. He is trained to use pee pads and it works wonderfully for us. He loves his walks, but only if it isn't too hot or too cold for him.

Big hunter in a little body
 

My little girls have a small enclosure in the yard to spend time out when I can't be out with them. We put wire over the top to protect them from hawks, I have a basket I take them out in. I was taking Binky out and she jumped out of her basket and took off after a squirrel.She put it up a tree and took off after another one.I was laughing so hard I was chasing her ,she was chasing the squirrel, I'm glad no one saw us.

martini loves the outdoors she goes outside in the yard only when we are there to watch her..i wont let her out of my site..so she runs and im next to her..and when its time to come in she gets upset and pouts

Ellie stays inside almost 100% of the time except for potty breaks.
She is absolutely not allowed to hunt, period.
The most I will let her get away with is bugs and that is only when she sees a fly. I don't know if she has ever eaten one but I would hope not. Thankfully she doesn't try to eat rocks and twigs.

Hunt and then sleep with me? No.
I know Yorkies were bred to do so but now Ellie is a house dog.

And she is never allowed to go off leash unless she is fenced in.
That is how the first Yorkie I met died.
They thought they could trust her and she was hit by a car.
It just is not worth it to take that chance with any dog in my opinion.