Need a little help here, crazy yorkie
 

I have a little problem. My 9 year old daughter has an overnight guest over. Lily has been going nuts barking at her since she got her. (Which is normal for Lily to do to everyone)
I Thought, geez, can't do this all night so I slowly introduced Lily to the little girl and everything was fine for about a minute. Then the little girl starts to get up an Lily goes bizerk again. Lily is outside and the little girl is crying. What in the world do I do?

bless your heart...my Bitsy barks at children when they come over to play pretty bad sometimes so I know how you feel. Maybe you can just tell the little girl that Lily gets excited when company comes over and just keep Lily in a different area than the girls while they play.

Maybe if the girl trys playing with Lily and her favorite toy she will stop the barking.

Okay, we just tried the whole introduction thing again. Everything was fine when the little girl was sitting but immediately when she moves, Lily just loses it. I seriously think she would bite if I weren't holding her. What is the deal? This is not fun at all. Since my girls are little, I assume there will be more sleepovers and I sure hate to do this everytime. How do I give Lily an attitude adjustment and make it stick?

do you ever crate her?? i don't crate mine so I hate to tell you to crate yours but I can't think of anything else but to keep her separated from the girls so they can play. Bitsy has never bit any of the children but her bark and growl sometimes can sound like she's going to take a limb off. I guess it's better to be safe than sorry. wish I could help more!!! if I were there I could entertain Lily while you entertain the girls :D

Oh my ...that is bad if you think she will bite...just have the girls go and play and keep her right beside you on a leash, maybe that will help...I feel so bad for you and her because she sounds like she is really upset...good luck

Thanks Michelle, you are a sweetheart! No, I don't use a crate either. I think may be I will tether (sp) her to my belt loop with a lead. Only thing else I can think of. Locking her in a room would never work as my 3 year old would be 'checking' on her every 5 minutes and letting her out. Geez, it's gonna be a long night!

oh you poor thing. glad you didn't have a crate so you couldn't put her in time out....i felt bad that you might crate her and put her in "time out" after I said that :D good idea to stick her on your belt loop! Bitsy always calms down after a child is here for a little while and she see that she can't scare them off. maybe lily will calm down in a bit!

I would put her harness on and walk her where you go, or maybe try putting up a baby gate....I'm puzzled on this one..Maximus is just a LOVER..but not much of a barker at kids, he just likes to stick his tongue everywhere. Good Luck!!
Wilwee...you haf to bee qwuiet or elf momwee is gonna put war aucky weash on, just fink of me and go sweep, and pay wif your new toys..wuv u wots, Maximus

Just two suggestions for next time you have this situation occur.
They always say that when you introduce 2 strange dogs you are
suppose to introduce them on neutral ground and the same kind
of rings true with children. Lily is being protective of her environment
so next time just try to introduce the child to Lily in a place that
Lily doesn't consider her territory first. That way if she knows her she
will be more likely to accept her entering your home with out further
problems. Also never say "No" when they are behaving bad towards
a child or another animal as they associate you saying no as they
the person or animal as being bad. It actually makes sense if you
think about it...when they are going to have an accident on the floor
most people will yell out NO and that is how they finally associate that
is a bad thing and no is something we don't like. It's just something
to think about.....I can relate to your problem as I have a little Doxie
that is a fearful biter so we go through all sorts of things trying to
find things that work the best for us.

Keep this dog away from kids if you think she will bite! I suggest you see a behaviorist immediately. Barking incessently at visitors that you approve of, is a sign that your dog is out of control. Continuing to bark at children is a sign that there might be something wrong with her socialisation. She's probably defending her possetions (you, the house, your family). That may seem cute, but it's dangerous for you and the for your darling. Tell your vet about this behavior and ask for a good behaviorist.

Just introducing her to this one girl will not solve your problem, if it's true that she does this kind of thing normally. You should train her to accept children incrimentally. Just today I was doing work with Chewy for the same reason...he scared a little boy by running up to him and barking. So now every day I take him closer and closer to this playground and make him focus on me while we do sit / stay / walk on a loose lead, for bits of hot dog.

Still, if you dog is serious in her threats, then you definately need to see a behaviorist.

Thanks everyone! I do think a behaviorist might not be such a bad idea. Since my girls are young, I am sure we will have lots more overnight guests. Funny thing is, as long as the our visitor is not moving and is facing her things are fine. If she gets up to move or turns her back, it sets Lily off.

That is "hunter instinct"..... they arent going to attack when you are looking at them because you will see it coming and could either do harm to them or get away, so they wait until the "prey" is destracted to strike
just out of curiosity, do you not have many people come over????

No, we hardly ever have company. Let me rephrase that. We never have company, just the occasional salesman or delivery person.

My dogs are the same way Lilysmom. They wont bite but they bark excessively at strangers. Chachi is the worst and sometimes we just have to put him up in our room if he keeps it up. We also get them to quit barking by squirting them with a squirt gun.

This is horrible. I am about to cry. Thank goodness my husband isn't here. He doesn't share my love of dogs. He likes them but thinks they have to be totally submissive to everyone. When he hears about this, he will make me get rid of her. I can hear it now, " I ain't gonna have no G** D*** mean dog around." Not a good night!

has this little girl given her a treat???? she needs to associate strangers with "happy things"

:eek: Sounds like he wants EVERYONE submissive. A dog is a commitment and a family member. You don't turn your back on those things, and no offense intended but I gotta say a real man wouldn't. Don't let him MAKE you do anything of the sort. You are woman, hear you roar and whatnot.

Don't cry, and don't make too big a deal of it in front of him. Men are like many other types on animal, we take our cues on how to behave from our owners. In this case, let him see in your eyes that this is like any other vet's visit (or tell him it's an opportunity to get your dog to stop doing something that annoys him).

I think he should be pleased as punch to get this "taken care of" neat and tidy. Maybe my advice is a transgretion into the presonal and away from dog training. Did I mention that I also offer man-training? ( :D )

Anyway, if this is over the top, please disreagard me. I have spent too many hours alone with poor Chewy the 'project dog'. My social skills are minimal.

I'd put Lily in a seperate room. Sure, it isn't fair to her but you don't want the little girl to go home and tell her mom that you have a mean yorkie. If it's just for one night, I would do it. You don't want it to get around about Lily cause your daughter may not have many more friends that would want to come over.

btw...I'm not saying AT ALL that Lily is mean...but to that little girl, she may seem to be.

Okay I'm sending my man to you!!!!!!!!

Sweetie please dont cry..

Things will work out, I agree dont make a big deal about it around your hubby..

Take a deep breath and will all get you through this. but I do agree with behavioural training.

Hang in there girl :) :) :) :) :) :)

Okay, remarkably we seemed to have turned a corner all the sudden. I sat in front of Tori (our overnight guest) for a long time with Lily tethered to me. The girls were playing a game so it wasn't like I was punishing them making them sit still. If Tori moved to quickly Lily was very skiddish and would lunge. Then I have Tori feed her some yummy treats. Then I had her pet Lily and leave the room. We did this several times and Lily began to warm up a bit. Then Tori asked me to let her loose. Tori then laid down on my daughters bed and Lily snuggled up to her. Now she is jumping up grabing the back of her pj's which seems aggressive but is actually how she plays with my youngest daughter every single night. So I think it is quite remarkable that she is now showing Tori the same affection as my child.
(My daughter sees this as annoying and not affectionate, haha) Anyway, sorry to go on but just one more thing. It occured to me that the only people that she doesn't really know that handles her aren't that nice to her. I am referring to her groomer and vet. I don't think they are neccessarily mean, but I am sure she does. So could it be she just is scared and untrusting?

Sure..that's typically labeled "fear agression". It's still a good reason to see a behaviorist. I'm glad you got past this one thing here, but I think you still need to make sure your sweety is not so scared all the time and in danger from her own actions to strangers.

I agree 110%. I have been looking behaviorist up for the last few hours. Come Monday, I will be getting a hold of someone for some puppy therapy.