Help my yorkie is out of control!
 

We bought Tallulah (6 years old) last December from a really nice family. The only thing is she was allowed to do whatever she wanted! Now she is a spoiled pampered pooch! She bites me when I try to discipline her for peeing on our carpet, she pees all over the house- even though we were told she was pad trained, and she bites at my 6 year old son when he tries to play with her. She also pulls on her leash and is totally unruly when we try to walk her and she sits at the window and barks endlessly at people and other animals walking by. She sits on our furniture whenever and wherever she wants and she refuses to sleep anywhere but on me and my husbands bed. If we put her somewhere else she barks all night and if we close the door she scratches at it all night. We have thought that maybe we are just not the right home for her but we love her so much and don't want to give her up unless we absolutely have to. But to be honest she is controlling us and everything in our home. I don't know what do. Any suggestions???:(

Please get the book by Tamar Geller called The Loved Dog. I can't say enough about this book. It will change your life. There is a video too and you can get both at Pet Smart or Chapters/Indigo. Go too Tamar Gellers website for more info. She has done so much to help dogs just like yours.

I love your dog's name BTW.

Sounds like you just need to let her know who is in control. You need to display leadership to this dog because currently.... she's ruling your house.

She bites me when I try to discipline her for peeing on our carpet, she pees all over the house
Don't allow her to do that to you. Do NOT back down from her. When she is biting you, I would walk forward to her, or you can close her mouth shut with your hands. In general, when a dog is nipping/biting, people will back away but really you should move forward, and show her you're not scared of her. As for the peeing, treat her like a puppy again. Get an ex-pen of some sort or gate off a certain area in the house where you can watch her all the time... begin taking her outside (or on the pad) every hour to go and praise her like crazy and treat when she goes where she's supposed to. Is it possible for you to outdoor train her? I personally find many more housebreaking issues with dogs who are pad-trained. I believe in no pee/poop in the house EVER so the pads were a no go in this household.

She also pulls on her leash and is totally unruly when we try to walk her and she sits at the window
I totally suggest the Premier Easy Walk or Premier Gentle Leader harness. The d-ring is on the front of the harness rather than the back so it gently guides them in the correct direction. Often times when the harness is on the back, it brings out the "sleigh dog" in them and makes them pull even harder. If you have a retractable leash, I say get rid of it. If your dogs can't walk properly, those things are terrible. Just get a regular short Nylon leash. Practice the walk. Make her walk behind you or beside you or you're not going to move forward. She needs to look at YOU as her leader and do not allow her to lead you all over the place.

barks endlessly at people and other animals walking by.
Try pennies in a can method. Get an empty can, fill it with coins, and every time she barks.... shake it and say "Quiet!" They generally don't like the noise and if you do it enough, they will know to stop barking when you say Quiet. If that doesn't work, you can always try a squirt bottle. Just a quick squirt (try not to let her see where the squirt is coming from) and tell her to hush. If she's barking at other animals and people when you're outside walking and don't want to use the can - try to calmly just redirect her to the other direction. When she begins barking like that, simply walk the other way. When she barks, she does not get to continue walking.

She sits on our furniture whenever and wherever she wants and she refuses to sleep anywhere but on me and my husbands bed.
If you don't want her on your furniture at all, you need to make that clear. I fully believe that it's either no furniture at all or yes to furniture. It seems like it'd be too confusing for them to sometimes be allowed and sometimes not. So if you don't want her on it, every single time she jumps on the couch, pick her up and put her on the floor. It's going to take a LONG time but if you continue doing it every single time, she will get the idea eventually. Maybe even treat her when she stays on the floor voluntarily. If you don't want her on the bed, unfortunately, you're going to have to listen to her whine, cry, scratch. Get a crate or an ex-pen for her to sleep in. She's definitely going to cry because she's used to sleeping in the bed.... so you're gonna have to deal with it and not give in to her.

I HIGHLY recommend for you to watch Cesar Millan's show The Dog Whisperer on National Geographic Channel, every day at 2pm, and new shows on Friday nights at 8 or 9pm. Also, Victoria Stillwell has a show "It's Me or the Dog" on Animal Planet, it comes on every morning and Saturday's. GREAT trainers, two different methods but you can get some wonderful ideas from them.

Why did the first family give her up? You say they were nice, how do you know?

How did she handle things when she first came in?

Did the other family have children? If yes, how old?

Is she spayed?

Do you have other dogs?

What do you mean by discipline?

What does she do to your six year old?

Having worked with rescue yorkies (that bite people) your little girl sounds very fear aggressive and the worse thing you could do is challenge her. She will continue to bite and you will have to put her down. I do not agree with Milan's treatment of dogs at all but especially with a red zone Yorkie.

Great questions to ask.

From what she posted, it just sounds like the dog is spoiled though, so that was my take on what she should do. Just because a dog bites does not mean you HAVE to put them down. That's kind of misleading.

To me, it sounds as if the dog has been spoiled it's whole life, given everything she wanted, and has no rules, boundaries or limitations. It's always harder to train an older dog who already has these ideas engraved in their head that they're the boss.

hi there, when it comes to training methods, it's always a matter of opinion. I would suggest trying to ignore absolutely everything you do not want her to do. That, unfortunately, means letting her bark without you disciplining her or (in my opinion) not even shaking a can of pennies at her. Dogs do things for attention, even if it means getting negative attention like a "quiet" or "shhh". You could even try leaving the room the minute she starts to bark, and do not go back in until she stops. That would make her understand that barking wont get her any sort of attention. Because she IS older this will probably be more of a challenge and definitely frustrating. If that's the case i would suggest finding a great trainer in the area that focus's on positive reinforcement or natural dog training.

It could also be related to how much exercise she is getting. Try running around with her a lot before you go to sleep so that she's already tired. Then, again this will be hard, keep her on the floor of your bedroom with her crate and toys etc...and no matter how long she barks do not look at her, talk to her, "shh" her, or let her up on your bed. Eventually she will go to sleep. Letting a Yorkie sleep on your bed is the perfect way for them to develop small dog syndrome and become overly clingy!

Good luck!

oh also (oops!) when you ignore all her bad behaviors, it means you have to reward all the behaviors you like!!!! Times 100! If she is sitting quietly, praise her!!

I don't think anyone can tell from the short post what is really going on with this dog and unless you have dealt with a Yorkie who bites you must be very careful with the advise. This is why I asked the questions to see what is happening.

My comment about putting down is not misleading if you understand rescue...most rescue's will not take a biter period as they could be sued and if you tell animal control, humane society etc they will put the dog down also. This person posted she might have to give the dog up. This is a big problem and I ended up with 3 yorkies that bite people/children and I had to adopt them myself because our rescue could have been sued if we adopted them out. The humane society would call me as last resort and if I didn't take them then they were going to be put down. Even no kill shelters will put a dog down for biting.

Whenever she does something bad, you should said eh-eh in a high pitched stern tone, and when she does something right, give her chicken!:aimeeyork

Great questions, and I am especially interested in what you mean by discipline. Also, some 6 year olds handle a dog too roughly, and they are just defending themselves. She may be pee pad trained, but unless you clean up any accidents with an enzyme cleaner, she will be compelled to return to those spots. Spoiled dogs, like spoiled children misbehave because they don't understand the rules and boundaries, and most of the time, they are running scared. Have you thought of going to a trainer? I think you might need more help than we can offer in this thread. Learning a few basic principles can put you back in charge, and you will never have to discipline with any type of physical force because this does tend to cause the dog to become more aggressive. A dog needs to feel safe first.

I'm sorry; I didn't read that she was considering giving the dog away. I must have skipped over that. You're right, a biter will for sure be put down before any other animals. I do have some experience with rescue (not as much as you) as I volunteer at a shelter close to my house for the past year in a half but in general, they get the "good" dogs if you will who just need basic training and obedience.

I highly recommend hiring a professional trainer though if you can't handle it on your own!

Everyone has made really good points here. I appreciate the advice. I want to take time to answer these questions because I think they are important.

Why did the first family give her up? You say they were nice, how do you know?
Her previous owner bought her as a puppy and had her until she was 5. They say they had to give her up because they were moving and could not bring her with them. I think honestly they gave her up becasue they couldnt afford her anymore. The lady was a single lady with three kids going through a difficult divorce and she was very financially strapped and needed the money from Tallulahs sale for christmas presents for her kids. I assume they were nice. I met them twice (the owner and her three kids) and I have kept in contact with them and corresponded through e-mail regarding Tallulah. One of the stipulations of rehoming Tallulah is that we were willing to send updates with pictures of how Tallulah was doing.We agreed to that with no objections. She also told us she turned down some other families becuase they did not seem like a right fit. I am just assuming they are a nice family based on their dedication to find a great home for Tallulah and based on the two times we have met.

How did she handle things when she first came in?
When she first came to our house she was a little nervous. She walked around sniffing a lot and just followed us around. She was very calm other than her pacing around a little. We did show her around the house and showed her where her pee pads would be and everything. But from dy one she just naturally sat on our couch and slept in our bed. I did speak to her previous owner and she was allowed to do all those things at their house.

Did the other family have children? If yes, how old?
Her previous owner had three kids, two teenagers and one preteen. They seemed like nice kids. They shared some stories about them and Tallulah with us that made me think they had a really good relationship with her and they were sad to see her go.

Is she spayed?
She wasnt when we got her becasue they thought about breeding her one day and then never got around to getting her spayed. We however, got her spayed shortly after we got her. That was done a about 4 months ago.I have not noticed any behavior changes since the procedure either.

Do you have other dogs?
Tallulah is our only pet, however we use to have another dog living in our home. She may be able to smell him still but she doesnt pee in the same spot he peed in.

What do you mean by discipline?
I mean she was never trained or redirected from bad behavior. Her previous owner would swat her nose. The first time we met with the owner and Tallulah, Tallulah nipped at our six year old son. The owner swatted her nose and held her mouth shut. She said she had never seen her to that before and she didnt know why she would try to bite him. I guess we should have taking it more seriously.


What does she do to your six year old?
I have two sons, a six year old and a two year old. The two year old doesnt pay Tallulah any attention. He doesnt bother her at all. My six year old is obssessed with Tallulah and tries to hug her all the time. He likes to hold her and kiss her and pet her all day long! Tallulah has been very patient with him. Sometimes he tries to get her to play and she will nip at him when she is playing. On three occasions she has actually tried to full force bite him when he is hugging her or annoying her. The first time was the first day we met Tallulah with her owner. That day my six year old just went close to her and she tried to bite him.(The owner said that maybe Talulah felt threatened since the previous day her nephew who was 4 had visited and he was particularly rough and mean to Tallulah and maybe she was just feeling uneasy around kids his age). The other two times my son was playing too rough with her and she got upset. We have been working with our son to undertsand that its not okay to be rough with Tallulah AT ALL! He is getting better with that and since Tallulah has not bitten him, except for nipping when they are playing together.

I dont think tallulah is an aggressive dog. She does not bite strangers she just barks her head off until they get close enough for her to lick and jump on.The times she has bitten were times when she got in trouble and I swatted her nose or when she had just done something bad and ran away and hid. Or when my son is too rough with her. She seems to bite only when she feels threatend (or when she is protecting someone- she use to bite people if they came near me when I was sleeping but we got rid of that habit). From my perspective she is just a spoiled dog. I do know that her previous owner babied her a lot. I was told that they treated her like their little baby. Tallulah slept with all of them in their beds, she sat on all the furniture, she was allowed all over the house anywhere she chose whenever she wanted. There were very few boundaries and very few rules for Tallulah to follow. Now she is at our house and it just doesnt work for her to do whatever she wants and she doesnt like that. I dont think she really understands who is in charge. I have seen aggressive dogs before and Talluah does not strike me as aggressive so I have no thoughts of putting her down. Of course I do understand the risk of her biting even once, and especially a child at that.

My husband and I are really looking into some good training methods because we really dont want to give her up. To be honest we really just dont know enough about how to properly train a dog. So we are working on it.

Great post!!:thumbup::thumbup:

First of all that was an excellent reply and it gives me a clearer understanding of some of the problems, if you take a step back, I think you have really answered some of your questions. There's a difference between spoiling and pampering a dog. Spoiled dogs, act like they have run of the house, but actually they are running scared, pampered dogs, on the other hand, are treated well, but they understand their place, and are happy knowing that the human is in charge. I believe a dog must never be hit, the hands should only be used for good things, never bad things, a dog equates your hands with your mouth, when you hit him he thinks you are biting and bites back, you can beat a dog into submission, but is this what you want? A dog can learn to be submissive, but he must feel protected and safe. You dog must learn that you and all family members are the boss, but you will also need to teach you son, that he can not handle the dog too much. How would he like it if someone just wanted to hug and kiss him all day long? There are other things a dog would like to with him besides hugging and kissing. I like some of the Dog Whisper's training techniques, and it's his belief that a dog needs, exercise, discipline, and affection, in that order. He's say that humans just want to give affection and forget that a dog doesn't want to be held and loved all day. Like humans, a dog need his space, and maybe you could create a quiet safe area for your dog such as a kennel where he can go when he feels anxious, but this should not be used as punishment. You can get your dog use to a kennel, but taking him for a good walk, and placing him in the kennel, he'll be tired, and probably won't protest too much. If he really doesn't like it I would only leave him in it about 5 minutes the first time, and try not to take him out when he's barking, but take him out after he quiets down. Do this every day for several weeks, and increase the time he's in the kennel, don't let your son disturb him in the kennel that's his place. You need to learn the proper way to take a dog for a walk, and teach this to your son, walking is a very important part of a dog's life and they feel like they are part of a pack when you walk together. There are many websites that explain the proper walking techniques.

Discipline can involve various training methods from potty training to trick training to guest greeting. You need an approach for each problem, but it should never involve physical force. Potty training is best accomplished by ignoring the mistakes, (and cleaning them up with an enzyme cleaner), and praising the successes. If you want to train to go outside, this is best accomplished through crate training. Other ways to establish yourself as a pack leader are to make your dog sit, before food is given. Your dog should learn that all good things come through humans. It's very easy to teach this, and pick up the bowl if he moves toward it before you give the release command. I use pennies in a can for barking, I just say no and shake the can, you have to do this repeatedly and consistently for a while, but it does work. You shouldn't scream or get agitated as this makes them more agitated, so don't scream at the dog, saying, "ugh ugh" in a firm voice when they do something wrong has been said to be effective. You need to also teach your son a proper way to discipline, and I would have him learn to say "ugh ugh" in a firm voice, but only use it when the dog behavior is really bad, not just when he wants to boss the dog. For example, if the dog bites, he should say "ugh ugh" in a firm voice and put the dog down. So much of this training will involve training your son, that's why I think you might be able to use the advice of a professional trainer who will also be able to explain these things to your son.

My dog Joey is a really good boy, and has never bitten anyone, but I think if a child handled him too much or was annoying him, he'd bite too, I think much of the problem is with your son, but you need to teach him in a careful way, so that he doesn't think you love the dog more and becomes jealous of the dog. I just wanted to add that since I did recommend the Dog Whisperer, I should qualify that and say, I love his intuitive knowledge of a dogs psyche and their needs, and I love the fact that he makes you understand that dogs need calm assertive behavior, not aggressive nor passive behavior. Assertiveness is a useful skill to learn in life with humans as well as dogs, you don't step on anyone's toes, neither do you allow them to step on yours. However, his programs sometimes show controversial training techniques that should only be done by an experienced professional. Unfortunately, people see some of these things, and think they are a quick fix, and if not done right could cause more harm than good. You do not have to use techniques that were meant as the last resort for aggressive dogs, as you said yourself, this dog isn't aggressive, it's just defending himself. I wish you best of luck, learning to have a well trained and disciplined dog is extremely rewarding.

Read everything you can , ceasar offers some good advice about showing the dog you are the boss. I think once youve achieved that you are going to have a loving faithful friend for life for you and your family.
You can do it,if your husband and your family stick together on the training you will have a different dog.Keep us posted.:D

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I believe your little girl is showing classic fear aggression because of being hit and by the children in the home. This is very serious and I don't want to see your son hurt but I think you need to bring in an expert as you do not have the knowledge base to help your little girl. You are very lucky as the University as a department to help you or could direct you to someone even closer to your home. I feel very strongly that you just can't open the yellow pages and get a trainer as anyone can train dogs and they can do even more damage with your little girl. I believe you need a Board-Certified Veterinary Behaviorist which the University has.

Please do not try the dominant theory with her or you will do even more damage to her. She is scared out of her mind and she attacks because of this. Sorry but not all Yorkies like children and also she is now on her second home so you will need patience to alleviate her fears.

I think you can turn her around but it will take patience and postive training.

Animal Behavior Services - CVM - Veterinary Medical Clinic, University of Minnesota

Solid Solutions
With many dogs you can develop a great foundation for avoiding and working through behavior issues through training class and practice, daily grooming, diligent veterinary attention, and good management structure in the home. It takes time, knowledge, skill and effort to learn and to do these things, though, and some dogs are just “problem children,” no matter what you do! The experts stay busy helping us with our dogs for good reasons!
Your regular veterinarian is the best resource to keep your dog’s health care in great shape and to help you figure out where to find the other expertise you need for your dog. A veterinary behavior specialist may be further away, but well worth the travel for an aggression problem, a dog who is obviously suffering from anxiety, or any other situation that makes an expert assessment of the dog’s temperament important. If you need a veterinary behavior specialist, ask your regular veterinarian to help you find the closest one. Follow-up to the work with the specialist will most likely include your regular veterinarian. Specialists are routine in veterinary medicine now, but regular veterinarians can be indispensable!
Don’t put off the veterinary behavior specialist until “the last resort.” A behavior becomes more set and more difficult to change when it continues for a longer time. With a young dog, you also want to use developmental periods to maximize behavior improvement much more than is possible if you wait until these critical periods are past. They pass quickly.
Whenever possible, take aggression and serious anxiety problems to the veterinary behavior specialist quickly, so the right assessment can be made and treatment begun in good time. It could very well save your dog’s life, or in some cases the life of a human. You will gain the knowledge to make good decisions about your dog’s care, and your family will benefit, too.

I dont know if I can do this!
 

Tallulah peed on the couch tonight!!!! :eek: I cannot believe it. She has never peed on the couch. She did it right in front of my husband and I. I was surprised because she sits on the couch frequently and she is welcome to sit on the couch (we decided to pick our battles). Why would she pee where she sits all the time to relax?! She has also been peeing on her rug where we keep her food and water bowl. I don't get it at all! Why would she pee where she eats?! This problem is much worse than I thought. Its one thing to pee on the floor but I cannot deal with her peeing on our furniture. I read everyone's advice and a lot of it was very helpful. I know we need some professional help here but we just cannot afford it right now. I just got laid off from my job a few weeks ago. I am starting to really wonder if we need to rehome her. I hate to do it but I'm not sure we can give her what she needs at this point. On the other side of things we have trained her to sleep on her pillow rather than on our bed! Small victories! And we are working on some basic obedience training and walking on a leash. She is doing okay, its hard for her because she is so used to not being obedient and not being walked at all. But after tonight I just don't know what to do.

I thought of maybe trying to retrain her to go outside instead, that way she wont be peeing in the house at all. But she is six and she has always gone in the house. Also, we live in Minnesota and have cold bitter winters and I have never been able to get her to walk or go outside in the snow. She just lays on the ground and whimpers like she has no will to live or go on. It makes me feel awful! Plus what would we do when we are gone at work all day? I know she cant hold it all day. :confused:

Hi maybe she is missing her old family?? I think that`s the problem...you should talk with hers vet maybe he will suggest something :cool:

I am very strict with Joey and Tank, but they are also spoiled rotten. For the biting, I suggest flipping her over to her back, and putting yourself over her. I know some people think it's horrible to do, but it has worked very well for me. It basically just lets my dogs know that I am the Alpha dog, and what I say goes.

For the barking, I have 2 suggestions. The first one is that you could get a spray bottle and fill it with water. Spray the face whenever unneeded barking is going on. The second suggestion is a bark collar. I have one that zaps when one they bark, and it works quite well. Joey has learned that if he has the collar on, he can't bark, but if he's not wearing it, he can bark without a shock. Too smart for his own good...all I have to do is show him the collar and he shuts right up. Now, my boys both know that a couple barks to let me know something is ok, but yapping is not an appropriate thing to do. Tank will bark a couple times to say hello when my husband or I get home, and Joey barks when he hears a car or motorcycle he recognizes (yes, he knows our cars' and bike's sounds).

If my dogs pee or poop in the house, they go in the kennel for at least one hour. They go in together, since it's very difficult to know exactly who did it. They both know it's bad, and they come get me when they do it. If it's because I haven't been able to take them out for hours, they feel badly, but they don't go in the kennel. It's mostly when I take them outside for quite a long while, bring them in, and they poop. That's when they go in the kennel most of the time.

I most certainly hope this helps at least a little, good luck to you with your training!

You have mentioned some very aggressive methods of training, and although there are many reports of success with these methods, I don't think this is something I would recommend without knowing exactly what you are doing. I love Cesar, and he does some of these things, but he always has a qualifier on the show saying, "don't attempt this method without consulting a trained professional". There are some training methods that anyone can do and teach, however other methods are a little trickier, and need to be done exactly right, and an expert can read the animal's body signals. Most humans really can't read a dog that well. Also some of the methods are used "as a last resort," by certain professionals, and shouldn't be used unless all other conventional training has failed. While many dog owners believe that they have tried all methods of training, in reality this is seldom the case and it's more likely they have been hit and miss with their training. There is nothing wrong with crate training, but the crate should never be used as a punishment, and if you place them in the crate right after an accident the dog could read it that way. The crate should be a safe haven, not a punishment.

To the OP, Joey has peed on the couch, from out of nowhere, and I don't know what caused this, but I just used Nature's Miracle on the stain and it vanished, it was a one time thing for Joey, and who knows why he did it, but maybe he just wanted his scent there. You are making progress, don't get discouraged, and don't think about redoing your whole training program. We don't completely understand why dogs do certain things, but she may have had a good reason for it, and perhaps she feels more at home and safer in your house. To me it sounds more like marking than peeing, remember females will mark also, and since it on or near favorite objects it sounds more like marking. Hang in there!

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Wow
#1 I woud never use a "zap collar" on anything living
#2 One hour in a crate? Do you catch them in the act and then put them in the cage? If you dont and you just find some poop and throw them both in the crate I highly doubt they even know what they did, plus one hour is a long time to leave them in there. After like 10 mins I dont even think they know why they are in the crate in the first place.

Tallulah is doing much better!
 

Thank you everyone for your advice! After much practice I have gotten Tallulah to walk nicely on her leash. She doesn't pull anymore like she used to. And she only sniffs if we allow her too. She also does not bark at other people and dogs nearby!!!! I am so happy! I used to feel so embarrassed walking her because she was so out of control. But I have used a few training techniques that really worked, like not allowing her to walk in front of me at all. And not allowing her out the door until all of us get out first. Also when I notice her getting overly excited on our walk I will make her sit and wait until she has time to calm down, then when she's calm continue walking. She is responding really well, and she responded quickly too. It only took a few times before she started to understand what's okay and not okay. She also has not peed in the house in a few days. I have been trying to take her to her pads more frequently throughout the day and rewarding her for going potty. Since we prefer her to go outside too I have been rewarding her when she goes potty or poop on our walks as well. So far so good! Thanks again for everyone's help!:)