Yorkie Personality Change at 1 year old? Hi, I can't find a thread that talks about this so I apologize if this is redundant or should be somewhere else. We adopted Olive, a purebred yorkie puppy in July of last year. She turned one on May 30th. She has had one shortlived health problem during her first year (pancreatitis) that was cleared up quickly because our vet is wonderful, gave us the right food and medication so it improved drastically within two or three days but she got back to being herself in about a week. Beside that, she's had no health issues at all and the vet says she is in great health. However, over the last 2 months, she has become increasingly hostile toward my wife and occasionally my 8-year-old daughter. Both love Olive and play with and pet her. Olive loves my daughter Grace and will climb on her and kiss and kiss her until Grace can't take anymore. Olive is typically pretty affectionate. When I get home from work, Olive is my shadow. She follows me around as I get the kids ready for bed and lays down with us while I read to them and lay with them as they fall asleep. Here's the problem: any time my wife starts coming up the stairs to either check on us, talk to me or get ready to come to bed herself, Olive goes crazy. She does her meanest, most threatening bark and growling trying to be territorial about the bed. Our vet said to put her in her kennel whenever she does this, but when my wife or daughter try to do this they get bitten--therefore they are afraid to approach a barking and snarling animal and pick her up. I am not, pick her up and take her to her kennel. Olive responds to my verbal commands, has never freaked out toward me like that in her life and generally wants to be laying on or near me if I'm home. So my question is this: Is this common? Do Yorkies change personality at around one year and become very mean and very clingy/protective of the males in the family? (she's also always affectionate to my son who is only 6 and he never has problems with her). I dont' know what to do. I love this dog. We all love this dog, but we cant have an animal in our house who bites the children (my daughter) so badly it leaves significant marks. I dont' want my children living in fear of our dog. So do I put her in the kennel when I leave for work and let her out when I get home? What do we do? Are we going to lose this dog to a permanent personality change? Lastly, we have not had her fixed because we thought we wanted her to be able to have 1 litter of puppies. Is it possible that having her "fixed" would calm her down enough that this ugly personality she saves up for my wife and sometimes my daughter will go away? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't know what we're going to do with this dog! |
I have heard that having them fixed does calm them down a bit but im not 100% on that one so I would wait for a more experienced member to answer that question. When she barks or snarls you could try spraying her with water from a spray bottle. She wont like it and will learn that everytime she acts like this something that she dosnt like will happen. The water wont hurt her and your wife can do it without getting close enough to be bitten, Good luck. |
Not good Sounds like you don't want a dog who will bite your kids, but uh, you don't want her biting your wife either!! Might get you in trouble if she reads that. ;) You really need to nip this little habit in the bud as it will only get worse. Check on Cesar Milans website, they might have some tips. Good luck! |
Ziva is very similar in age and a fiesty little girl- I have seen some real changes in her lately, really settling down but also making her likes and dislikes very clear. She had been spayed at 6 months and we have 5 family members, but my 3 children are older altho they still tease Ziva... "The dog listener" was a helpful book to us, we got it at the library..good ideas and thoughts... |
Olive is being the alpha and she is "protecting" you from your wife and daughter. I would get her fixed as soon as possible, pancreatitis, can be genetic, and that with aggressiveness indicates this dog shouldn't be bred. We have an abundance of pets right now, why would you want to breed her once; it's not good for her in any way. Hormones in female dogs can also promote aggressiveness. I disagree with your vet that the kennel should be used as punishment, but I do think you need to read up on training and how to teach Olive that the humans are in charge not her. Many people suggest the "Nothing in Life is Free" approach, see this site for more information: http://www.cairnrescue.com/docs/NILIF.pdf |
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