College Students
 

Hey, I thought it'd be interesting to hear from fellow college students with yorkies. How many yorkies do you have and how do you manage to take care of them while doing school...and work? Do any of you bring your babies to class?

I'm the local community college, so it's a bit different! But I'm 20 and Jackson is my only dog and I am his sole caretaker :) I don't find it hard, really. Even when my schedule was more strenuous, I'm not a big partier or anything anyways, so I enjoy spending my free time with Jackson. It's not something I'd recommend to 99% of my friends (having a dog).

I work and go to school and my mom watches my girl when I am not there lol.

I'm in college and I live about 20 minutes away.. I have a really flexible schedule. I am a full time student with a 3 day schedule. I have big breaks in between so sometimes I take Bentley with me and we stay in my boyfriends car and when I'm in class my boyfriend is with him (he's never left alone in the car).. On the days I have more classes I leave him home and he's usually home for 3-4 hours tops. And I rush back to him <3

I just graduated last May and now I'm working on my Masters. I got Wobie at the end of my freshman year. My schedule was and still is really hectic. With full time school and work, it is possible to be a great yorkie mommy, I think you just have to make your baby a priority. What worked well for us was living with my roommates that also had a small dog. Our different schedules ensured that at least one person was home at all times. I have taken Wobie to class, but I really think he prefers to be home than sitting in a boring class.

I rewarded myself for maintaining a 4.0 by getting my Yorkie and Miniature Schnauzer.. I know I'm a shameless bragger, my GPA went down slightly after getting them so...I've one Yorkie, my Elvie-roo and one Yorkie mix a Schnorkie, my Scoober. I took my dogs to work when I worked, and I'm currently taking classes through the online division of my school, not sure they'll attend class with me next semester in a traditional classroom as even hypoallergenic dogs can irritate allergies of those whom are allergic to dogs, and they'd be so distracting-Elvis could hang in a carrier, but not Scoobers LOL.
How do I manage...hmmmmmm I actually used Schnorkie genetics for a 'real life matrix' project. I take walk breaks between homework and class or to counteract writers block. I play fetch while typing to keep myself from getting all wrapped up in what I'm doing-it's relaxing to me to toss a ball and then type the next sentence, not over focusing on anything. Honestly I found that with more responsibility I had, I had to actually commit myself to creating a schedule, thus I'm more organized and more productive since I have more to do...I've always found it harder to balance my children's school (no dogs allowed period) activities with my dogs rather than my own, of course their private sports activities (like city leagues) everyone knows Elvis, he goes to all the practices and games with me.
If I didn't have an extremely flexible schedule or one that I actually have almost complete control over, I might have waited to get all of my dogs. I got dogs that have anticipated life spans of 15-20 years and that require a high maintenance schedule for grooming and attention-I actually did wait over 5 years for one of them, and over 3 for another for the time to be right for me to get them.

Are you by any chance in So Cal?? :D I transferred from a community college, and it was much easier taking care of my babies along with school. I have also brought them to class a few times and didn't get into trouble. However, now at a university..., it's a lot harder. No worries, there's NO way I will ever give up on my babies. I love them TOO much! My bf promised me another baby girl after I graduate!! I do plan on going back to community college and finish pre-vet requirements and pursue vet school, which is completely different from my current major!

I'm a college student and I have one yorkie and a mini schnauzer. It's hectic sometimes but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I only go to class twice a week and I find time to lock myself in my room and study also. My husband watches them when he gets home from work. It's not that bad but I wouldn't recommend it to my friends :-). It's like having two infants that never grow up lol

I'm in college and work full time. I try to take online classes so I'm home in the evenings, but if I have to take a class on campus, my hubby is home with them. I don't find it that hard either and thankfully Chip and Smokey are pretty independent.

I'm in school and sometimes its not easy. I'm in fourth year, and we got Harley last year. I got him because I used to own a huge indoor riding arena which held 20+horses. My mom took over when I left and we had a huge agreement. I missed the horses and always wanted another pet. In highschool I managed to run a business ride 2-4 horses a day, teach lessons and still maintain my honors (I burnt out) so I figured I could hold down the fort with on pup.

He takes all my attention, my bf and usually have alternating schedules, so he usually isn't home that long... I've had days where he's been alone for 6-8 hours, but those days we usually run home and check on him. My problem isn't the attention, it's the money.

I reduced my course load and will be taking an extra semester. It's my hope to get marking or TA positions to make some more money, last semester I worked for a prof who allowed me to bring him to work, plus I worked at home a lot.

My friends all think I'm nutts, but in highschool I was so used to having those horses that depended on me, I missed having an animal companion, I wouldn't trade him for the world. My friends have however invoked a "no second yorkie" rule until I graduate.... considering I'm facing the bills of law school next. :)

I only had a cat in college- but I did have my yorkies throughout law school.

I think they were a great addition and helped me in school- I was not one to sit in the library all day- I preferred to study at home- so I was home a lot more than I am when working. During very stressful times it was nice to have them around and no that someone else needed my attention and I couldn't become all consumed by stress. They helped me to keep a good schedule because they needed to be fed in the morning and I couldn't just sleep all day. When I was really stressed and studying hard, I would make sure to take them for a walk every evening down by the water- this was a good way to force myself to get out and not go days without seeing the sun like some other people I knew.

Of course you sometimes have to be willing to make sacrifices for them- there were times where I had been at school for hours and then my friends wanted to go out and I had to decline because the dogs had already been gone long enough and needed to be fed and taken care of. My friends were very understanding of that and would sometimes change their plans and come hang out at my place instead so that I could see them and take care of the dogs.

You do need to have a contingency plan for health care expenses- Chloe cost me a couple thousand dollars in specialist fees to diagnose her health concerns in my second year and Armani broke a tooth the same year and had to have it removed which was close to a thousand with everything. So if I didn't have a way to pay for that- it would not have been fair to them or responsible pet ownership.

Many college students go home on breaks and they need to consider what they will do with their pets- my parents have a small zoo of their own and were always fine with me bringing any pets I had home with me if I was visiting them.

Basically I think College Students can make it work but they need to consider everything first and make sure that they are responsible enough to make it work no matter what.