My parents had a pair of yorkies when I was born. I also have a younger sister and brother, the dogs were fine with the three of us. Our female always wanted to play fetch and see what we were up to, but our male didn't care much for playing with us. He wanted to look out the living room window and "protect" our home from anyone who dared to walk in front of our house. All dogs are different.

I have 5 children now (my youngest is 8) and my yorkie is 17 months old and she is playful, but she prefers to play with me or my older children. She does like all of my kids though, and she happily greets them with kisses and a wagging tail every morning.

It can work, just give him time to adjust - you are strangers to him. He needs to learn to trust you.

I am really surprised and disappointed to hear a breeder let alone several tell you they are good with kids:( but then stick around here and you will see how many people have 10 lb yorkies that were told they would never get over 4 lbs:rolleyes:. I am sure if you try you can get it to work but be prepared to tell you 2 year old until they are probably 5 NO an awful lot. It will be the nature of your baby to want to hold and cuddle the yorkie like they do with a stuffed toy, only this one might bite if squeezed to hard, but then I guess that might teach the child a lesson. Yorkies also need a fair amount of grooming, everyone I have had needed a bath about once a week or they would be pretty smelly, their teeth need regular brushing as well.

Also be careful around doors, kids like to come in an out a lot and a dog can easily get let out or get caught in the closing door, I have no kids and have to be constantly aware of this myself.

I am sorry, but in my personal opinion, any breeder that would encourage you to buy a Yorkie, knowing you have small ( under 6) children, esp. a 2 year old toddler, is someone that is only interested in "selling dogs". You were misled.
The good news is, he is not a little 4-5 lb dog, he has a little size on him....listen to those that have told about snacks and what the kids may feed him....you have to be very careful about that. Make the kids lay on the floor quietly, and let the pup explore around them....if they are more down on his level, and they are quiet, he will get familiar with them and it will eventually work, IF YOU DO THIS SLOWLY. Reading to him is NOT as ridiculous as it sounds...the dogs love it... I have a learning disabled son...he has to be in a quiet room and read out loud or he can not retain what he is reading. I have many pictures where he is sitting in a room, alone with the dogs sitting and lying on the floor all around him, listening intently as he "reads to them"....they love this quiet time with him and to see this, you would think they are taking in everything he is saying!!! Have your kids sit on the floor, and read quietly, out loud....just keep them down on the floor..that limits the quick movements that youngsters are prone to, and will be less intimidating and frightening to him. Work SLOWLY AND PATIENTLY and I think he will get used to them. YOU are replacing his momma, and he is bonding with YOU, in the place of his other momma, that he can not find.

I would think that your puppy is going to gain at least two pounds before it matures. That is still going to a small sized dog. Some Yorkies get quite large and can be a good family pet but the smaller ones can be in some danger around young children that want to carry them around or may be to rough with them.

Yorkies do tend to bond with their people so I think this poor soul has no idea why all of a sudden he is in a strange place. It will take some time to earn his trust. I'm not sure what your expectations were for a family pet. He is going to be on the small side and you are going to always have to watch out for him.

I have two grand daughters ages 9 and 10. Gracie loves it when they come to visit because they take her out to run around and play. Gracie is only 5 pounds but the girls are very careful with her and when they are done running around they bring her in and go back out to play. Gracie loves kids but I would never leave her alone with young ones other than my grand daughters.

I have found it usually takes at least two weeks for an older animal to adjust to it's new setting though for a sensitive Yorkie it may take a bit longer.

Be very careful with the 2 and 3 year old. My friend has a daughter who just turned 3. They had a shih tzu until last year when they got rid of him because he was peeing in the house and getting a little agressive with the then 2 yr old. So she has been around dogs before.

She is a very girly girl, not rough at all, but this sweet little girl will sometimes pet nicely and other times she likes the idea of trying to kick Maggie. She tried to pick up her leg, sort of like she wants to shake hands. I'm afraid she will break it though! Maggie is 10 pounds, if she were smaller I'm sure she would try to pick her up. These young children don't know what they are doing. they are getting new ideas and trying new things. They will treat the puppy like a stuffed animal or a babydoll. Sadly, you really can't leave the puppy/dog and them alone together because the dog is too easily injured. The DOG will be fine with the children, so in that sense the yorkie is fine with kids, it's just dangerous for the poor dog! I imagine that if they are TOO rough with it that the dog may end up with a bad temperment towards children, or become afraid. You need to be training your kids now too.

By the way, I think the little girl tries more stuff when she thinks we aren't looking...so you are warned!

Luckily, Maggie has been well socialized since she was little. She has never growled at any person and she tolerates Angel. I don't know how a less social dog would behave.

I agree that yorkies are not the right choice for a family with small children but, not ALL families with small children are a bad choice...my neighbor has 3 little girls, 10, 7 and 4 yrs old..they got a yorkie at the age of 6 weeks and weighed just over a 1lb....I was SHOCKED that someone would not only sell a puppy that young but to a family with 3 small girls!! The girls Aunt bred her yorkie and gave her one...You should see how good these little girls are with this dog....he is still a little guy and they are WONDERFUL with him...they are always playing with him and walking him...they are very gentle with him as well...However....you don't see this too often with small children....I would still be apprehensive to sell a yorkie to a family with small children...they are just to delicate...I want to wish you good luck with your new furbutt....I'm sure all will be fine in time..

:thumbup: Everything she said...the vibrations of the human voice have profound effects on animals and plants and...:D

Plus, do not also forget, until he calls your house "his home"...until he "owns" it and you and your family...YOU are also his LINK BACK to his former home...his former momma...and he will want to be with you mostly always in case you go...in which case he will/may think/hope he is going back. It's not an insult on his part...he just doesn't understand he's in a new forever home and thinks this is temporary and it's confusing to him. As he is with you longer, and learns to like you, your family, and what you ALL do WITH HIM, and be accepted for who he is by you and your family, if you do it 'right' he will hopefully PREFER the 'new' life and things should be less stressful all around...and within only a few weeks or months.

Do pay close attention to the 'being on his level' part...be on the floor with him, or if the kids are bounding around, PICK HIM UP!!! You can get a little carry pouch for him to make it easier. Mine love to just be carried around the house in a purse...believe it or not...or in arms, but they find sitting in the purse very comfy and are calm and quiet and observant. They are PART OF EVERYTHING that way, and they LOVE IT!

Small animals become very aware of feet and the towering size of moving objects...people, etc., and will try to stay out from under foot...which basically means they will guess where you and your children are going and choose a different direction...which may put them in exactly the wrong place when the foot comes down. This is always a danger with small dogs, Yorkies, and cats. To keep from stepping on the cats, I years ago quit wearing hard shoes in the house...barefoot, initially...so I could 'feel' them and not step on them or even their hair. This may be an option for you as well...at least until everybody gets used to everybody. :p

When I brought Brody home, I oriented him to a 'home base'...the rug in our living room. I set him on it, then laid down beside him, talked to him, caressed him, kissed him, etc. for a while. Then, having no little dog toys but having 'bout the same size cat toys, I got him the big mouse/rat from the bottom (yes, I dug all the way down for it...whew!) of the kitty mice bag (Yorkies ARE 'ratters' so I figured it would be a natural toy for him) and some balls he could fetch and carry...and he played some with the toys but mostly he corralled them into one area and cuddled with them...he LOVED his mousey guy...still loves (but de-stuffs :rolleyes:) mousey guys!...but he wasn't really 'into playing because his whole world was upside down and he was with strangers in a strange place. We'd sit with him, then let him have some space, then sit with him, play with him, give tummy rubs, then...etc., but he still spent a good amount of time looking kind of forlorn...waiting to retuurn home, or interested in everything we were doing.

He gradually branched our from there, exploring a little bit of the house at a time, looking back at me as if to say, "Is it okay if I look around?" and I would say, "It's okay...it's your home...go explore." and he seemed to completely understand. But, you have to remember, that I 'wrenched him from the hands of his former owners' even though they gently handed him over. I would carry him throughout the house showing him around as well...he needed to learn the layout.

I think your situation is completely doable...with some forethought and effort on your part, and cooperation from your children. Do for him what you'd want a stranger to do for your toddler if your toddler was "wrenched from your loving arms and taken elsewhere" for the rest of his life. Help the dog acclimate and get used to everyone and everything...show him everything, tell him what it is, let him sniff it or not, if he resists or seems apprehensive or fearful leave that for some other time. Try to anticipate what HE might be thinking or feeling and try to alleviate his fears and make him feel welcome, wanted and loved.

I understand your children want to immediately play fetch etc. with him...and if you had brought home my Honey (approx. 50 lb. Shep/Lab mix) home for your kids, she'd have been playing as soon as she saw the first ball...Brody wouldn't...but Toby has a good chance of learning how to play with your kids if he is allowed to at HIS pace.


Good luck...I think you are on your way and trying to make this work. :D

I came back to this thread to see if there was an update but also to add a couple of things. Again we have a 4 year old skin child and our sweet and small Georgie boy. I believe our son Isaiah has learned many great lessons from the way we have taught him to treat Georgie and our Boxer Coco for that matter. With Georgie especially Isaiah has learned to keep his voice lower and communicate with Georgie what he is doing i.e. Hi Georgie I am going to pet you. He also knows to make sure Georgie sees his hand as he goes to pet him. We just had another lesson in this yesterday. We got Georgie 2 1/2 years before we had Isaiah so we didn't bring him in a house with small children but we have all learned to coexist and love each other. Again, Georgie will never be Isaiah's playmate we won't allow it he is to small but little things like letting him pet Georgie and hold Georgie as we sit right next to him makes Isaiah feel good and helps Georgie get used to him. It also helps Isaiah to understand how delicate Georgie is so unless one of us is right there Isaiah doesn't bother Georgie. Isaiah has never gotten upset he understands, and we make sure we make him feel like he is so awesome for being so sweet to Georgie and following our directions.

PS YES it's been 4 years so if you don't have patience Yorkies are not the furbaby for you!

I think this is beautiful!! Gives me hope that if I ever have kids it can work. But I know it will be all up to me to have my babies coexhist together beautifully like you have.

Thank you:) I agree totally it's our responsibility to help our skin child and furbaby child co-exist. It requires a lot of patience and love....my husband and I have plenty of both;)

Tucker loves children but was raised from day one around respectful children. I think that his exposure and also personality is why he does so well around children. However, I do not think this is the norm. In fact my sister's yokie, tried to bite my 9 year old last year when my daughter was only sitting next to her. Best of luck!

Your little one really needs to get acclimated to his new environment before introducing tons of people (especially children). He's already in a new and scary place, and add children to that mix--- total overload. He should start to warm up in about a week and really feel comfortable. I brought my little one to visit my neighbor's kids and he consistently barked for 2 hours and then after he saw me with the kids, he started to warm up-- but he trusts me. Trust takes time!