New Yorkie Owner

[ginya1975]

I am a brand new Yorkie owner. I have tried to post three times and every time something happens and the site closes. If by some chance my post goes through three times...I apologize. In March I became the proud owner of Dexter. He is what I have found out is known as a "Party Yorkie" because he is black, brown, and silver. Does that sound right? At his last vet appointment he was 4 and a half months old and weighed 3 pounds. I have A LOT of questions. First off, when we got the dog it was through a friend of a friend. I wanted to make sure I wasn't buying through a puppy mill. He told me Dexter is registered, but he would mail me the papers. He mailed them a couple of weeks later and I found he is not AKC registered, but registered through the Continental Kennel Club. Does this matter? Next is I think little Dex has some abandonment issues. He is with us constantly when we are home, and often goes with us when we leave the house. He sleeps in my bed. When we do go somewhere he can't go, such as a restaurant or grocery shopping, I put him in my bathroom with food, water, his bed, some of his favorite toys, and a puppy pad (which he uses). When we get home, he stays on top of us, whines, wimpers, and howls (yes howls) for about an hour. Is this normal. I don't want him to be miserable while we are gone. Also, we are outdoorsy people. We hike, fish, camp, and swim. On these outing, Dexter is right there with us. With the active and outdoors lifestyle, I keep his hair in the shorter style. I brush him regularly and bathe him when he needs it. Is there any advantage to the longer hairstyle. I am looking forward to hearing from all of you. Thanks.

[Perrella]

Welcome...we would love to see pictures of Dexter..as you can see, we just love pictures here

Dexter sounds perfect and a faithful little companion. I would say he just loves being with his family...they are dogs that need to be interactive with the ones they love. He loves you to pieces What a wonderful active life he has with you and I'm sure he loves every minute of it.

Enjoy your baby and I can't see it matters where his papers are from...unless you were going to breed him...but I hope you neuter your boy and love him for the wonderful pet his is. Wishing many many happy years together!

Oh, I'm not sure about the howling but I'm sure others will respond they maybe know.

[ginya1975]

He is precious and we do not intend to use him for breeding. Working on pics. Every time I try to attach one, it says it's too big. So I am working one it.

[ginya1975]

Did get the pic to work. Not the best one I have but it fits. I will have to work on shrinking some down. Love showing off my baby.

[Patti]

Welcome! Dexter seems like he loves being with you and misses you when your gone. Sounds like he has a great life with you.

[GeorgiesMomma]

Welcome to YT You will love it here! Dexter sounds just like Georgie and so many other Yorkies they love being with their people. I personally love being his person as I am sure you do. I think it's completely normal that he wants to be with you and misses you when you are gone. Plenty of people know about the AKC versus CKC do they can chime in on that.

[Harrysmum]

Good morning and welcome from the UK!

Your baby is obviously very attached to you - and I bet you wouldn't have it any other way... What a wonderful life you're creating, and sharing, with him...

And, I think, therein lies the problem!! All he's used to, when you all go out, are wonderful times...all the best doggie-times in the world!

He probably thinks you're all out doing these wonderful things without him, when you have to leave him at home....how can he know any different? I personally think his howling is his way of telling you off (we had a Schnauzer that used to do the same, it never really stopped, but it got quieter as he got older!!). Good luck to you all, oh and congratulations! Sally + Harry x

[nanahas3]

Ckc dogs are not recognized by the akc and cannot be shown but if you love him that is all that matters . Welcome to YT. Our little guy is 3 and when we leave him he scratches the door up so we have to kennel him if we are going to be gone long.

[gracielove]

CKC is not a registry that supports well bred purebreds. Anyone can register their dog with this agency. I can't tell you if you purchased him from a puppy mill but it was someone who is not aware of the genetic background of their dogs.
Your pup sounds like a wonderful pet that is very attached to you. Do you gate him in the bathroom? Sometimes they do not feel as shut off from everything if you use a gate instead of shutting the door to the bathroom.

[ginya1975]

Thanks for all your wonderful responses. The couple we got him from seemed to have a nice environment with only the two dogs. No signs of a puppy mill. I am trying to find out what a back yard breeder is though. The dogs I have had in the past have been shelter rescues. This is the first dog I have "purchased". But I had a friend with a Yorkie and fell in love with the breed. I'm not sure why they chose CKC instead of AKC. It doesn't matter to me really. I am not using him as a show dog and he is not going to be used for breeding. Just an addition to our family.

[luvlee]

Hi there!

Your puppy is fine. He may not like being closed in the bathroom though. My girl, Lucy, is new too. I keep her gated in my kitchen with the TV on when I must leave.

Actually, my kids and I are spending a tremendous amount of time with her now that they're out of school. I've actually told my kids that it's OK to let Lucy have some "quiet time" without us. I want her to get used to us NOT being there at times. She needs to understand that we're not gone FOREVER.

So, sometimes we put her in the kitchen and do other things in other parts of the house - without her. She cries and whines. Before you know it, though, she's in her comfy double donut bed sawing wood!

Maybe your baby needs some sounds like a radio or tv for soothing while your not there?

Best wishes, Tracey

[gracielove]

I guess a backyard breeder would be someone who uses pet quality dogs for breeding out of their homes. They may have one to more than 20 dogs. They have no idea about genetics they just breed without any knowledge or research into the breeding of purebred or even mixed breed dogs. It is frowned upon because many health issues arise from this sort of breeding. Putting two dogs together without knowledge of their genetic background usually brings forward recessive genes that bring out some awful defects. If you look at many of the products of backyard breeders and puppy mills (they both breed without any knowledge of genetics) you will see that these dogs start looking less and less like the breed standard and more and more genetic problems start showing up in what they are producing.

I know many people get upset when anyone talks about BYB's and puppy mills like this because they have gotten their beloved pet from these places and they love their babies. Some people manage to get a healthy pup from these sources but as these people continue to breed they produce more sick dogs than healthy ones. Most of these people do not get proper medical care for their dogs and sell pups full of parasites and other problems. There are at least two active threads on YT right now by people whose much loved pets are suffering from liver shunt. It was not found until they were past two years old. It is heartbreaking

I sometimes feel I am wasting my time telling people about this as many just decide to roll the dice and hope they are the lucky one to get a healthy pup. My heart breaks when I see these people so desperate to save their pet and who suffer right along with their little dog who is suffering. I don't mean to insult anyone's pet. I love all animals no matter where they came from but I do despise the ignorant and the greedy people who keep turning out more sick puppies who will suffer because of their ignorance and/or greed. I know that many potential backyard breeders come to YT for information and are insulted by attitudes like mine. They feel they have the "right" to breed their pet and no one can stop them. That is true. No one can stop them. Maybe if they stayed around long enough to read the threads of heartbroken owners or if they went to a Yorkie rescue site and read of all those who suffer due to these diseases, maybe they would reconsider their decision, but probably not.

I truly hope you enjoy many good years with your pet. Please read in the library here. There is a lot of helpful information. Feel free to ask questions. You will get a variety of answers that you can choose from trying. It sounds like your baby has already bonded with you very well. Yorkies tend to be very loving and intelligent family members.