That's the problem. I don't really have any advice, because I've always been the downer in these conversations since I believe yorkies shouldn't be left at home so much by themselves. There are probably very few people around here who have successfully housetrained their yorkie that didn't stay home with them.

I'm a college student and I'm only gone from my house 5 hours out of the day for three of the seven days. Of course, I also have the luxury of a working husband that most college students probably don't... But I agree that you should consider the future before getting this pup. You're looking at a good 10-15 years.

Anyway, I have 5 cats living in my house (only 3 are mine, other 2 are my brother's) and they all get along extremely well. I would suggest getting a little larger Yorkie and by large I mean around 7lbs (seems so strange to be calling a 7lb dog large...) My Chester is a big boy at about 3.5lbs and 14 weeks old. He can handle the cats fairly easily even at this early age. I'm sure a smaller one would be okay with the right supervision, however.

That reminds me that awhile back there was a lady on here thinking of getting rid of her yorkie, because he chased the cats all of the time. :(

que344, i don't think you understand the gravity of the "landlord thing". it's not a matter of sweet talking your landlord into overlooking a violation of your parents' rental agreement. and the difference between a small dog and a fat cat is more than just weight. dogs will bark and make noise, some will bark every time a phone rings, the door bell rings, a stranger walks by the door, etc. mine barks every time i'm out of his line of sight and he'll do it for a hour straight in the first couple weeks. all of which can be a noise nuisance to your neighbors leading to complaints to your landlord. a cat, whatever weight it's at, won't make the noise a dog can. so the "no dog rule" may not just be up to your parents' landlord. which is why more than one person is stressing that written approval from the landlord is first and foremost!!!!

as for the cat thing, if you already have a particular yorkie in mind, why not bring your cat over to meet the dog and see how they fare? otherwise there are these claw caps that you can buy that serves as a more humane alternative to declawing.

as for the peeing thing. your options are to come home cleaning up after all the messes your dog has left. OR train the dog to go potty indoors on paper, pottypad or litterbox and until that happens, you'll have to keep the dog confined to a smaller space and line the area with potty pads or newpaper. (which can still get messy and require cleaning up) OR reconsider if you and your family are ready for a yorkie if your schedule is not condusive to the time and care it needs. perhaps it is better to wait until you have more time to accomodate one especially in the early months of training, perhaps during summer vacation is a better time than now.

Well, one thing about my house is that once an animal comes in, it never leaves ::evil laugh:: Until it heads off to Rainbow Bridge on its own terms. I am a firm believer that over time, any grouping of animals can get along and live peacefully and therefore would never depart with any of my animals on that basis. But anway, this is completely off topic so I\'m going to shut up now :D

YORKIES LOVE TO BARK !!! AND ARE VERY HARD TO TRAIN I GOT LUCKY id say 50 % will never be trained this is a big thing not just getting a puppy and playing with it i got brownie when i was 15 and you loose all your friends and theres lots of other things you cant do cause you have a dog to take care of good luck and stay away from petstores

Like I said, I got my first Yorkie when in HS, in the middle of the school year. So I believe that her potty training process took a LOT longer then most. I got home before my parents did, so it was up to me. She was left alone for about 7 hours at a time. I put her in an exercise pin, put newspaper down with a pee pad while at school. While I was at home I trained her to go on the pad, this process is what took a loooong time. She was atleast a year old before I could fully trust her to be left alone. She was over two years old before she was done going through her teenager stage of life. Although I loved her alot, the first two years were tough, after that is when we we started to bond.

If I could do it over again I definitely wouldnt of gotten a dog during a school year. I probably should of waited till I was out of high school as well. Puppyhood is a very hard and long process which I hadnt anticipated. Luckily my parents were understanding and didnt mind that she ruined the carpets :rolleyes:

I AGREE 100%!! I am the EXACT same way. Once a dog becomes MINE, it never leaves. I would never buy a pet -- even something as small as a fish or a turle -- and give it away after a period of time.