Hi, new and need advice

[kimchibap]

Hello all,

We (as in my husband, daughter and myself) adopted a 2 year old female yorkie. She is extremely sweet and is a good dog. We are completely new to owning a dog and opted for an older dog over a puppy. We ended up with a yorkie and have a few questions. Her name is Lucy and I was hoping I could get some advice on what to do.


1. Bonding - Lucy is supposed to be my daughter's dog. She had been begging for a dog for a year now and we finally gave in. The thing is, myself and my husband; we aren't pet people per say. We don't hate dogs but we don't love them either. I would say, we are neutral about them. Lucy, for some reason will not leave me alone. She follows me from room to room and has to be near me all the time. I am finding it a bit tiresome and would really like to figure out a way to get her to bond with my daughter that way and not me.

2. Potty - Lucy does not ever tell me when she needs to go. She is house trained and has had no accidents. But I cannot tell when she needs to go because if I am sitting in one spot, she does not move from the room I am in. I am currently taking her out 4-6x per day. 6 am - right when she wakes up, 8:30 am - about 20 mins after her first meal, again in the afternoon, 5:50 after her dinner and again before bed. Am i taking her out enough?

3. Crate training - How exactly do I do that with her? She is already housetrained and will go lay in her crate as long as the door is open and I am in her view. Does she need to be crate trained? Or is it fine that she wanders around the house while I run my errands?

4. Jumping - I think she may at some point have been abused. She gets very frightened and I don't really know how to explain this but we have been trying to correct her behavior of jumping up on people and furniture. When she does, I put her paws down and tell her "NO". When I do that, she basically trembles and her ears, tail and entire body goes down to the floor, like she is trying to make herself as small as possible. I do not want to scare her but I want her to understand jumping is not allowed.

I would greatly appreciate your advice and thank you in advance.

[MochaBoyMom]

Welcome to YT and congrats on your adoption.

1. Yorkies do tend to bond with only one member more than the others, especially their caretaker. You might want to get your daughter to feed and bath her, walk and play with her. If you have not had her long, this might work. Or else once she has her mind set on you being her mommy it will be difficult to change. She will still love your daughter but her preference will always be you.

2. Your potty schedule looks good. Try buying a bell on a rope. Some pet stores sell potty training bells or you can order online. It's easier to just buy any bell since it's Christmas time now. Anyway, shake the rope every time you take Lucy out until she learns to shake the rope herself. That trick worked for a number of people I know.

3. She's already house trained, no need for crate training.

4. You just have to be firm until she finally understands.

Hope this helps.

[maggiefromnj]

I hope you get lots of advice, but I have only ever had maggie, so I don't know a lot. I do know that you don't need to take her out every 2 hours. Maggie is 10 pounds and easily goes a good 5 hours without needing to go out. She will go longer if she has to. She doesn't drink much during the day though. She will go out for the last time at night around 10:30 and goes in her crate to sleep around midnight. She will stay in there until 10-11am. Sometimes if I open the door earlier she just lays there and looks at me. If other people are around she will hop right out and say hello, but if it's just me she takes her time.

You must have taken care of her the first couple days and she decided you are her person. Your daughter needs to take the major role of feeding, cuddling and treat giving. That might help. How old is your daughter, she may have known other children before that she didn't like so much...

I think crate "training" refers to keeping them in crate while they are learning to potty in a specific area (outside or pads).

Maggie has free run of the house, but she is not a chewer so I trust her. She is also very well housebroken. I think that choice depends on the dog and its environment. Are you willing to tolerate a possible potty accident? Is your house "puppy-proofed" that is safe for the dog? I think most of them sleep when we are gone. Maggie has a bed on top of an ottoman in the front window. She sleeps there and keeps guard. She can see when we pull up and goes crazy! I like that she has a place where she can look out and be entertained while we are out.

Jumping,,,,not much help there. Maggie goes on the furniture (no shedding yay!!) he jumps around people when they come. It's quite funny, she jumps, yet rarely makes contact with her jump. We didn't teach that, it's just her way. I think "down" might work better than "no". BUT I really don't know.

good luck

[MandiesMom]

Hi welcome to YT and thank you and your family for taking in Lucy. If she is 2 years old and a rescue, then you are probably right..she probably wasn't treated the best by her previous owners.

The Bonding thing - I could say to have your daughter do ALL the caretaking for her, but to be honest...that doesn't really seem to matter. I have 2 dogs. I do everything for them except on rare occassions when my husband is off work due to weather or between jobs..then he is home by himself with them. Anyway, my older and male dog is up under me 24/7. He is a complete Mama's Boy. Mandie, my 7 month female yorkie, bonded with my hubby from minute 1. I take care of her just like my boy, but she is a complete Daddy's Girl. My hubby doesn't treat either dog different..that's just who they decided was their "person" (as stated above). I don't think there is much the person can do about it, to be honest. I've accepted the fact that my Mandie (the dog I wanted for 20 years and finally got) is just closer to my hubby. It is what it is.

Going Out - you really don't have to take her out so many times a day unless you just like going out. Mine can go all day when I'm at work or when I'm at home..we go out a lot because I'm doing stuff out there and they love playing outside. No need to crate train.

Discipline - I was once told not to treat a dog based on it's past. I will say that Yorkies are totally more sensitive than any other breed I've had. So, don't yell at her...just use a firm No. My only suggestion is to work with her learning obedience commands with praise and treats. Work with her to learn sit and down and make it happy. Then when you say it, eventually, she'll do it without the treats but not cower..she'll have happy things associated in her mind with those commands