When do yorkies actually calm down
 

Hey all, my doggie is 2 1/2 years old. She is STILL nuts with so much energy. I walk her at least an hour a day, play with her at least another 1/2 to 1 hour a day, so she gets tons of exercise. She has calmed down from when I first got her and she woke up at 5:00 a.m. (I posted for weeks here when I was losing my mind), but the only time she stops moving is when she is asleep.

I am just wondering if she will ever just be like the other dogs I see walking nice and calm and slow. And if she will ever just be calm in the house. I play with her and walk her all the time to try and get her energy out.

Just wondering if any of you guys have crazy zoomy dogs that calm down eventually!!

Magnus calmed down a lot after we got Zoey... He was about a year old. But he still had a lot of energy but really started calming down after he turned 2.

Some dogs just have a lot more energy than others. Have you thought about maybe trying activities like Earth Dog? Rather than just walking and play, incorporating a task/job for her would satisfy her "psychological" needs?

If you google "how to calm hyper dogs", I think you'd find some methods on what you can try out. I hope you find something that works for you and your furbutt. :)

Hang in there, she'll eventually mellow out. Then she'll probably demand to be in your lap every second & act ticked off when you need to move. :D

I know this is going to sound crazy...

But the Yorkies I've had as Puppies, have been/acted like Puppies till another Puppy came along. Then, it was like a switch was clicked, and they mature overnight ! Strange.

Ya can't have just one anyway... right :biggrin:

My pup is 2.5 years old and he is fairly calm, IMO...and I have a friend who's dog is 4 and he's totally high strung. I think it just depends on the dog.

I have never heard of Earth Dog. What is it? I have to be really careful with her around where I live, too many big, nasty dogs. I actually have found a safe place to take her and let her off leash in another city where my relatives live. There is a beautiful series of different kinds of fields in a park that was just re-done. One of the fields is a baseball field and it has quite a large batting cage that is fenced in on 3 sides and has a gate you can close off the rest of it. I have taken her there with her balls that she chases. It isn't as large as my friend's yard that I take her to a couple of times a month, but it at least, allows her to run around off leash.

I can only take her to these places on the weekends because, of course, it is not getting into winter and it is totally cold and dark when I get home from work. I am actually going to take her to the batting cage today. Just waiting for it to warm up a little so I don't have to bog her down with too many layers of clothing. I either put 2 sweaters on her or a sweater and one of her jackets. She looks like a little stuffed sausage with legs!!

HA HA that's funny :clapsmile

Some dogs have a condition kind of like hyperactivity in humans. Giving her a lot of exercise is really important but trying to teach her how to calm down is just as important.

I'd say Gracie was really ultra active during her first 2 years. She turned 3 last May and I can see a lot of the puppy stuff has lessened. She still expects her two outside walks a day and wants to play fetch, she still likes to patrol the backyard when I am out there with her but she doesn't play with the cats quite as much and I find she is more inclined to nap a couple of times a day if nothing is going on around here. She still is very courious and prefers to be active though.

Do you work on obedience with her? Things like sit, stay, down, come, and some tricks? That kind of thing helps expand their ability to concentrate. Dogs really love to achieve goals. They love the treats and extra praise, too! But the training can help teach them to have more control. If they seem to be looking for something to do (like trouble) you can easily have her do some of the things she has learned in order to keep her mind busy and reenforce what she has learned.

That is great to hear that Gracie calmed down at 3 years old. I will await Beanie being 3!!! I do work with her on doing things like going DOWN the ramp in the living room instead of jumping off the couch. I do that just about every day. I am trying to stop her from jumping off the couch to save her legs for when she gets older. All that repetitive stuff causes arthrititis in our doggies as well as us.

But, I have to tell you, this dog is extremely willfull, stubborn and any other adjectives to describe an a amimal (or human) that has a mind of their own and is just going to pursue what they want.

I love my Beanie to death, I would NOT want her to be any different, she is like me, she likes what she likes, she wants what she wants, and that is it.

Most of the time I am fine with her nuttiness, there are just days that I get a tad frustrated. She is the love of my life and I would wouldn't change her for anything, although I DO need moral support every once in a while, hence my posts here.

I know, I took her to the batting cage today to run around and she was so freakin funny with the multiple sweaters on. The field next to the cage is now being used for soccer and the balls get kicked next to it. The soccer guys CRACK UP at her. She sees there giant soccer balls and wants to go get them. THANK GOD she is contained because I know she would just bound out of the batting cage and try and get the big giant soccer balls.

The guys that were playing soccer were totally enamored with her. They actually stopped what they were doing to say hello to her!!!

I just love my doggie so much, she brings me so much laughter and joy.

They calm down!?!?

Well, you pretty much describe the terrier personality. She is just exerting her terrier will. They are known for being willful and stubborn. They may be little but they were bred to be killing machines so I guess we have to cut them some slack.
I never had a terrier before Gracie and I was shocked when Gracie turned "terrier" on me at only a few months of age! I remember her rolling on her back (just a tiny little thing) baring her teeth at me and growling at me! I didn't know if she was playing or not.:rolleyes: I had worked with various different dogs for decades and never met a pup like her!:eek: She wanted to kill everything in sight. I found I couldn't train her the same way I had all those other dogs because she just had a totally different nature. It was a struggle of wills.
Eventually I learned that it was a lot of work but I never want any other kind of dog. These little ever ready toys are just so full of it that there is never a dull moment. They are just so smart that they can't be allowed to get bored or they are likely to tell you off!
I do think they are not right for everyone though. People who want to live a quiet sedate life should not have a terrier. They are little and adorable but for the most part I guess they are a dog for active folks. I have found myself being much more active than I would have chosen to be just because of Gracie......and that is a good thing.....most of the time.....except when I am falling asleep and she throws one of her toys in my face because she wants me to make it come to life for her so she can kill it!:rolleyes: I don't know if she will ever outgrow that!:confused:

I have found another girl with a yorkie down at our local dog park, and we set up playdates for them. We let them run and get their zoomies out eventually :-) its nice too, to have a nice conversation with a friend while letting Gizmo have his fun exerting his energy. I would say maybe watch at your different dog parks for another yorkie owner, that maybe you could make friends with, so she could have play dates to get rid of all that pent up energy? It's really paid off for my Gizmo in a huge way. It's also helped me after he's tired out to teach him new commands, as he is more willing to listen and focus once he is tired. He now lays down on command, and it took me teaching him that one after he was tired out lol, but now that he knows the command, he is more willing to obey it at all times. His little yorkie girlfriend has been a life saver for me in training him :-) her name is cookie and she is also a rescue. What is funny is cookies owner said that cookie did not like playing with other dogs, but I guess yorkes have a thing for each other, because cookie just loves playing with my Gizmo xoxo.

Yeah, yorkies definitely need tons of playtime. It was 37 with 20 mph wind today all day and all Cookie wants is to run around outside, so I finally relented and decided to rake the back yard outside with her until she went to the back door and asked in. Did it two more times today and finished the yard. If I take a nap and she is ready to play, she starts giving me tons of kisses on the face. How do you say no to that? I love the mischievous yorkie personality. A few days ago I was asking her for a yorkie kiss and she was being stuck up, so I pretended like I was crying to see her reaction. She jumped on me and I thought I was about to get kisses, but instead she started biting my hand (lightly and playfully) while growling at me.

Oh my God, your post is too funny!! I totally agree, I would never want any other kind of dog and no, they aren't for everyone and you are so right, they just don't "conform" to the regular training methods. And yes, it IS a struggle of wills and I try and explain to people how this dog is (like my really fat boss who INSISTS that he WILL MAKE HER HEEL if HE walks her), that she isn't like a regular dog. She just isn't. And to tell you the truth, sometimes the positive training methods just don't work and I have to break out the squirt bottle.

Beanie does the same thing to me with the growling when we play with her ball. It is so freakin funny!! I know that it is just play growling. I pick up her back legs while she has the ball in her mouth and she makes the funniest noise!! I swear, she makes me laugh out loud just about every day. When I am TRYING to do my a.m., old body stretches, she takes her angry bird ball and will push into my face, then into my ears because I am not throwing it around for her to kill. Or when I am stretching my back on, what I call my rack, she HAS to jump up onto my boobs and sit there while I do my traction and look down at my face like WTF are you DOING and WHY aren't you playing with me.

She is the absolute love and joy of my life and I can't imagine her not being with me. I also can't believe that I can love this little creature so much!! Like more than people.

Beanie has a little Yorkie friend up the street that we see once in awhile, but when Micha charges up to her, she gets scared and tried to climb up on my head. I took her into PetSmart yesterday and there was a little yorkie that ran up to see her, but again she got scared. She isn't very dog socialized and I am trying to work on that in safe environments. There is a Yorkie meetup in my area that I have been trying to participate in, but the dates never work out for me.

I don't take her to dog parks around here, too many way too big and bad dogs. Oh my God, I just couldn't imagine letting her around them!!!

WOW, that is very cold for Texas!! I couldn't even take Beanie out today, we have an arctic blast here in New England. It was like 20 degrees with a wind chill that made it feel like 0. It was SO windy, even multiple layers for both of us wouldn't have worked. So I just played with her with the balls for about 2 hours. Threw the ball up and down the hall and up and down the stairs. And I tie an old pair of pantyhose to her longer squeaky toys and make her chase after that. It works great because I can basically bounce the toy around and make her jump and run and I don't have to bend over.

She is now happily conked on my lap, but I DO have to disturb her to eat my supper. Thank God, she now just runs up the ramp to my bed and will go to sleep until I get in the bed, then she will paw at the covers to get underneath. I keep my heat very low at night and Yorkies do not like to be cold!!

I was wondering the same thing for a loooooong time. Ruger is 4 now and has definitely calmed down, although it doesn't take much to get him going again -- knock at the door, cat at the window, UPS guy driving down the street. :aimeeyork

We have 3 yorkies and they are all very calm. One is almost 7 years, one is 1 1/2 years and the baby is 11 months. I think I lucked out in their temperament as they are all laid back! All three are lap dogs but love their play time. I have heard that some are very active but not ours!

They are such a hoot. I just stumbled upon Gracie and was not even planning on buying a Yorkie so I had not done my homework when I first got her. I didn't know if I had some kind of psycho dog or what! I never used a spray bottle but I used to get a rolled up newspaper or magazine and slap it on my hands or a nearby table in order to get her attention when she would get barking while she was playing and wouldn't pay attention to me when I would tell her "that's enough!" She couldn't hear me over her own voice.
Her idea of a good time is a good fight. It was really hard teaching her to fetch because she wanted to make me fight her in order to get the ball back.:rolleyes: We still get into games of chase and tug because she just loves it She can wear me out some days.:aimeeyork
She is really so much better now than when she was a puppy but it took time and patience. I found treats really helped get her cooperation in a lot of things, like grooming.
I have family that don't understand her quirky nature and they are surprised that I let her talk back to me. Honestly, she thinks she can talk and when she wants something she doesn't think twice about telling me. Many times she makes noises in her throat in order to tell me something, which is somewhat better than the bark she does when I'm late taking her for a walk or with getting her supper.:eek:

Oh God, yes, fighting for the balls. Beanie LOVES that. She flings the ball at me, but before I can even get it, she runs and gets it. It is like, how the heck can I throw it to you if you keep getting it back yourself?? And yes, yes treats. The ONLY way I can groom her is if I hold onto the rawhide twizzle stick (that is what I call them - I get awesome, very expensive, but totally worth it, ones made in the USA, no chemicals, no preservatives, no bleach, etc., etc.) with my left hand and groom her with my right hand. She gnaws on the rawhide stick and I can do what I need to, like clean her eyes, comb her with the flea comb, then use the other comb thingie that takes off the dead hair and then finally wipe her arse and all else with baby wipes. I have to make sure that she doesn't bite off any of the rawhide, so I end up having to wrestle the stick away and cut off what she has chewed on. I also put a little doggie toothpaste on it to get her going.

Yes, I go through the same thing with people, ESPECIALLY, like I said my boss. He thinks she is just SO privileged. I tried to explain to him that I don't mind the fact that she is nutty when we walk, it forces me to walk really fast, run, sprint, etc. It is like circuit training for me. I even paid for private training lessons to deal with her walking issues, and it ended up being that the only way she would NOT do her thing was to use one of those nose harness things that squeezed her nose. I decided that I didn't want to do that to her. I don't WANT to break her of her "yorkiness", that is what I love about her. But it drives me freakin CRAZY when people try to tell ME about MY dog and why don't I do this, or why do I allow her to do that. It is like, YOU don't have this dog, you may have had other kinds of dogs, but you never had a yorkie, so don't even try and compare my dog to your HUGE dog.

But yes, she does wear me out some days as well. And yes, Beanie talks to me as well! She makes all these bird noises and I swear she says mummy. She makes a noise with 2 syllables and it is mummy and depending on what she wants (like how bratty she is getting), those 2 syllables will change and get louder and more insistent. It is the funniest thing!!

She is like a little person, not a dog. I know that sounds strange, but people who have Yorkies like ours know exactly what I mean. Beanie has more personality and is smarter than a lot of people I know!!

Haha, that completely describes my walks with Cookie; she always wants to drag me into a jog. My previous yorkie Minnie was the same way.

One result of early spaying is hyperactivity. They never grow out of their puppy mentality. Early being anytime before their 1st heat/growth plate closure. If this is the case, discuss hormone therapy with your vet.

Try this
 

Anybody else's fur baby calm down after putting pjs on them? My Zoey is very active too but she does take an afternoon nap. But come around 9:00 I want her to settle down then I bought her first pair of pjs.....oh my goodness ....
She is hilarious! Everything comes to screeching halt and she is ready to snuggle down! She loves them! They are almost therapeutic!
She is DONE for the day. Lol