Need advice on yorkie puppy ASAP!!
 

I have a 8 month old yorkie that is a great dog.....

Today we took him and my other puppy to the dog park and had some issues..(don't think it matters but it is a pitbull, and please, this is about my yorkie, I have done my research on pitbulls and consider myself a responsible and knowledgeable owner.)

Moving forward, I have been taking my yorkie to the dog park since he was roughly 4 months old. We go pretty regularly roughly 3-4 times a week if not more. We walk him at least once a day and twice a day if we don't go to the dog park.

Today I took both pups to the dog park and everything was business as usual until about 15 minutes before we left. He attacked, and I would say viciously attacked another young puppy #1 a female lab that is 4 months old. After that we separated them and moved on. With the yorkie on a leash he kept pulling to this lab puppy. Finally we decide to let him off leash and he again attacks another puppy. Second puppy was a 5 month old female husky. This one was worse then the first. After that we took him to the other end of the park with our pitbull puppy. The yorkie and pitbull are fine together, like 2 best friends. The lab came to the end of the prk we were at to play with our pit bull pupand the yorkie again went to attack. 3rd time was too much excitement so we left.

My question is why does this happen all of a sudden.. He was never like this until today.

Background info if this helps at all or matters:
Been fed blue buffalo since day one and we recently switch to taste of the wild.
He was fixed about a month ago.
Only thing I can say is about 2 weeks ago he started getting nippy if you try to take something out of his mouth. And more vocal while playing with our pitbull puppy. ( pit bull is 15 weeks and already fixed and is a male.) the pitbull is very submissive to the yorkie so there is no issues between them. They eat together, pretty much do everything together except when they are in their own kennels.

If there are any other factors or questions please ask.

I need help ASAP, I don't know how to correct or what has caused today's issues. Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this all over the place post..

Hi and Welcome to YT!

The Yorkie's hormones are still in his system, it can take a few months for these to go away. Sounds like he was 'protecting' friend/kennel mate. The Yorkie needs more training, he needs to feel confident that YOU have all situations under control, and that he respects you. He needs to learn what is acceptable behavior and what behaviors will not be tolerated.

Yorkies learn best using Positive Reinforcement techniques....

You said the pit bull pup attacked the lab to I would honestly get a trainer because you need to nip the pit bull doing it in the but ASAP or he will become a danger because as puppy's they don't realize how strong there jaws are and can really hurt other animals or people and the trainer can work with both or them. A dark park can be to much for some dogs.

I read it that the Yorkie did the attacking...

The pitbull puppy hasn't attack anything or anyone. He doesn't even growl. Sorry for the confusion. The yorkie is the one that was attacking and when the yorkie attacked either dogs the pitbull was not near the dogs being attacked

It's the Yorkie who is doing the attacking, not the pit bull. I don't have any specific advice, but I just wanted to clarify.

They're puppies, so they're not 'speaking' dog yet (socialization). I believe they can misinterpret signals from other puppies who also don't know how to 'act like a dog'... ie: they're all sending mixed messages to each other

I miss read at the end it sounded like when he said the lab came to the end of the park they both did.

Like I said before I miss read at the end but any one else wanna point it out sheesh

This is all out of the blue and he has never done this before. He has been to the dog park hundreds of times and it's one of his favorite places in the world.

Could he be not feeling good? Is he acting different in any other ways?

They do go through different phases as they mature... I'll try to find a paper on it...






The Critical Fear Periods in Puppies



By: Nancy Frensley, CPDT, CAP1

Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society Training Manager

The Critical Fear Periods in Puppies:

Seven to Nine Weeks

Four to Six Months

Approximately Eight to Nine Months

Approximately Twelve Months

Approximately Fourteen to Eighteen Months

During these periods, puppies may show fear of items, situations or people with whom they formerly felt safe. They may start barking at people entering a house or become fearful and startle at benign items like trash cans, drainpipes or even yard gnomes. They may crouch, shake and try to run away, submissively urinate or tell the scary thing/person to go away by showing an aggressive display (which could include piloerection, snarling, lunging or other unruly behavior.

You must be patient during these periods and keep to the familiar. These are not good times to introduce your puppy to new situations or people. Be very careful to avoid doling out punishment or reprimands. It’s vitally important that you understand that your dog is afraid and that you add to the fear when you reprimand or punish. This, in turn, can set the dog up for future aggression problems.

During these periods, introduce your puppy slowly to the situation, with good tasting treats, so that he or she does not experience fear. Control situations so that you can prevent a fearful response and show your puppy that you enjoy the situation. Use food treats and happy talk to lure your puppy up to scary objects. Teach the targeting exercise (touch your hand with his nose) and work on getting your puppy to "touch the goblin".

When people visit your home during these periods, put your puppy in another room until visitors are settled in, then bring your puppy out on leash and praise for any show of confidence. Even have visitors toss good treats toward your puppy without approaching him or her.

He is acting normal playing with our pit pup as normal. eating normally and drinking normally. potty times have been normal.. that's where im caught off guard because this is the first time he has acted like this and i just wanna correct it before it escalates into a bigger problem.

PS thank you guys for promptly responding to my post and being helpful.

You're welcome!

maybe beating a dead horse but what is the advice here other then patience. what would you guys do in this specific situation. should i do anything? can or should i bring him back to the dog park, if i should when should i?

how should i deal with these types of situations when he gets like this towards other dogs?