Yorkie Quirks?

[gracielove]

I suspect that a 9 years old Yorkie has had plenty of experiences during his life that have set certain characteristics in his nature.

Maybe he likes the other dog's food or perhaps he thinks his friend needs a snack! I do know that terriers do like to dig and burrow into things. They also at times think they can talk in their own way. If only they could! That would settle a lot of issues some people have with them!

[Nani]

My Tessa looks at me, barks and walks back to her water dish to let me know it's empty. She also does this at 6pm when it's time for food. However she never eats food that has been sitting out. I have to get her food and give her fresh food (I put the old dry food back in the bag and give her fresh food). My last Yorkie did the same thing with the food and it was a different brand. Tessa will not drink bottled water no matter what brand it is or how thirsty she is, neither will my sisters miniture Schnauzer, makes us wonder why. But they are such great company...just love my Tessa (she's my 3rd yorkie) ��

[JadeD]

Originally Posted by emad7277

Apparently, in Teek's world, no doggie food dish should ever be empty! :-)

He must live in a really good world

[JadeD]

Originally Posted by gracielove

I suspect that a 9 years old Yorkie has had plenty of experiences during his life that have set certain characteristics in his nature.

Maybe he likes the other dog's food or perhaps he thinks his friend needs a snack! I do know that terriers do like to dig and burrow into things. They also at times think they can talk in their own way. If only they could! That would settle a lot of issues some people have with them!

I think you are right. I have no idea what he has experienced in his life before I got him. I do know that they had trouble with him getting into the trash. I honestly do think he was just a dog at their house and here is a part of the family. He has a couple bad habits, but we are working on them. 9 years of him scrounging through the trash is difficult to break, but he is getting better. He leaves the trash alone when I make my 'uh uh' noise and tell him to leave it. He is learning though. I try not to be harsh with him as he is not used to all of this, but he is learning quickly enough.

[JadeD]

Teek weighed exactly 7 lbs when I got him per the vet he saw a few days after I took him home. They didn't say anything about his weight. You could feel every single rib whenever I picked him up. I think he has gained a little in the 6 weeks I have had him. he seems to hardly eat, but I do have to refill his bowl every so often. I only put 2 small handfuls of food in it at a time, so probably it has 1/4-1/2 a cup at a time in it and since I don't wait to see when it is empty, I just add another small handful whenever. He occasionally steals a piece or two of our big dog's food, but never more than a few pieces of it. The big dog has recently stepped back from his food bowl to let Teek run in and snatch a piece.

Anyway, now I can feel his ribs, but not as much as when I got him. What is the ideal way he should feel? He is absolutely not fat by any stretch of the word. I just don't want him to get fat and then I have to put him on a diet or make sure we take longer walks (although I LOVE longer walks).

I do believe that he was kept indoors in a small area and only taken outside a couple times a day to potty. He could barely walk up and down our block without being tired when I got him. We walk that 2-3 times a day now and sometimes take a leisurely walk around the block even and he is doing great. He runs around the house and plays with me as well. He is much more active now than when I got him. He acts younger today than he did when I brought him home 6 weeks ago.

He is absolutely the sweetest little guy in the whole world! His personality is top notch! His playful attitude is awesome. His cuddles are what make my day. I just want to keep him healthy and at a healthy weight.

[Silver Lace]

My first thought when you said your Teek was pawing at your other dog's empty dish after he had tried some of his is that I wonder if he isn't saying to you, Mom, I like this food. Can I have this food instead? Could that be possible that he likes the other food more since he steals some at times. Would it be possible to give him this food instead to see if he would rather have it. Just a thought. Especially since you said he doesn't eat that much. I think your bigger dog is so nice to step back and let the little fellow take from his own bowl of food.

[JadeD]

Teek came to me on a grain free diet and so I plan to keep him on a grain free. I am thinking about switching him to Innova Nature's Table though in the near future.

Gatlin on the other hand is on a food that he is finally thriving on, but it is not grain free. Gatlin has been underweight nearly his entire life, through no effort of us trying to fatten him up a little. He finally looks healthy so the dogs will just have to eat separate foods.

Teek always goes for 1 particular shape of Gatlin's food, so I think he just likes that one type for some reason. I figure 1-2 pieces a day of it shouldn't hurt him. I hope he likes the new food I want to put him on as he will eat this... but I am not sure he likes it. I put him on the same brand he was on when I got him only they had him on a larger kibble. He prefers the smaller kibble and I was mixing about 80% of his bowl with the new kibble and just a few pieces of the larger kibble (same brand) and he would eat all the small kibble and leave the big kibbles. It took me a month to get him to finally eat about 1 cup of his old food mixed in with his smaller kibble food. I need to check the kibble size on the Innova before I buy it as I don't think he will like it if it is a larger kibble. We shall see though.

I am looking at new dog foods later this week as I think I have 2-3 weeks worth of his food left and that will give me plenty to do the slow switchover. I typically will just throw a few pieces of the new food into his old food, then a few days later double the amount I throw in. It is slower then the 75% old food to 25% new food. Eventually I will get it to there and then to the 50/50 and after that it should go pretty good if he likes the new food that is.

[JadeD]

Teek is the quirkiest thing! I actually love his quirks though because they are what make him Teek.

I am just wondering if other people's yorkies do these things though...

For example when he is on the couch he will stand on the cushion of the couch going up the couch with his back legs on it and his front legs on the regular cushions of the couch. Hard to explain, I might have to get a picture of it.

He just flops everywhere. He will be standing there and just flop onto a blanket on the couch just because there is a blanket on the couch. It is the cutest thing.

Also, if there is a blanket it is HIS. It doesn't matter who the blanket belongs to, it is Teek's blanket now! He loves blankets. I had one folded and sitting on the arm of the couch, yup, that is where he decided to take a nap.

He also loves his face to be covered with a blanket. He is just such a clown.

What is really funny is when we walks along the back of the couch to go around people sitting on the couch to get to me. He will do anything to get to me! The whole family gets a kick out of it because he loves them, especially my teenage daughter, but he always wants him mama.

[Madra]

Dex has so many quirks! I just adore this little guy. When I fill his food dish, he has to 'bury' it. It's kind of hard to explain but he sort of covers it with invisible dirt, using his nose. Totally adorable. And he tells me when his dish is empty by dragging it to me.

He tells me when the timer on the stove goes off, which is rather awesome because I don't always hear it. He races into the room and pounces me until I get up, and then he 'herds' me towards the kitchen. He's recently started doing that when the washing machine in the basement finishes its spin cycle.

He's learned how to snuggle against me and around my knitting in the evenings, he knows to leave the needles and yarn alone and he's very patient about sharing my attention as long as he gets frequent belly scratches

When it's playtime, I'll say 'Dex! Go get a toy!' and he races for his basket and carefully selects one. He can pick out a few by name, like ball. And bat. And zombie. When my hubby is ignoring him too long by working on the computer, he'll often turn around to discover Dex has encircled him with a variety of toys in his attempt to get him to play.

There are probably a million other little things, I know he probably thinks 'OMG you're so CUTE' is his middle name because we tell him that so frequently

[JadeD]

Madra, He sounds wonderful! Teek has just recently decided that playing with toys with me is fun. When I first brought him home he would not play at all. Then he started his little game of "attacking" me. He will bite at me, but he has only hit me with his teeth in play and never bit me. He will pretend he is going to bite me though. He attacks me and stands on his hind legs and paws the air really high. It is adorable!

Now he will go get a toy and bring it to me and hold it by me until I grab a corner of it and then he pulls and shakes his head and when I let him have it he will squeak it a couple times and then bring it back to me. If I win the tug of war I throw the toy into the air and he chases it down and pounces on it and brings it back to me.

He acted like he was 8 years old when I brought him home, but now 6 weeks later I think he is a 5 year old. Not bad to be aging backwards! I think he just needed some love and attention and encouragement to be silly.

He is the best and I am glad someone else has a quirky dog that is cute too! The only other Yorkie I know well is a very quiet and loving dog named Jasper who loves to just melt against me whenever I see him and be held. He is the father of the puppy I am waiting on for my daughter's 17th birthday. We are so excited to be getting a Yorkie Mix later this spring.

[Madra]

Well we've just finished an energetic game of chase around the living room, much to the amusement of the hubby! It's tough to keep a 10 month old housebound pup busy when it's -30 out and the long walks are a distant memory. Come on spring!

That reminds me of another clever thing he's learned though. We take many different routes on our walks and when we get close to home, we've been saying 'Go home Dex!' or when it's been really cold we ask him, 'More walk or go home?' and let him decide. But he ALWAYS knows where home is now, no matter which way we're coming at it from. When we're almost at the house I've started dropping the leash and shouting 'Go home Dex!' while he pelts for the front door. It's adorable plus I realised this is probably a really GOOD idea for that 'just in case' moment should he ever get away on us. He knows where he lives!

[JadeD]

Originally Posted by Madra

Well we've just finished an energetic game of chase around the living room, much to the amusement of the hubby! It's tough to keep a 10 month old housebound pup busy when it's -30 out and the long walks are a distant memory. Come on spring!

That reminds me of another clever thing he's learned though. We take many different routes on our walks and when we get close to home, we've been saying 'Go home Dex!' or when it's been really cold we ask him, 'More walk or go home?' and let him decide. But he ALWAYS knows where home is now, no matter which way we're coming at it from. When we're almost at the house I've started dropping the leash and shouting 'Go home Dex!' while he pelts for the front door. It's adorable plus I realised this is probably a really GOOD idea for that 'just in case' moment should he ever get away on us. He knows where he lives!

That is awesome that he knows where he lives and might really come in handy one day!

My last dog I had liked to play outside when we were out working in the yard. She was the kind of dog I could just unhook from her tie out and tell her to INSIDE and she would run to the door. I tried to teach my husband's dog that and instead of running to the back door (we were in the back yard) he ran around the house and to the front door. I already had my dog at the back door so I ran into the house and yelled for someone to open the front door quick. My husband gets to the front door and there is his dog waiting for him! It worked, but not quite how I had planned it. My last dog died of cancer last summer, but we still have my husband's dog. This Yorkie I just got is the best dog though, I absolutely adore him. I didn't think I was ready for a dog until someone just handed him to me and gave him to me and wow, it took all of about 2 minutes to be completely taken with him.

[Madra]

Originally Posted by JadeD

This Yorkie I just got is the best dog though, I absolutely adore him. I didn't think I was ready for a dog until someone just handed him to me and gave him to me and wow, it took all of about 2 minutes to be completely taken with him.

Similar situation to ours then...apparently, sometimes Yorkies just....happen

Last summer, my husband and I went into our small local pet shop. It's owned by a lovely couple, not a chain store, and we've been loyal customers for the past 20 years. They mainly deal in pet supplies, fish, reptiles and small animals like hamsters and rats. Sometimes they have cat rescues for adoption and rarely, dogs. Anyway, we went in for bedding for our pet rats but the hubby caught sight of little Dex in an enclosure at the back of the store. He made a beeline for him, while babbling something incoherent about his childhood dog.

One of the owners was there so we were told all about this wee little one. He was surrendered a week after a family had purchased him. Apparently the young daughter ended up in the ER twice with severe allergy/breathing problems. The breeder wouldn't take him back and no family/friends would take him so little Dex (Deco at the time) ended up at the shop to be re-homed. They weren't putting him up for adoption for another week, but that was irrelevant because we were NOT looking for a dog.

Next day (Monday) we were out for a walk and the hubby suggests we go by the pet shop. This was baffling to me since we were just there and there was nothing I needed. I hadn't even remembered the puppy until we walked back in and the hubby went straight for him again. This time we got to hold him. I resisted his puppy charms and aura of unbelievable cuteness, dragged the hubby out and spent the rest of the day listing the multitude of reasons we should NOT get a puppy.

By Wednesday, he had rallied the family on Facebook by posting pictures of baby Dexter...plus I later found out, had stopped into the shop for a visit TWICE after work without telling me! Yeah, Puppy Love, he had it baaaaad. Now everyone who knows us was laughing themselves silly because normally *I* am the animal loving pushover and he's the tough guy. I was still spouting my loooong list against puppy but man it was tough, I was cracking, and cracking fast.

By Friday I caved. This was inevitable. So off we went to the shop to see if there was any possible chance the puppy was still available. When we walked in, I swear they were waiting for us. When we inquired about his adoption status they laughed at us! Seriously! Turns out they fended off inquiries for the whole week, saying he'd already been adopted...by us They knew we were going to be Dexter's parents before I did.

The hubby still teases me frequently with my most said line of that week...'This is a baaaaad idea!' Usually he quotes it at me while Dex is loving on me or we're playing tag or being totally goofy. And he's right, Dexter is the best thing that could have happened at this time in our lives and I couldn't be happier Sometimes Yorkies just happen!

[JadeD]

Teek's new favorite thing?

He jumps from the arm of the couch onto the back of the couch and stalks people from the back of the couch or just lays down up there and takes a nap. He has been up there so much today.

I have spent the entire day on the couch with a horrid migraine and he has been up on the back of the couch or cuddled with me all day.

He started this yesterday really. He would get up on the back of the smaller couch if I went out on the porch so he could see out the window, but this is on the big couch and he sits directly above where I am sitting. It is the cutest thing ever!

[barneysmommmy]

This thread brought a smile to my face. My first yorkie, Charlie, was really good at communicating his wants. He would only eat his food from a paper plate. So, he would carry it to us when he wanted more. When he would run out of water, he would dump the food off the plate and bring it to us so we would see the empty water dish when we went to fill up the food. Oh, you have to love yorkies!