Must I get a friend for my Yorkie?
 

I live in South Africa and Yorkshire Terriers are a very popluar breed here! I have a 5 year old Yorkie, which my mom has no stolen since I moved out of the house:p

My husband and I bought a new little Yorkie boy, Asterix, a few months ago (he is now 9 months old). We absolutely adore and love him too much! :) He is completely the opposite from my 1st Yorkie, and I am convinced he has a serious case of extreme HDHD!! :p

Asterix stays inside the house during the day until we get home from work. He is the only dog. Unfortuanately we have criminals here in SA who jump over walls in our neighbourhood and steal dogs for dog fighting, hence my little boy is locked inside the house throughout the day (but he has a spacious home to rome in throughout the day).

The biggest problem we currently experience with him is that he is destructive in the time we are gone, and chews everything. We have puppy proofed the whole house, but still he tries to chew stuff (and by that I mean jerking stuff off the walls, tables and fridges and destroying it).

I would like to know if getting another Yorkie would help this problem a bit? I am wondering if this problem is either boredom during the day, or seperation anxiety. I do not know if getting him a friend will help.

I am open to any suggestions.

Thanks,
Natasha

Does he have very many toys to play with?

Have you considered playpen? Or perhaps designate a room where he can't destroy? How long is he alone for? Not sure if it's available but are there doggy daycares?

I have 2 yorkies and when no one is home, they mostly just sleep and bark if they hear something suspicious outside. So I can't say your problem would be solved if you decide to add another furry family.

Thanks for the messages everyone. Yes he defenitely has ALOT of toys to keep him busy during the day, but still he would rather opt for my furniture!

I don't feel that a playpen is maybe a good idea, just because we already restrict him from going outside during the day until we get home, so it feels cruel to me to put him in a small play pen :confused: And we do not have something like a daycare here...

We are gone from 8 in the morning and my husband gets home usually around 3h in the afternoon.

Asterix is currently enrolled at a dog training school as well. Our trainer said that his behaviour is related to attention seeking. He knows he will get attention if he does something like this as we would reprimand him (but he have stopped doing this a while ago). But we overflood him with attention, he is really a spoiled little brat! Our trainer suggested that we rub citronella or tobasco on the items that he likes to chew on.

When he has destroyed something inside the house, I usually do not give any attention to that, I would just leave it and clean up later when he does not see me.

Maybe I just really have a spoiled little brat! :p

Use baby gates so he only has access to one room or area. That way you can really puppy proof it. And limit areas of destruction. Its actually safer for the pup. To make sure he doesn't get into something to bad like electric cords ect..And u only have one area to clean. They really don't need much room. A large play area 10x10 with a potty area and sleep area will be fine. I bet he sleeps most of the day anyways. You can find a cheap wifi web cam and watch him on you phone to see whats he's doing also. And make adjustments from there.DLink Day and Night WiFi Video Security Camera White DCS-933L - Best Buy

You need to keep him in a smaller area and not give him run of the full house.

I leave my 2 yr old Yorkie Tessa in my bedroom. I have a big comfy stuffed chair and leave my shawl or housecoat on it so she can have my scent when she's on it. Ofcourse she can get on and off the chair and has her food and water plus a pee pad. No problems except she ignores me for about an hour when I get home, she goes under the bed when I open the bedroom door. But later she comes out all happy! Silly girl! :)

Thanks, I defenitely think I will now limit his access to the whole house. I just felt bad in restricting his access to all the areas of the house, and thought that this would be cruel. But I will give it a try!

And the camera idea also sounds good! I have also considered this to see what times he will have his destructive fits.

Hopefully this will help!

I think less space would help too. It might help if you think that a smaller space might make him feel more secure. Also he will be less likely to find something to get into real trouble with.
good luck! (I had to laugh about your mom stealing your other Yorkie. I've told DH that if we leave Dink with his mom, we'd never get him back.)