Adopted 4 year old Yorkie help!
 

Hi everyone I am new to this site but I just rescued a 4 year old yorkie (Gabby) who previously lived with a older lady who passed away. The family said straight up that she never barks, will never go on walks/refuses to walk on the leash, and doesnt play with any toys.Anyways its only been a couple of days and all those things so far seem to be true. I havent heard her make a peep. Took her to the vet today (everything checked out fine) but she was around all these giant barking dogs and people and did not make a peep. Took her down to the metroparks to try and get her to walk with the leash and harness i bought her, and like they said she refused to walk. Just sat down and pulled back. I took her to a friends with a fenced in yard and she explored there, but I live in a condo and dont have the luxury of a fenced in yard which really concerns me because she is not walking on a leash. They told me she only uses pee pads...She is as sweet as can be. Seems to be very independent. Sleeping on the couch next to me as I type this. If this is what the family said she was like am I supposed to just let this go on? She seems to have no interest in anything. I spent hundreds of dollars on supplies and toys and treats and she wants nothing to do with them. She grazes at her food throughout the day. She is at a good weight and healthy though. The vet was not concerned in that aspect. I know she is still adjusting but everything that the family said has remained true so far. Is this normal? She just doesn't seem to be acting like any dog I have ever encountered...Nothing seems to interest her that I do. Any suggestions? Am I just over thinking and this really is just her personality? Thanks for any comments, thoughts, and suggestions! This is my first dog I have ever had and am so glad she is a yorkie :)

Welcome to Yorkie Talk!!!!

Thank you for adopting this sweet little girl!

Where to start.... How about with this.... In January I was literally handed a 9 year old Yorkie. He was kept in a small area of the people's house and was just kept there. He was taken out to pee several times a day and put back there. He had food and water. He did not bark.

I had him 5 days before he let out a single bark. We were taking bets on if he could bark. I have had him for 3 1/2 months and he still barely barks. Count your blessings on this one, a quiet Yorkie is a good Yorkie.

Your goal with Gabby is to make her trust you. As she learns to trust you she will do more. I am very sure of it. How long ago did her owner pass away? Was she living with another relative between that time and you getting her? Was she like this with her original owner or just with a relative she was dumped on? Maybe, and I am only guessing here she was more active with her owner. Then the lady died and a family member took in the dog but never earned her trust and so she acted this way only recently? Maybe she was always like this.

I told my family I was not changing my dogs name, he had it for 9 years. He would not respond to his old name. Finally my husband told him to give him a new name. I did and he would perk right up when I called him Teek. He loves his new name!

He would not play with toys at all when I brought him home. Once he really trusted me and loved me, then he started playing with a toy like once a week at first (this was more than a month after I got him) and now we play daily, sometimes twice a day.

Give her time to get used to her new surroundings. Let her use a pee pad. She is very young, I would sign her up for an obedience class, but let her adjust to you for about 6 weeks first. Then start the class. PetSmart here has some decent classes. Is she food motivated? Teach her to sit for a treat.

She just needs to be loved and to know that she is cared for and then after she feels secure, she will open up and hopefully will play and you might even get her to walk. Dogs can take death of an owner very hard.

I brought Teek home and he had belonged to a guy and he thought he was my husband's new dog. My husband looked at this little dog and said "you are cute, but you are her new dog." I would pick him up and cuddle him and he would put his paws on my chest and pull away from me and look at me like he was saying "Why are you being nice to me?" I would just kiss the top of his head and the back of his neck and talk sweetly to him. After a few days he relaxed a let me love on him more. Now, we are inseparable. He loves my husband, but he is my dog and he knows it. He won't eat if I am not home. I won't play unless I am around.

Love this little girl and watch her blossom! I am confident that she will. Maybe not as fast as Teek did. I am a natural dog person, a natural Alpha. They just fall in and follow me. It will happen though. You have to earn her trust first and don't worry about the money you spent on toys and stuff, she will come around. I bet 3 months from now you are buying her more of her favorite toys. Just in the last 2 weeks Teek has really come around a lot. It will take time. Her entire world was uprooted.

I am sorry this is so lengthy, but I wanted you to know from someone who was in your shoes just a few short months ago what it is like. I adore this little guy. I take him everywhere I go. Luckily for me he was socialized when he was younger, before the guy got married and had kids. He loves everyone and everyone loves him. He is sweet and his little stub of a tail wags when he meets new people.

Stick around and learn new things here. You can private message me if you would like. I would be more than willing to talk to you about her more and to share more things with Teek. Just earn her trust and then her love and she will come around.

Jade and Teek

Welcome to YT. I have a 4 y/o rescue for 17 months now. He was gotten for a little 8 y/o girl, he was given no toys as they wanted his toy to be only the little girl. He was surrendered at 2 /12 little girl is now 11 y/o. I had donated every dog related thing I had, I planned on never having any more dogs, the pain of losing them is too over whelming. Cody came into my life as a gift to me from my vet. So with no toys off to Pet Supply I go to buy a variety of toys since I didn't know what he liked. The first few days he didn't play with anything, but everyday I continued to get the soft plush toys and tease him with it. I took the soft squeaky toys and teased him with those. With in a few days he was playing with the soft rubber squeaky ones, I'm sorry now because he sends them flying across the room lol. He now LOVES toys. There were a lot of things Cody's prev. owner did not allow Cody to do like, it was ok for him to sleep on the bed, but, not next to the child. It took me 9 months of every night, when I went to bed he was already on the bed, he slept on the extra pillows, I would pick him up, put him under the blankets next to me, he would fly out, but, I continued this every night. It took 9 months to get him to sleep near me, 9 months to undo 2 1/2 years of not allowed to sleep next to anyone. Your baby was owned by an elderly person, you have 4 years to undo things. He was most likely NOT WALKED, reason he will not walk on the leash. Take treats with you when you walk him, hold treat or his fav. food / kibble in front of his nose when he sits, when he reaches for the treat / kibble move your hand backwards, let him walk a step or two to get the treat then give it to him, keep doing this, make him walk 4 steps, them 6 then 8 before giving treat. Patience and consistency are the key words. Take him to a doggy park if he is dog friendly, let him run loose. All dogs need exorcise to keep muscle mass. Do not give up, yorkies are smart little active babies, take him to a park where there is grass, encourage with with treats or boiled boneless chicken cutlets, all dogs love boiled boneless chic cutlets, use this as reward when he walks. You can do it, he will do it, just remember, patience and consistency is a must, you can change this pup but it will take time, but will be soooo rewarding when you see what you have accomplished. Good luck, you CAN undo this.

Thank you Joan! You reminded me about walking.

Teek could barely walk up and down our block when I got him, he would get so tired. I walked him everyday a couple times just up the street and back down it. Then when he could do that easily I walked him around the block, sometimes I had to pick him up. Now, 3 1/2 months later I can barely keep up with him! We are taking him hiking this summer with us and I have a pack I can carry him with, but I don't know if I will actually need to put him in it. He had no stamina when I got him, but I slowly built that up.

Just a few days ago I had him in the backyard and I practice him off leash by just dropping his leash and letting him walk around with it on the ground. He wanted to play and he has this LOOK he gives me, so I started chasing him and he would run a little and look to make sure I was chasing. He decided it was time to go inside so he ran up to the house and around it and I was chasing him and I could not catch him. I could stay a few feet behind him. I could have stepped on the leash to stop him, but would only have done that if he tried to run in the street, but he ran right up to the front of the house and onto the porch and waited at the front door for me.

Such a huge change in only a few months from a dog that would be exhausted just walking to the end of our block and back and now has energy and stamina and much more muscle tone.

Gabby probably doesn't have the muscle tone to walk much so build it up slowly.

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Thank you all so much for the help/suggestions and encouragement!! I will keep doing all the things mentioned! I will try and attach a picture..this is when I was trying to get her to walk on her leash without much success. Also..the family she was with gave me the impression this is how she acted with the previous owner. She is not scared or anything of me and gets excited to see me and will wag her tail at everyone she meets, so I think that is a good sign!

-John and Gabby (I think I will try the idea of picking a new name too)

Congratulations on your new little one!!:)
She's probably trying too process this major change in her life. She will adapted I'm sure with time and patience. After all living someone older can be a whole different life for some pets. Then there are older people who seem to stay young forever and their pets may have a more active life. You will truly enjoy this little one once you both really connect. Don't let her fool you. With time and your patience she will turn out to be all you hoped for I'm sure. Because yorkies are full of surprises!! I know you will be thrilled to have opened your heart to her in her time of need. We have 4 all ages from 1yr to 13 and they are truly precious. We are also seniors who happen to stay very active especially with our little troop. Love and treats go along way too. If ours could speak they would all say we never get enough treats for anything!!:)have fun and enjoy your new baby!

Hi, congrats on your new little girl! It's always exciting when getting a new fur-child, she will bring so much joy to your household!

Jade, I do love reading your stories about Teek, your enthusiasm and love shines through in every post you write, I just think it's awesome how far little Teek has come and how much fun he is having!:thumbup::)

Thanks! I just adore this little guy!

It never ceases to amaze me how quick they can wrap is around their little paws, lol. Yorkies spunk and love of life is contagious!

She is beautiful!!!! If she is happy to see you then you are on the right track. It will take time. There are still things that Teek is adjusting to. Overall he is adjusted well, but he is still adjusting to some things. Teaching her to walk on a leash may take time, but I have a feeling that 3 months from now you will be sharing her silly antics with us! I hope you make friends on here like I did and have people to share your stories with! Enjoy her and just keep earning her trust and her love and you will have yourself an amazing companion in no time.

I've fostered many yorkies and each one had a different length of time to get settled in. Let her take as long as she needs. Some only take a few days. Toto took almost a year until he would cuddle with anyone. Another after she was adopted, the new owners told me she hid behind the toilet in the bathroom for two weeks before she started to get used to them. They are all different.

For walking, have you checked her nails? I had one foster who would not walk. Turns out her nails were so long she literally couldn't walk! Luckily she was getting a dental so they cut her nails while she was under. Otherwise it would have taken forever to get them down to normal length.

Also I don't know if it was mentioned above, but I see in your pic she has a leash attached to her collar. It is better to have a harness for yorkies bc of their delicate tracheas.

My MIL just adopted a 3 yr old yorkie. She said she wouldn't play at first. She would throw the ball and she'd have no reaction. Turns out she prefers squeaky toys over balls. Eventually you will find what she likes.

Lastly, I would stop free feeding her. Feed her on a schedule so she can look forward to meals. And you are giving her the meals so that will develop more of a bond as well.

Thanks everyone for your help! She made progress today walking! She seems to hate or is afraid of concrete but I let her guide me through the field on grass and although slow, with lots of positive reinforcement we went on a nice little walk today. And I bought a harness as well. The vet trimmed her nails for me at her appointment on Tuesday so I don't think they are too long.