Shelter adopted Yorkie w Issues?

[Tay65]

I just wanted to say you and your husband are so wonderful for taking in a rescue yorkie. Bless you! Indy is very lucky!

[DBlain]

How wonderful of you to take this little guy in.

My Lola spins a lot but she is half pom and I heard that is a pom thing, but she does it only when excited like for a toy, treat or to got outside to play. In Indy's case it might be because he was caged a lot, often mill dogs are said to walk in circles and pace back and forth. However it is also a sign of neurological problems, I know you said your vet did not think so but this is common problem in poorly bred small breeds like yorkies. I don't know how much a vet can tell by just looking a dog over. There is a sick and injured section on Yorkie Talk, if I was you I would post specific health related questions there and ask about how neurological problems are diagnosed in small breeds. It also sounds like he possibly has arthritis in the hips and maybe even Luxating Patella (LP) which means the knees move in out of the socket, that is a yorkie trait and there is an operation that can fix it, but it is costly and then the dog has to be crated with limited activity which would be sad to do to a pup that you just got or don't know the history of. Excessive drooling or licking, is probably related to his teeth hurting, an infection and or stress.

In defense of the shelter, owners that surrender dogs are not always honest so often shelters don't know their background. Shelters are different than rescue groups and don't always have much funds or time to groom and vet a dog, was that the case here? If so I hope the adoption fee was very minimal or free. If you did pay a high fee I would see about getting some money back to help with the vet bills.

How long have you had him? I think this pup is going to require a lot of patience, love, and vet bills. I don't think in the near future he will be the playmate you were looking for for your other pup. Good Luck, I hope you and your husband are up for this.

[DBlain]

I just noticed the part about the weight gain, he most likely did not weight 5# when you got him, I really don't think a dog that small can gain 2 lbs in two days, at this point I would highly doubt anything the shelter claimed about Indy. If they are an all breed shelter they probably did not even have him very long, small dogs tend to get adopted at shelters pretty quick, because they normally do not get that many. Unless they took him into their homes they would have no way of knowing if he was house trained, one of the main reasons people give up yorkies is because of house training issues, as a breed they are often harder to train than others. I am on my fifth yorkie, Lola is actually a mix and she is my first 100% house broken pup.