Shelter adopted Yorkie w Issues?
 

HI everyone, great site, new here and new to Yorkie breed.
We just adopted/ Indy, a 5# Yorkie/mix from a local rescue shelter, they said he was surrendered by owner that could no longer care for him, house trained, walks well on leash, very sweet personality, loves to lay in your lap.
We have adopted from this shelter once before, 2 years ago, with great success, (13# rat terrier/Italian grey), his name is Bentley and he's an awesome guy.

Well as it turns out, little Indy has a lot of issues:
He is not housetrained, he doesn't even squat to poop, he just goes while he's walking, in circles. (inside or outside or walking on leash)

He walks in circles, constantly, if he's not on a leash. (he'll take a few steps then do two circles, then take a few steps, circle twice, etc. etc.
(we didn't notice this at shelter as he was leashed).
he also does a lot of spinning, (from reading here I get that's a Yorkie thing).
He seems to spin when he's happy, or stressed.
When he's on the deck or down near the fence, he paces back and forth like you see abused animals that are caged up all the time, with spinning too.

When he's not circling or spinning, or pacing, he's licking the fridge or the walls or the furniture. If you don't stop him from licking it gets kind of faster and obsessive and he seems to get himself into a frenzy.
(it seems to happen at the same time each day).
He won't let us pick him up, but we can pat him and love on him if we don't pick him up.
He doesn't seem to know how to play with toys and if you squeak one he spins faster and faster.

He only makes little grunting noises, have not yet heard him bark. When Bentley barks it seems to scare Indy and he jumps. (of coarse I do also)
He also does not respond to his name.

My husband and I are very experience dog people but have always had larger dogs, until Bentley.
For the past 12 years we shared our home with 4 rescued large greyhounds (they have all passed now) and we fostered so many greyhounds that we lost count at 12. Most of them were very abused, fresh off the race track, we usually took the troubled ones to foster as I am home all day and had the time to work with their issues.

I forgot to mention that we bathed Indy the day we brought him home and found a matted mass of poop or something all down his back left leg.
We got him into the vet the next day and had him all checked over and the back leg shaved. Underneath it was all infected, vet gave him antibiotic shot, seems to be healing up well.
His teeth are really bad too, one of the bottom front big ones is missing and the other one is wobbly and needs taken out. Not sure if he'll have any teeth left after the vet gets finished with dental. Vet had a hard time keeping him still enough to properly check him. Poor wee guy.
Vet also noticed his hips or back legs keep popping in and out of joint. Vet and assistant could both feel this just from holding him.
Vet thinks that Indy either came from a hoarder type situation or just a very neglectful person that really couldn't deal with having a dog. He didn't think it was neurological. Won't say what else he said, after he smacked me upside the head.
Need some advise here!
At 5 years old can he be retrained? House training is #1 on my list. I've had a few greys with no teeth so that we can deal with. The hips or legs popping in and out freaks me right out.
My husband and I don't' have the heart to take him back to where we got him as he was there 13 days and they didn't seem to notice the back leg mass or not being able to pick him up on your lap.
I'm also sure they probably weren't told the truth about where he came from.

Is it possible to help this little guy? Bentley really wants a friend to run and play with. He keeps gently trying to play with Indy, but Indy doesn't seem to get it, although he's not afraid of Bentley, it's like he doesn't no how.

Ready for that advise now.

First, Welcome to YT! This site is full of great Yorkie knowledge and the members are generous with their knowledge - I can safely say that having been the benefactor of so much help!

Clearly, Indy has not been trained or socialized!
I am sure others will come forth with their help, also

There is a booklet, called HOW TO HOUSEBREAK YOUR DOG IN 7 DAY, by Shirlee Kalstone, which is a brief and concise look at the potty training issue (which Yorkies can be very stubborn about)! However, don't plan on the 7 days, as Indy has some things to un-learn as well, but i would hope it would give you a place or two to start. It is pretty strongly suggested that dogs that are not house broken need to live in a very restricted area until they "get it". Have free range will make it worse.

If you vet does not believe the circling is neurological, then you will just need to go with that for awhile until you get a better handle on the who potty training thing. Good news that he walks well on a leash.

I'm sure he does NOT know how to play if he has been socialized much. The main key will be patience. If you fuss at him he will withdraw - positive reinforcement is best (which you probably already know) - treats and praise when does what you like. It takes longer to in-learn than to learn so take your time.

Bless you for giving this pup a new (and more normal) pet life:D

I personally believe that positive basic obedience training is good for all dogs. Helps them with anxiety and to understand what is expected of them and that good dog acts pay off!

Keep us posted please!

First it is very good of you to offer a for ever home to a neglected Yorkie. I am unfortunately not surprised to hear that a rescue did not either deal with his teeth issues or disclose his health status to you. I am a bit concerned with your leg description popping in and out - it might be his knees indicative of Luxating Patella or if his hips some congenital defect of the hip joint (s). Either one or both might need surgery down the road!

More than a few Yorkies can be notoriously hard to house train and for 5 yrs this one has not had the training. I would definitely restrict his roaming space in the house until he is 100% Treat him for housebreaking as a eight wk old puppy.

If he is walking well on a lead - I would try to wear him out with the walking. Spinning and fence running as you know can be a sign of a dog that is kept crated way way too long every day! So I would slowly try to work on that first by keeping him on lead and long long walks daily.

Dogs will and can learn from watching. So if your other dog is really toy driven and loves to play fetch and or find that toy - you can do that and let your rescue watch for quite some time.

Calming down and feeling more hope for Indy
 

Thank you for the feedback. I went out today and bought a long training leash and plan on keeping Indy attached to me, for the most part, when he's out of his crate.
Indy and Bentley and I are going outside every 45 min to1/2 hour just in case, and it seems to be working today so far. Bentley and I are both ready for a snooze.
We had a bit of a bad poopie start to our morning, in the house. I didn't even see him go as he doesn't stop to go like most dogs, so hard to no that he needs to even go. But turns out it's not Indy's fault, my husband and I got our wires crossed, so bad us for confusing the poor wee guy.
Bentley loves to go for long walks, so Indy will now join us for the longer walk. I was hesitant to take him too far after the vet told me about his legs/hips popping out and in. I think I'd better call the vet back and get him to explain the popping thing better to me. I was so freaked out hearing about it that I don' t think I asked enough questions to really understand it. It was the vets assistant that said she could feel or even hear them popping. Indy doesn't seem to have a hard time walking or jumping up or down or spinning because of it, or act like he's in pain.

I noticed no one commented on the circle walking or spinning or licking thing so I'm guessing they could be Yorkie traits?

I forgot to mention before that he weighed 5# (according to the shelter notes), he was very skinny when we first got him, you could feel nothing but ribs and fur, but he has added a few #'s already, weighed in at vets @ 7# in just 2 days of being with us. He got at Bent's food a few times as I wasn't watching.

Indy had no problem changing his diet from shelter kibble to the real food w supplements that we feed Bentley. From day one, after tasting Bent's real food he won't even eat the canned food, that we sometimes give them when there is nothing homemade, fast food night. His poops have been good. He doesn't even want to take a commercial soft cookie, only chicken or meat scraps or cheese. So that's a plus, and easier to clean up since we are having potty issues.

We also don't think that Indy is his real name as he doesn't respond to it. But my husband has figured out why the shelter named him Indy, it's all the circles and spinning like he's racing the Indianapolis race track.

The little angel is asleep on the footstool right now and Although he's not what we were expecting when we went searching for a new friend for Bent, we will accept him for who he is and patiently try to help him overcome some of his issues.
Will try to figure out how to post photo of Indy (and Bentley, is that aloud as he's not a Yorkie)

I am glad Indy is doing better .. Thank you for giving this little guy a home . Would love to see pics of both your pups ..

My Oscar is a walking pooper :D He is outside trained but he will occasionally go in his box . He is also a spinner . He spins around in circles when excited . It is so funny .. He has done this since he was a puppy .

What did the vet say about the spinning? Couldn't spinning and circling be a neurological symptom?

I too have a rescue Yorkie who is five yrs old and she does many of the same behaviors, She just started to bark but it sounds so muffled, I think it is going to take your lil guy a little time to get adjusted.
A lot of TLC and vet visits.

With time I think he will get better; give medicated shampoo baths and a lot of grooming to get the matt out.

Good Luck !

Welcome to YT and thank you for for rescuing this little guy and trying to work on his issues. My last girl I had as a 8 week old puppy, she was a spinner from day one, I would always say I should have named her spinner. I always felt it may have come from over breeding of the momma, I never addressed it with my vet, did not think it was a prob. she was perfectly normal, she stopped the spinning at age 15 y/o when her sight started to fail. You not knowing the back ground of this rescue I would talk to the vet about this spinning.

Forgot to add, although this forum is basically for yorkies, we welcome all breeds, so to answer your question of posting a pic of Bentley even tho he is not a yorkie, the answer is YES, absolutely, we would LOVE to see your little fur family.

NO, spinning or licking IS NOT A YORKIE trait

It seems possible he may have spent a lot of time in a crate with such limited space resulting in his spinning as a means of exersize, but of course we are just guessing.

Good luck and thanks for adopting!!

I Had no idea that spinning was not a trait of Yorkies; I thought it was because my girl does it and we just connected it to her wanting to go outside.

Many dogs spin for various reasons, if you have a healthy dog as I had your dog spinning may be her way of saying it's potty time, if she makes when you let her out, then that is her way of letting you know. I had 4 yorkies, only one was a spinner, I have an adopted boy, he does not spin, he is a verbal boy and lets me know when he has to potty or it is treat time.

Welcome to YT! I have no advice. I just want to say you have such a great heart for actually sticking with the dog even though he wasn't what you expected. Bless you and your husband for giving him a chance. Also My yorkie does not spin but I did watch a grooming video on you tube and she did say every yorkie she's ever worked on spun. So it might be in certain situations but maybe not all the time. Wish you the best of luck! Can't wait to see pictures of your fur babies. Keep us updated!

I think the little guy will want to please you and start going potty outside soon.
I would take him out the very first thing in the morning, every two hours, after naps and catch him going outside and lavish on the praise. Yorkie currency is often praise and attention-even more than food.
Your gentle patient approach is just the ticket!