New Yorkie advice?
 

Hello YT! I am hoping you can give me a little general advice about our new Yorkie, Cookie. She is 8 months old and PRECIOUS- my husband, 12 year old son and I have just fallen in love. How she came to be with us is kind of a long story, and honestly, a week and a half ago, there were no Yorkie intentions in our household. We are beyond thrilled to have her, though, and she has slipped into our family and our hearts. A little background on her: she was NOT bred to be a “teacup” or purposely tiny dog- we saw several other pups from her breeder, and they were all good, standard size (or larger), healthy Yorkies, as were her mom and dad. She was well cared for and well socialized. She came to us with all her vaccines, health checkups, and a mild cough. We had her looked at in the walk in clinic with our vet, who said she had good lung sounds, no signs of trachea issues, and likely has a virus that should get better. She weighed in at 3 lbs at that visit, and we were told she may not get much larger. We did not get her for her size- we fell in love with her spunky, cuddly personality and the fact that she was a bit older. Honestly, I’d like to see her continue to grow a bit, though I know she may not. However, her size is a concern to me. I had a 4lb Chihuahua for 17 years, so I feel good about keeping her safe, but she seems more dainty than Daisy did. So my first questions are about size: I would NEVER buy a dog being bred for small size, or advertised as being “teacup” or micro, or whatever awful thing they are doing now. However, with Cookie just ending up tiny by genetic chance, and being bred from healthy lines, can she be healthy? I’m terrified after reading about how terribly unhealthy these tiny Yorkies can be, but it seems like many of them were bred by choice that way, sacrificing health for size. Can Cookie have a good, long, healthy life?

Are there things I need to think of to help her with being so tiny? Just like with Daisy, she won’t be allowed to climb on/jump off furniture, and we are carefully leash training her since we live in a hawk-heavy area. Anything else safety wise?

Finally, Thursday morning is her first “official” vet visit. She will be looked at from teeth to toes, and we will be scheduling her spay appointment. What do I need to be sure and talk to my vet about? I’ve been reading these forums since she came home, and my 2 biggest fears were trachea collapse or liver shunt. At her short walk-in checkup, the vet felt like those two things wouldn’t be issues. What else should I ask? She still has that mild, slightly wheezy cough, and her tummy has been audibly gurgling a couple times today. She is ultra spunky, energetic, eating well, normal stools. What should I get my vet to educate me about? Any concerns I should voice?

Thank you! I never set out to be a Yorkie owner, but now that I am, I just adore her. I really want to help her have her best life possible!:aimeeyork

At 8 months, your Yorkie is still growing and could put on another half pound or a pound or even more weight before being fully grown. Our Bella ended up weighing a couple of pounds more than the growth chart predicted (growth chart predicted 5 pounds, and she weighs a healthy 7 pounds), so you never know. It sounds like you are taking the appropriate precautions.

To put your mind at ease, you might want to have a full blood workup done to rule out potential liver problems. Please mention the stomach gurgling to the vet, as well as the cough. Schedule the spay as soon as possible--you want to try to get that done before she goes into her first heat. At 8 months, that could happen at any time now. Have the blood work done just before the surgery. Make sure the appropriate vaccinations are up to date, and that you are doing heartworm control.

PS -- Welcome to Yorkietalk!

Congrats. Tiny Yorkies can be healthy if bred right but the fact she came with a cough would make me wonder a bit about the breeder. She will probably fill out a little more. I rescued my youngest at 8 months and she was 10 pounds then and is now 12 pounds. I can’t really help with precautions to take and stuff because my smallest is 10 pounds. When getting her spayed though I would make sure to do pre surgery blood work, make sure there is a heated operating table, that they put an IV cath in and that they do fluids. All those are pretty important for small breed dogs.

Grats on your new baby and welcome to YT

Welcome to YT and congrats on your new baby girl, you will all have to learn the yorkie shuffle lol, and that is not picking your feet up when you walk so as not to step on her or accidently kick her with your feet / foot. Picture would be awesome when you get a chance.

I learned to scan the environment like a cop since my Otto wants to chase all things moving and likes to challenge bigger male dogs. That is my main concern as I live in a condo across a Huskie and I got traumatized after watching how easily a huskie killed a poodle in You Tube. I went to see a cycling event near our house with him and I saw many people with big dogs around, I looked away for a sec and suddenly I saw this woman carrying a huge Pitbull coming toward us and my Otto started to bark at him. I picked him up and held him against my chest until the pit walked by, he didnt even looked at us, fortunately he seemed like a very well socialized pit bull .

Haha...love that...the Yorkie shuffle. My hubby has had to do that since we rescued our little 6 lb guy. He is normally pretty heavy footed. He has been walking like an old man to avoid hurting him - super cute.

Yikes...big dogs scare me too. I recently got some pepper spray just in case cause mine likes to bark at all big dogs too. I like to go for walks with him and I am constantly afraid one of our neighbors big dogs will get loose and get him. I have already had to get between my dog and a German shepherd, but thankfully the owner got to him in time and he was on a leash. I'm like you...hawk eyes.

Woops!
 

Holy cow, you guys! For some reason, I never saw that my thread posted! I assumed it got lost in cyberspace somewhere until I checked my email. Sigh- Christmas brain. I can’t wait to get home and read everything. Thanks!!

Exactly! No leash is almost non existant for me! And I get the feeling that big dog owners feel superior, they always give me that "look" LOL.

Thank you for the reply! Yes, I have questions for the “breeder” as well. Like I said, Cookie has a long history- she came to me through a dear friend who is a dog rescuing addict. She, through another long story, had Cookie and several siblings that she was rehoming, but also willing to keep if she needed to. Cookie has CKC “registration papers” and vet documentation for vaccines. I never intended to get a dog. My 17 year old Chihuahua baby just died in November- it broke my heart. But when we saw Cookie, we just knew she was supposed to be our dog. I can’t explain it. If I had intended to get a Yorkie, I would have researched, found a quality breeder, done it right. I have an English Budgie with more illustrious lineage than mine:D. But she’s our girl. We know she may have some serious health issues, and we are fully committed to caring for those as they need it. She’s our girl.

The vet visit went great, except... she appears to be up to two months younger than reported on her “papers.” Her baby teeth are still coming in. Big surprise, right? I’m actually kind of thrilled, though- I’d love to see her hit that 5lb mark, or somewhere up there, for the sake of her health and fragility! 6 months old means more growing time, maybe. We’ll see- we’ll love her if she’s a dinky Yorkie or a porky Yorkie.

She’s on an antibiotic for her cough- her trachea looked great. They will run the blood work and liver test before her spay. She wants to wait to spay her until her canines come in so we can see if they will need to be pulled or not due to retention, so maybe another 2 months.

We bought out the pet supply store of chew toys and pink princess beds. I even got a Yorkie mug. I’m in trouble:p

It always takes a while for new Yorkietalker's posts to appear. They appear more quickly the more you post, so post early, post often! For example, let us know how your vet visit went.

Awww you already know how to do the yorkie shuffle, that's good with a heavy footed hubby.

Walking lil dogs one must have eyes like a hawk, my boy is not little, he's a 12 pounder, but, a hungry hawk or falcon could still swoop down and grab him, he's always on leash, but a pry bird grabbing a dog and trying to fly off, if dog is to heavy or on leash the bird would drop the dog but the damage the talons of a pry bird can do to a small dog can be life threating. Eyes to the sky's is a must if you're in an area where there are prey birds.

OMG how terrifying for you both. Thank goodness Piper girl was not harmed.

For true...Truly terrifying and truly grateful Pipe was/is fine. Thank you, Matese.

I posted a longer, detailed reply to this thread three days ago, and it still hasn’t shown up. I’m not sure if this length of time is normal, is a function of the holidays, or if my reply was lost to cyber space. Posting a quick reply to see if it shows up...

Okay, it did. I’m not sure what’s going on with my replies, but let me try again. One of the earlier replies noted that with the cough, the breeder might be suspect. I totally agree. I never met the actual breeder-Cookie came to me through a friend who had her and several other puppies from this “breeder.” I suspect this is a literal, hobbyist, back yard breeder. My friend is a passionate dog advocate/lover, and she came into possession of the pups with the intent to either rehome or keep them. Luckily,they seem relatively healthy. I want to clarify something. If I had intended to get a Yorkie (or any breed), this is NOT how I’d go about it. Have you ever met a dog and KNOWN it was your dog? That it was meant for you? That’s what happened. We had no intention of getting a new pup- my 17 year old Chi passed about 7 weeks ago, and I was devastated. It was too soon. But Cookie just connected with my husband and me. She was meant for us. She needed a home and love. We realize she may have health issues, and we are committed to do whatever she needs- she was supposed to be our baby! We are now learning all we can about Yorkies to best help her have a great life. We adore her- she’s just supposed to be with us. She’s perfect❤️. Thank you All for this site- it is helping SO much.

I saw your other post just now. It's posted in order by the date. You said your Yorkie is younger than the breeder listed on the papers, and delayed the spay so you can have the remaining baby teeth extracted at the same time. You're having bloodwork done before the spay. This is standard procedure, so it sounds like you have a good vet. Keep us posted!

After appox 10 posts all your threads and replies will appear as soon as you hit submit.

I personally would want to spay her asap before she goes into heat and he can just go ahead and pull the baby teeth that are left. One of my rescues came with CKC papers and I went a head and sent them in as like a birth certificate lol. My puppy mill pup has them too. You really might want to look into pet insurance before she has pre existing conditions. I have a mug to and I don't even drink coffee or anything like that lol.

Welcome to the world of yorkie fever lol.

Aaaah! Ok, I’m getting the hang of this. Thank you guys! Lovetodream, I will ask about that. My vet said she was ok if she had a cycle before spaying, because the newer research indicates that the hormones from that cycle are beneficial to them in terms of cancer prediction. Is that not best practice for Yorkies? Thank you All- there will likely be a repetitive post due to my learning curve.

jkpal, that Akita story.... shudder:-(. So glad your baby is ok!

I have to disagree with your vet there really is no research out there showing waiting is best at least not for small dogs and yorkies. If you spay them before their first heat they have not developed mammaries so there is not chance for mammary cancer each heat they have the risk for mammary cancer goes up.

Thank you, Lovetodream, for the spay information and the insurance suggestion! I will look into both of these Tuesday.

On a totally different note, after reading a lot of posts here, we decided to start clicker training Cookie today. Oh my goodness- it took 2 click rewards for her to “get it.” She’s so smart! I’m loving her terrier-ness:-). I am seeing why you all are so passionate for the breed. I had no idea!

They get a bad name because they can be stubborn but they really are very smart. My oldest girl has a trick title and understands plain English and my boy has two trick titles and soon should have his third. I have healthy paws pet insurance and haven't had any issues with it. There are some out there that cover routine stuff and some the cover just accident, injury and illness.

My kiddo is very food motivated, he learns new commands and tricks in one day doing 5 to 7 minute training several times through out the day, he's 6 yo and still learning new things, I use his kibble as reward treats.

I bought a book on clicker training. When I read “5-7 minute sessions”, like you do Matese, I wondered how any animal could learn anything in that short of a time. She showed me! We clicked and tiny-treated every outside bathroom incident today. She had NO indoor accidents! First day! I hope she’s still learning at 6 years old too:-). I just love her!