Help with our 13 yo Yorkie's personality.

[AndyBoy]

Hello everyone,
Rosie our beloved Yorkie of 13 years seems to be undergoing a personality change. My wife and I are at wits end - here is some background.

We have used treats for rewarding Rosie for "peeing" or "pooping"on a pad when we cant go outside due to weather or cold - she is very finicky about this. So now she will pee on a pad every few minutes just to receive a treat. I understand that we have created this scenario with the whole reward system but how do we get out of this. If we try to ignore her she may whine for a good 10 minutes sometime yelping loudly whereby we either relent or she will stop. Its not easy on the physci to withstand that amount of whining and yelping!

Then there's this new trait;

Rosie used to wake up between 5 am - 5:30 am and whine for us to get up and feed her. Now, she awakes at 3 am and wants a treat for peeing. This will go on until one of us finally gets up to feed her (and a treat) after we have tried "barking" out many of the commands we have used on her. We have certain commands that she will listen to like "NO!", "Nappy nap!" and "Night night!" but doesn't comprehend this commands easily and will keep whining until we have to shout at her. This may help for 10-15 minutes.

I know that terriers are a stubborn breed but this is now starting to take a collective toll on our sleep.

We know she has us wrapped around her tiny little paws but any advice from someone who may have experienced something similar or who trains Yorkies will be appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

[Lovetodream88]

I would have her first checked for a UTI. She could just be more hungry. At 13 she might also could have doggy dementia which they do make medicine for. My older girl if my grandma gives her a cookie a few times she will occasionally bark at my grandma or cry until she gets something but if we ignore her she eventually stops.

[KatysMom]

Welcome to YorkieTalk. Thank you for the love and care your have given your sweetie these many yeas.

A trip to the vet is a good suggestion. She may be struggling a little at night or it may be a different condition. Try to collect all the symptoms. You mentioned she is peeing frequently, is she also drinking a lot and to excess?

Starting about the time she turned 13, my late Katy was seen every few months by her vet. We lost her shortly after her 15th birthday. So grateful to the vet services she receive over that time--I wouldn't trade those last two years for anything. --KatysMom

[yorkietalkjilly]

Any behavior changes signal a thorough vet check up, with blood and urinalysis, first thing.

IF you get a clean bill of health, she's likely bored and feels unfulfilled. Yorkies have a strong work ethic, were bred to be working dog. She doesn't have a job, doesn't have good, hard, fulfilling work to do to look forward to so she creates something to do, ways to interact with you as she can.

If this were my elder girl, I'd ad a daily work program to teach her some simple obedience skills so that she feels she is working toward learning her skills, her ability to perform the tricks or skills you teach her. Go online and study 'positive reinforcement dog training techniques'. Use a happy, upbeat body attitude, big smiles and happy voice when you give her commands, and instantly reward getting it right, gentle sad-face 'uh oh' if she misses - so she has feedback to know why she doesn't get her treat. Yorkies just eat up positive-reinforcement training and love to work, love to excel at it!

As she works with you to form a working team, she'll begin to get her daily dose of oxytocin, that bonding feeling formed in our and our dog's brain anytime we look at each other or smile or interact. It's sometimes called the mommy hormone - the hormone we secrete in our brains when we hold and bond with our children. Well, we make that hormone when we interact with our pets, too. They also make is. Google it and you'll see they've done studies to support this statement. Dogs produce and become addicted to their oxytocin fix. You will, too!

She'll want to please you to get more of that and more good feelings and pleasure that you create when you praise her genuinely from the heart as she learns more skills. You can't fake praise - you want to MEAN it so that she feels your involvement with her so be sure to make eye contact when you praise her. As she learns her skills and feels her job is to work with you learning her obedience sklils/tricks, she'll likely feel more fulfilled, happier and make fewer weird demands.

Be sure you take her for a good, long smell-walk as often as possible. Where she has time to use her doggie nose to get to smell all those wonderful, mysterious scents outside along the way as we walk. Take the time to allow her to visit over each scent, really get into it if she wants. They say dog's smelling new scents is like our watching a new Netflix series or reading a text message or email - it's great fun, highly rewarding for them.

Play hide-the-toy or hide-the-treat games with her and praise effusively every times she wins. She'll love it!

Enrich her life and she'll likely repay you as a much more easy-going, fulfilled pet.