New to Yorkies

[nanajoy]

Nothing cuter than a devilish, scruffy little imp! The picture is adorable.

[Bluebells]

He’s always been scruffy, but the “devilish imp” part took a while to develop. Although, I’m not complaining. He was a bit pitiful when I first brought him home, and now the vet says he’s one of the happiest puppies she’s ever seen. It would be nice if he’d hold still, though - just for a few minutes - so I could brush and trim him.

This was shortly after I brought him home.

[nanajoy]

Reminds me so much of my little Gus. Gotta love them! Today I "finished" his short summer puppy cut...he wiggled and squirmed the whole time. His back legs look choppy and goofy, but after a second bath tomorrow, and final trimming of crazy sticking out hair, he will look presentable, and he will be able to comfortably take morning walks in the Florida heat.

[matese]

Originally Posted by Bluebells

Just experimenting to see whether I absorbed the description of how to post a photo. Sorry he’s kind of scruffy looking in the picture (if it posts). I mentioned that he hates being groomed.

Attachment 413513

OMG, he's soooo cute. The photo came out perfect. 8 months old to neuter is the norm, hopefully he is not hiking his leg a lot and continues to kinda squat when he pees. Yorkie puppies are very high energy if he is not food or toy motivated, training basic commands can be a bit tricky and with him not having sharp hearing works against him. Terriers have short concentration span, training should be no longer then 5 to 7 minutes several times a day. After 7 minutes they are no longer focused on you, their minds are on making mischief lol. When you do train him use hand signals with each command and, train only one command at a time. When he gets that one command down pat, then you can move on with a new command. I trained my boy voice and hand commands, it works perfect when I am on the phone and he wants me off it. I give him his SIT, STAY hand command, works for me.

[Bluebells]

Originally Posted by nanajoy

Reminds me so much of my little Gus. Gotta love them! Today I "finished" his short summer puppy cut...he wiggled and squirmed the whole time. His back legs look choppy and goofy, but after a second bath tomorrow, and final trimming of crazy sticking out hair, he will look presentable, and he will be able to comfortably take morning walks in the Florida heat.

Outside walks are another thing we’re working on. The vet didn’t want me to take him outside at all until late February when his vaccinations were finally finished, and then we had a spell of cold, wet weather that wasn’t conducive to walking a pup who hadn’t reached four pounds yet. Now the weather is nicer (some days) and we’re going out around our own property a little, but it takes ten minutes to walk fifty feet. He has to fully investigate every pebble, weed, blade of grass....

[Bluebells]

Originally Posted by matese

OMG, he's soooo cute. The photo came out perfect. 8 months old to neuter is the norm, hopefully he is not hiking his leg a lot and continues to kinda squat when he pees. Yorkie puppies are very high energy if he is not food or toy motivated, training basic commands can be a bit tricky and with him not having sharp hearing works against him. Terriers have short concentration span, training should be no longer then 5 to 7 minutes several times a day. After 7 minutes they are no longer focused on you, their minds are on making mischief lol. When you do train him use hand signals with each command and, train only one command at a time. When he gets that one command down pat, then you can move on with a new command. I trained my boy voice and hand commands, it works perfect when I am on the phone and he wants me off it. I give him his SIT, STAY hand command, works for me.

I’d be thrilled if he focused for five minutes. But I have to (guiltily) admit I’m not working too hard at it yet. When he’s in his pen, I’m concentrating on potty training, and when he’s out of his pen I mostly let him run and play, because he needs to burn up some of that endless energy to sleep at night. After his run and play sessions, I spend a few minutes trying to get him to accept a few strokes of his brush. I need to start working on “Leave it” again, trying with two toys instead of a toy and a treat, but I haven’t tried it yet

He’s still squatting to pee, and I haven’t seen him do any “marking” yet. I hope I’ll be able to get him neutered before that becomes a problem. Although I have to also admit that I’m awfully nervous about the surgery. He’s so little, and I know some little dogs don’t handle anesthesia.

[matese]

Originally Posted by Bluebells

I’d be thrilled if he focused for five minutes. But I have to (guiltily) admit I’m not working too hard at it yet. When he’s in his pen, I’m concentrating on potty training, and when he’s out of his pen I mostly let him run and play, because he needs to burn up some of that endless energy to sleep at night. After his run and play sessions, I spend a few minutes trying to get him to accept a few strokes of his brush. I need to start working on “Leave it” again, trying with two toys instead of a toy and a treat, but I haven’t tried it yet

He’s still squatting to pee, and I haven’t seen him do any “marking” yet. I hope I’ll be able to get him neutered before that becomes a problem. Although I have to also admit that I’m awfully nervous about the surgery. He’s so little, and I know some little dogs don’t handle anesthesia.

I am sitting here and LOL remembering my little wild indians zooming through the house. I will admit, I wasn't strong enough to stop them. Life is so new to them, I just let them have fun. We were campers when I had puppies, we, meaning my two older yorkie girls 3 and 6 years old, me and this last baby. She was 7 months old, escaped from our campsite and took off into the woods, I was lucky to catch her, she was focused on running free, I picked up a small branch, called out FETCH, threw it behind me, when she turned, ran passed me I caught her. That is when I learned small dogs must be trained commands. That is not to say, even if she was trained to stop, sit, stay, wait it would have worked with these terriers.

They are so cute and funny as puppies, it is so hard to be firm with them.

[matese]

As for the surgery, just make sure they do blood work before the surgery to ensure his liver can filter the anesthesia. You must have faith and trust in your vet, that is very important. If your baby is not ready for this surgery your vet will let you know. It is scary when they are wee lil babies and have to have surgery done, scary at anytime, but more so when they are so young and small.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by Bluebells

I read a really long thread about feeding pineapple to stop poop eating. The member who recommended it said pineapple never fails, so I did try it. Jax initially had no interest in the pineapple and then, when he did finally eat a piece, he got sick. I can’t be sure the pineapple caused it, but that’s the only time in almost five months he’s vomited, so I haven’t tried it again.

There are lots of products online that are supposed to stop poop eating, but most of them get middling to poor reviews.

It would probably be best to ask the vet what would work and what wouldn't.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by Bluebells

My vet doesn’t really have a problem with his weight, other than that she said she was hoping he’d make it to at least six pounds, but we’re getting less optimistic about him getting that big. She’s happy with his overall health, though. She just thinks — and I agree — that it would be safer for him to be a bigger.

From what I’ve read, it seems to be really difficult to predict a Yorkie puppy’s adult weight. All I can go by for now is that he hasn’t gained any weight for about a month, but maybe he still has time for another growth spurt?

I find that they fill in a bit after a year old which could even be up tot 2 pounds it just depends on the dog.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by Bluebells

I’d be thrilled if he focused for five minutes. But I have to (guiltily) admit I’m not working too hard at it yet. When he’s in his pen, I’m concentrating on potty training, and when he’s out of his pen I mostly let him run and play, because he needs to burn up some of that endless energy to sleep at night. After his run and play sessions, I spend a few minutes trying to get him to accept a few strokes of his brush. I need to start working on “Leave it” again, trying with two toys instead of a toy and a treat, but I haven’t tried it yet

He’s still squatting to pee, and I haven’t seen him do any “marking” yet. I hope I’ll be able to get him neutered before that becomes a problem. Although I have to also admit that I’m awfully nervous about the surgery. He’s so little, and I know some little dogs don’t handle anesthesia.

Although its normal to worry anesthesia is very safe. Just make sure you get blood work before hand. I neutered my oldest boy at 6 months and everything was great no marking. I waited with Ollie my youngest until 9 months because of a puppy training class and it was the worst decision I ever made. He started marking and it was a massive amount of work to stop it and he still occasionally does it. Neutering is a lot easier then spaying so they don't have to open up his abdomen like with females so it generally goes faster and they heal faster. My oldest wanted to start rough playing after 3 days the little crazy guy.

[Bluebells]

Originally Posted by matese

As for the surgery, just make sure they do blood work before the surgery to ensure his liver can filter the anesthesia. You must have faith and trust in your vet, that is very important. If your baby is not ready for this surgery your vet will let you know. It is scary when they are wee lil babies and have to have surgery done, scary at anytime, but more so when they are so young and small.

I discussed it with the vet pretty extensively, and I do trust her. She does pre-surgery bloodwork, and she monitors her surgery patients extremely closely as they go under anesthesia. If there are any signs of a problem, she backs out immediately rather than proceeding. She also said she’s never, in over ten years, lost an animal during an elective surgery. I still worry, though. It’s in my genes.

[Bluebells]

Originally Posted by Lovetodream88

Although its normal to worry anesthesia is very safe. Just make sure you get blood work before hand. I neutered my oldest boy at 6 months and everything was great no marking. I waited with Ollie my youngest until 9 months because of a puppy training class and it was the worst decision I ever made. He started marking and it was a massive amount of work to stop it and he still occasionally does it. Neutering is a lot easier then spaying so they don't have to open up his abdomen like with females so it generally goes faster and they heal faster. My oldest wanted to start rough playing after 3 days the little crazy guy.

I don’t plan to wait, but it depends on the pandemic. Right now, the vet isn’t doing elective surgeries, and I don’t know how backed up she’ll be when the stay at home order is lifted.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by Bluebells

I don’t plan to wait, but it depends on the pandemic. Right now, the vet isn’t doing elective surgeries, and I don’t know how backed up she’ll be when the stay at home order is lifted.

Yeah here they aren’t doing surgeries unless it’s an emergency. When I saw the humane society post about it I got a sick feeling in my stomach about how many liters of puppies and kittens are going to be born because of this.

[kjc]

Aw! What a handsome boy! Love his coloring.

Ask the vet about prebiotics, probiotics, and digestive enzymes. Eating poo, low weight, and being undernourished early on could be that his gut flora may be imbalanced, so he won’t get complete benefit from his food. These may help his appetite also.