New to Yorkies
 

Hello. I’m new here, so I’d like to give a brief introduction and background, and then I have some questions. I’ve been fostering for an animal protection group for over ten years, which usually involves short term fostering of dogs/pups/cats/kittens with medical issues, neglect issues, etc.. But early last December I took in a tiny Yorkie puppy who came from a backyard breeder, and he’s become a permanent part of my family.

When I brought Jax home, he was about three months old (the vet’s opinion) and only weighed 26 ounces — although at least part of the reason for his low weight was that he was skinny and undernourished. He also is vision impaired (he has a congenital defect of his corneas, so his vision is cloudy and he can only see things clearly if they’re close) and possibly hearing impaired (his hearing hasn’t been fully evaluated yet, but he’s not completely deaf — he can definitely hear at least some sound frequencies — but you have to be pretty loud to get his attention.)

Jax is, overall, a really bright and sweet-natured pup, but we have some challenges. His vision issues are challenging, of course, but another issue is that he’s not at all food motivated, which makes training difficult. He’s not a picky eater, really; he is just completely uninterested in food unless he’s very hungry, and he will ignore any kind of food or treat (I’ve tried lots of different treats) for a toy or the chance to run and play.

Jax also hates holding still, having his face touched, or being groomed, and I’m afraid to be too forceful in restraining him because he’s still quite small. (He’s now about seven and a half months old, and he weighs 4 pounds, although it’s difficult to be exact because he’s so wiggly, and his weight varies a few ounces depending on when he ate or pottied last.)

I hope that’s enough for an introduction. As I said, I have some questions, but I want to see whether this posts before asking.

Ask any questions you have and I'm sure someone on this forum will be able to help you. We have many knowledgeable Yorkie parents.

Thanks. I guess the first question should be potty training, since that’s been ongoing for almost five months. I’ve read everything from “Yorkies are really smart and easy to house train” to “Yorkies are notoriously difficult to house train.” My experience is that we take one step forward and then two steps back, so maybe others with Yorkie experience can tell me what I’m doing right and wrong.

First, I should mention that because of his vision impairment and his tiny size, it’s not safe for him to run around the house unsupervised, so he has a 3x 6 pen, and he gets out to run around the house several times a day under supervision. Also, because he was so tiny when I brought him home, and he was also behind in vaccinations, my vet advised me to pad train him and not take him outside.

Pad training worked really well for about a month. He learned quickly, and after a few weeks, he had very few accidents. Unfortunately, then he decided that shredding pads is super fun, and I couldn’t teach him to not do it. I tried a pad holder, and he figured out within minutes that he could scratch the pad out of the holder. I tried a grass pad, which I had to take away because he chewed on it. I tried cloth pads, which he dragged to his bed like a blanket. I tried a cycle of “potty - play - crate,” but he would still rip the pad even while I was standing there watching ... and he would still have an accident on the floor 15 minutes after he peed last. Finally I found a “potty box” with a snap down grate that prevents him from getting to the pad, and it’s worked better than anything else. However, he is still inconsistent. He’ll use it for a couple of days without an accident, and then he’ll pee on the floor, or in his bed, or on his blanket three times in a row.

So I guess the main question is: is this normal? Will he “get it” eventually? Or is there something else I should try? I do offer him treats for using the box, but as I mentioned earlier, he’s not food motivated, so the treats don’t mean much to him.

In a related issue, somehow I managed to find a puppy who is not food motivated but is a determined poop eater. He almost always does that in his box, but then he turns around and either eats it or carries it to his bed and hides it in his blanket. He does this even though he has dry food in his bowl all day long. So, ugh. I’m hoping he outgrows it, because nothing else seems to dissuade him from doing it.

Sorry for the long post. I have more questions for later.

Hi and Welcome! How awesome of you to make this little guy part of your family. It can take puppies a long time to get used to brushing and combing so that’s pretty normal. I have one that prefers to train with a toy. When he does his trick or whatever we are working on I will toss the ball and he goes and gets it and brings in back.

Hello, welcome to Yorkie Talk, bless you for taking this wee lil baby into your home and heart as challenged as he is.

Welcome to Yorkie Talk! Jax sounds like he has the "yorkie personality"...wiggly little imps who know what they want, and when they want it. Prepare for a fun experience of training him, and being trained by him, as he becomes an independent entity, and beloved member of your family. :)

Welcome to Yorkie Talk! Great introduction, your Jax sounds like a normal yorkie pup. A ball of energy who is in a hurry to see everything, do everything and be everything for you!
Unless your vet has a problem with Jax weight, he will eat when he’s hungry and it doesn’t take much to fill up that little tummy. For training you could try cooked chicken in tiny pieces. But I’m sure other members have many suggestions in that area.
As far as cleaning his eyes, grooming, light stuff. If you slightly hold him by the hair under his chin it can be very helpful. It works for my 9mts., 3lb. little girl.
Thanks Momma for saving this little bundle of joy! You’ll get there will the help of Yorkie Talk Mom’s and Dad’s!

Hello. You are going to love it here! I was new to Yorkies when I brought Katy home last Nov. These good folks have helped me toooons!



You might also enjoy the photos people send. One of my favorite parts of this Forum.

Using a toy as a reward should definitely help with some things. The first “command” I’d like him to learn, though, is “Leave it,” and I haven’t figured out how to make that work with a toy reward. The threads I’ve found tell me to use a treat to teach him to drop a toy, but he prefers the toy, and he won’t drop it to get a treat. And the reverse doesn’t work either, because he’s already ignoring the treat, so he doesn’t need to “Leave it” to get the toy.

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?

You just have to stay on top of it. Give lots and lots of happy praise when he goes where you want him to. If you catch him going where he shouldn’t give a firm no and put him in his potty area. I have heard giving your dog pineapple makes them not want to eat their poo. This sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.

Try two of his favorite toys, drop one give him the second one. My guy is very food motivated so training commands was fast and easy. Training to "leave it" and "drop it" can be life saving commands.

I just read about his poop eating, some puppies do out grow it, many do not. My boy just turned 8 years old, he is out door trained. I must watch him all the time when he poops, if not, he will eat it. I have read many reasons why dogs do this...
1- fresh poop smells like the food they eat.
2- They are not fully digesting the food so it comes out smelling like their food.
3- They are lacking something in their diet.

Try feeding him 1/2 a slice of frozen unsweetened pineapple with or after every meal, this works on some dogs but not all dogs. I suggest 1/2 because he has a tiny tummy, you have have to use less. I used the pineapple for two months, watched him as usual, after two months I did not go out with him but hid and watched and sure enough he went for his poop, so it did not work for me, but has worked for many members.

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.

Yes, I really want to teach those first. He’s not very good at holding still and paying attention yet, though. I’m hoping his attention span might increase, or his energy level might decrease a little, after he’s neutered, but my plans for that are on hold right now. Initially, the vet wanted to wait until he’s eight months old, both because she hoped he might be closer to six pounds and also because she wants to pull any retained baby teeth at the same time rather than do two surgeries. Now we’re under a stay at home order though, and the vet isn’t doing elective surgeries until it’s lifted. So it’s not scheduled yet, although I hope it won’t be too far past eight months.

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