Is a Yorkie the right dog for me?
 

I'm 13 and I live in a townhouse with both parents and an occasionally rough 7-year-old brother. I own two cats, plus we have a family dog (Black Lab X Border Collie). We spend quite a lot of time camping or outside with our dog, but equally as much time at home. I want a small dog of my very own, which I will take care of and pay for. I decided on a Yorkie, but I still wanted to be 100% sure that one would fit perfectly into my lifestyle.

Hello!
 

Hello Tuffy!

Welcome to Yorkie Talk!

What a great idea for you to do research before you get your dog! It's always best to know you making the wisest choice!! To me, yorkies are a very special and intellegent breed, but they can be very delicate sometimes.

You will definately get some great advice on this site! But ultimately, I think your parents are gonna the best source for you!

Good luck and take care!! :animal-pa

Good Luck with making a decision.....My only comment is that a Yorkie needs almost all your time, all your love and a lot of attention. The decision you make will be a life long one.....Good luck and remember You don't own a Yorkie they own YOU!!!!

OMG! A 13-year-old with a brain! Call the TV news! I'm teasing, sorry, couldn't resist. But you sound like a particularly sharp person to go online and ask for advice.

I'm not going to say yes or no because you're smart enough to figure that out yourself. Here are some things to consider.

* Yorkies live to be 15 or older, so you will be 28 when he's old. Will you always be able to take care of him, in college, during moves?
* Yorkies are cute but delicate. If 7-year-old brother drops him or steps on him, he could easily break a leg. Surgery can cost more than the Yorkie.
* Yorkies can be expensive. One of mine has already had a $1,300 surgery. The other one is healthy but typically costs me a couple hundred dollars a year in vet bills. Grooming, about every three months, costs $49 each. Of course, smart people like you could probably learn to do it yourself.
* Yorkies are vulnerable to predators like coyotes and foxes and eagles. If you camp a lot, you will have to be able to protect him or her from those threats 100 percent of the time.

I don't want to totally scare you. Yorkies are AWESOME dogs. They have big-dog personalities in a small-dog package. They have the best personalities ever. But they are also almost like infants. They require special care. I've never left mine alone for more than 5 hours. I don't want to.

Good luck! You sound like you would be a great Yorkie owner. Just make sure the timing is right for you.

I don't personally believe that you shouldn't own one, but people here have told me that I shouldn't have one b/c I work full time...and since you probably go to school full-time 9 months a year...I'm assuming the same logic would apply.:rolleyes:

Well, whatever. They're expensive dogs. We already had to take him to the vet and it was 300 dollars....you have to buy a crate, food, toys, etc....plus, you already have 3 other pets...do you truly have enough time for another pet??

Be honest with yourself and ask

Will you have time to devote to this dog when you are in high school? High school means being with your friends all the time Are you willing to skip going out with your buddies to take your dog to the park? What about when you are in college? Do you plan on living in the dorms? Working while you go to school? A dog is a 15 +year commitment

My two Yorkies are so special and devoted to me but I have had some breed specific challenges with them. In addition to the considerations above, I would suggest you prepare for some challenges in potty training. My two are not 100% trained (almost 1 year and the other is 9 months.) I have had other breeds I have trained quickly but not these two! I am home much of the time and spend plenty of time training.

If you spend some time in the "training" forum and some of the other health related forums, you will become more familiar with some of the unique challenges of a Yorkie.

Also, about the 7 year old brother, mine do not like loud noise or people coming at them quickly. My sons are college age and act like adults, but my two puppies get nervous even around some of their "lounder" friends. They seem to prefer mature adults or quite children.

Good luck to you and it's great that you are researching!

Remember when your 13 you are home at nights unless you go spend the night with friends. You do need to think ahead, in high school I promise the dog will be the last thing on your mind. With high school comes sports and practice,dances, weekends away with firiends and then boys and dates. If I were you I would wait until high school if you don't have all of those obligations then get a dog.

I am a college student, and I work full-time, so I guess I'm a good example of what you'll face in a few years.I have a lot of other obligations, and having my yorkie really complicates things. However, I never have regretted bringing my darling boy into my life.

You have to be prepared for staying at home on the weekends, while your friends go out to parties, the mall, or movies. You also have to be prepared for spending a significant amount of time every day playing, feeding, and walking your dog. This can really cut into studying and extracuricular activities. Yorkies are not dogs that can be left alone for many hours at a time, so you'll have to have someone come home and spend time with him in the middle of the day, especially when he/she's a puppy.

I think you can do it, if you are determined to own a puppy. Please let me know if you have any questions that I could help you with. Good luck making your decision! :D

A terrific post!

I want to commend your maturity about doing your research before buying your dog!! I think a yorkie for you would be great but this just may not be the right time for you to do it. At 13 you are just starting an exciting part of your life and will have new friends and adventures and a yorkie may not fit in right now but hey if your mature enough to do this research you may already have that part worked out!!! Keep us posted on your decesion and the best of luck to you!!!

Thanks a lot everybody! This is really helping. Our neighbor knows of a breeder who, after her female Yorkie has had 4 litters, will give away the mother for free. If I get a Yorkie, I'll probably take one of the mothers who will be around 5 or 6 years old. I just have a few more specific questions:

How much do the yap? I've met several Yorkies, but never once have I heard them yap, but everywhere people are telling me that they do it constantly.

Are the older ones (6 years +) still active, or do they just turn into a pile of slush? I don't want them to be puppy-like or anything, but I don't want them to be lazy either.

And, believe me, there will be more questions later. Again, thanks so much!!:D

Quit being so nice and smart. It's hard to try to talk you out of it if you're doing all the research that you're supposed to do! :)

I have two Yorkies, an 11-year-old rescue I've owned for a year and a half, and a 3-year-old that I bought as a pup. The rescue is a horrible yapper. I can't stop it. He not only yaps when people come to the door, but he yaps relentlessly in the car if he's not on my lap. He yaps when the car slows. He yaps when the car stops. I love him anyway, but I haven't been able to stop the yapping.

The 3-year-old doesn't yap at all. He barks for the reasons all dogs bark (seeing another dog, hearing an unexplained noise), but he's very under control. We shook a can filled with coins when he was a pup to deter him from unwanted barking, so maybe that helped.

As for temperment, I think all dogs are different. If a 6-year-old has been raised to be lazy, it might be hard to make him or her active again. But my 11-year-old is not lazy at all. When I come home from work, he beats my 3-year-old to the front door. When we go up a double flight of stairs, he wins that too. I walk him every day, twice a day, and he keeps up just fine.

They can mellow out, though. My 3-year-old was a terror as a pup, but now he's very evenly tempered. He can be energetic, but he's not always energetic.

Hope this helps.

I just wanted to say that I am a varsity student (full-time), I work part-time, do a lot of community service, train for cycling tours and have a very active social life, and my yorkie, Cash, loves being part of it. I take him to parties (always keeping an eye on him), to the mall, to restaurants, to barbecues. He is with me in meetings and when I help people. The only time he stays home is when I am in class and I am working.
What I am trying to say is that you can take care of a dog and have a very active and busy life too. You just have to be committed to taking care of the dog in the best way possible.
You can do anything you set your mind to.:)