Big Dogs and Yorkies, risky mix
 

I’m writing today with a broken heart.Last night we lost our baby Harley to an accident with our boxer.I’m sharing because I hope this information helps someone with their decision to blend a small dog with a larger dog.
I used to have a 5 pound Maltese.Around the time he was 10 years old we introduced a Boxer to the family.The boxer is a sweet loving dog but my Maltese in his old age didn’t really give her the time of day.He passed away last year and a few months ago I found a person who was rehoming two 8 month old Yorkie’s.For the past several months everything has been going great.They all get along…. Well more than get along they all really like each other.Unlike my old Maltese the Yorkie’s love Bella.
Last night I took all three dogs out back for a potty break.When we came in they were running around and in one second the boxer ran by my yorkie, Harley, and bumped her with the back of her foot.Harley fell to the ground and wasn’t moving.I screamed to my husband who came running, her tongue was turning blue, we picked her up and drove 100 MPH to the ER Vet around the corner from us.From the moment of the incident to handing Harley to the vet was less than 6 minutes.They couldn’t bring her back to us.
I’ve been crying all last night and today.Our Boxer, Bella, has a heart of gold and would NEVER hurt anything on purpose.Example: she cleans our Persian cat and is always gentle with our Yorkie’s.It was just a bump as she ran by, and now we lost our baby.I guess I’m just saying even the sweetest large dog could accidently kill a small dog just by being a dog.I hope my situation is a freak accident that no one else has to experience.Given the choice again I wouldn’t mix Boxers and Yorkies.

I am so sad for you and your family. What a horrible thing to have happen. Thank you for sharing your story in the hopes that someone else can avoid this tragedy. I for one will heed your advice.

I'm so sorry. Do you mind if I ask what exactly killed the yorkie?

My heart cries with you

I am sooooooo very sorry this happened to you.....I wish I could put up in flashing neon lights, every post I personally have made about mixing ANY large dog with ANY small dog. They can be just as loving and happy and sweet and kind, but the BIG dog is BIG and while they dont mean to injure or kill the smaller dog, it is inevitable....it is a heartbreak looking for someplace to happen. You have learned a very hard lesson thru first hand experience. Spread your story to everyone you know....if just ONE small dog is saved from such an end, it will have not been in vain.

I am so sorry for you....this is a horrible thing to have to experience. Thank you for posting through your tears.....HOPEFULLY, people will LISTEN to your tragic story and learn from your pitiful situation. It is so sad when we have to "chalk heartbreaking events up to life lessons".....my heart breaks for you as well as precious little Harley.

I am deeply saddened hearing about your tragic loss. Thank you for sharing your story with us. Close to thirty years ago, we brought our first Yorkie, Jolie, over to my father's home. We were very lucky that Jolie survived after my father's Airedale puppy tried to play with Jolie, and he almost trampled her. Although Jolie recovered quickly from shock, it emotionally affected my confident little girl. She became very hesitant around larger dogs, and although she acted very tough, I knew inside she was a scared little girl around them. I am so sorry that you lost Harley this way. I understand your grief, and I care very much.

I am so sorry. Very sad and tragic loss♥♥

My heart breaks for you. Thank you for sharing such a tragic and personal story. It was a freak accident but one we should all be aware of.

response to what killed Harley
 

Thank you everyone for your kind words. Someone asked what actually killed Harley and it was instant when it happened. ER vet believed it was just a hard hit to her tiny head. I will share my terrible story with people but I knew this was a good place for a lot of people to hear it. Bless you all and hug your babies.

I am so sorry this happened to your little one. Thank you for sharing your story. It may save the life of another little dog.

I'm so sorry for your loss, this is horrible yesterday a friend also lost her yorkie to an accident with a child falling on her , these dogs are fragile but seem so tough at times thanks for sharing at this difficult time maybe you will save another person and their pets from facing this

I also have a boxer and 2 yorkies and a Chorkie. I let the boxer out with my male yorkie and chorkie but not my female because she is 6 lbs and scared of him. My boxer don't seem to pay much attention to my male yorkie that much (it may be the difference in age) but my chorkie and him does play. My chorkie is almost 12 lbs and he doesn't take any crap off the boxer...He runs after him, jumps at him when he is tired of playing, etc. I still am careful with them out in the yard and have to watch them. Unfortuantely if you have a young bigger dog, they don't realize how they can hurt a smaller one.

This is so sad. My heart breaks for your family and your precious baby. I never let Zoey play with bigger dogs at the dog park even though there are three different pens. People bring in their large breed pups to play with the little ones. When they say it's just a pup and is friendly, I tell them that their pup is still a lot bigger than Zoey and no way will I allow her to be stepped on.
I am so very sorry that this happened to your baby.

I am so so sorry for this freak accident that saw your beautifull Harley die. How devastating for you and your whole family!!!!


You share a very important story. The mixing of large dogs and most especially young large dogs with vulnerable Yorkies and all Yorkies are vulnerable size wise, has to be done with extreme caution...extreme!


I just can't imagine your grief right now...my heart bleeds for you.


Let me repeat some things I have posted in the past on what I do to keep a Yorkie safe - for now about 6 yrs with large breeds that at maturity may weigh in at 130 lbs or so.


At night - if your large dogs are not crated the Yorkie is. Strange noises not to mention a break-in and all hell can burst out. A yorkie can get trampled in that situation in the blink of an eye.


There is no FREE PLAY time together either inside or outside! I can't stress this enough. Chasing balls in a free for all is a disaster waiting to happen.


Each mature large dog dependent on temperament is only allowed outside in our backyard with my Yorkie to pee or poo. The large dogs need to earn that right. They earn it, by how they behave, and their responsiveness to the obedience training they all have and must have.


Some large dogs never, ever earn that right!


Never on your own, walk a large dog and a small dog together. Situations outside happen in a flash, and you are hampered to effectively interfere/control a dangerous situation.


Play time inside is separated. Large dogs together, Yorkie on his own. It can make for a noisey hour or so as everyone wants to get into the fun you are having with dog A B or C.


Your Yorkie must be trained NOT to jump up onto large dog faces or backs, or to challenge the big ones - they quite simply will always lose!


So this is what I do and hope that folks will consider what needs to be done when mixing dogs of hugely disparate size.

Sounds like a terrible accident. When my older yorkie (he's 14 now), was a puppy I had a roommate that had a boxer that was also the sweetest loving dog. One day I let my dog out for a quick tinkle before I had to go to work and there was a long fence dividing our property and the house next door. The next thing I know the German Shepard from next door (that I never even saw or knew they let out off leash) was around my side of the fence and face to face with my pup. I was literally waiting for him to maul my dog right in front of me... I felt terrified and helpless. Next thing I know the boxer comes running and tackles the German Shepard and I was able to run over a scoop up my little guy. By that time the owner of the Shepard was around the fence apologizing and calling his dog back over. Had it not been for buster the boxer I have no doubt my baby would have been killed. They are small and fragile and we do have to watch closely when they are with bigger dogs etc but If I were you I wouldn't beat myself up over it. We can step on them by mistake, or they can easily be bumped by a child running. It's a very sad story and I'm sure the boxer is missing his buddy terribly. I wish you all the best and hope that with time your broken heart will heal.

I am deeply sorry for your loss. Accidents do happen, and hopefully sharing your story will make others aware that regardless of personality or intent, our small breed dogs can be in danger when around larger dogs.

I am so terribly sorry for your loss.

I am so very sorry for your loss of your little one. I have one Yorkie, Bentley and a Boxer, Baxter. When they were both little almost the same size it was fine for them to be out back and play. As Baxter got bigger he would run full speed and I knew then I couldn't have them loose playing in an open space. They are both together only in one room at a time.

Accidents happen and I hope through your heartbreaking experience that it will prevent one from happening to another dog. I am so careful that even when bringing out a gallon of water I make sure Bentley is no where underfoot in fear if it fell and hit him, he'd be injured. Hugs to you and please remember it was an accident.

I truly appreciate everything everyone is saying. As I'm reading everything, I think about how I actually was really careful with my babies. I never let them "play" together or be alone together. When this happened we were walking in from the backyard and the Boxer got a burst of energy. I see now that it was risky.


I still have Harley's sister, Faith. Believe me that I'm reading all the suggestions to make sure I never go through this again. The one that surprised me was from Gemy who said she recommends not taking them on walks together. Her comment makes sense, but I was thinking that walks together keep the pack mentally healthy. Now I don't want to walk them together, hopefully the right decision.


I love and am thankful for Kerryn915's post! We really needed a Boxer saves the day story here. I'm glad your baby is ok.

I am so sorry for your loss. It does sound like it was a freak accident.

I have a big dog and a Yorkie. My husband's dog is very calm and doesn't bother my Yorkie at all.

That being said, I do play with the dogs separately. I also do not leave the dogs loose while I am gone. The big dog has earned his right to be loose in the house when I go away so if I don't take the Yorkie with me (he goes most places with me) then he is crated. At night the Yorkie is in my bed and the big dog is crated.

I do take the dogs in our yard to potty at the same time, but it is our yard and they are on leashes.

I can not imagine how hard it must be to deal with an accident like that. Neither of my dogs runs around much so not to big of a risk, although something could happen. It is unlikely to happen because the Yorkie is 9 and very calm and the 5 year old Setter is very calm as well.

For sure walks together helps with pack bonding no doubt about it! I am sorry that I was not more clear, a single handler should not walk a Yorkie and a large dog together. Again this is just my opinion and many many folks do do this.


We usually have one handler my hubby for the large dog, and one for the Yorkie. When I travel alone with all three - 2 big dogs one Yorkie - I take 3 separate walks and pottying times 2x per day.


You see for me, if a dog on dog aggression occurs during a walk, I can only intervene and protect the wee one - the large dog is on its own.... That is a tough very tough call to make, and you only need to make it once to feel that emotional toll it takes on you. Your big dog will usually protect you and your pack-but at what cost to your big dog? I posted before somewhere here about a situation we encountered a few years ago now. My breeder and trainer was with me on vacation, she had 5 Yorkies on lead, 2 running free, I had my big boy Magic and Razzle my Yorkie on lead - out of the blue a Rottie mix comes barrelling down the hill seriously going after the 2 Yorkies running out ahead of our pack. Magic roared and went to the end of his leash in full blown protection mode. The Rottie was ever so surprised (I guess he did not scout out the situation before his prey drive went into hyperdrive). Razzle was going crazy wanting to protect as well - (my mini pack was in the lead) - I had to make the decision to pick up Razzle - and if the Rottie attacked to drop Magics lead and let happen what-ever was going to happen. The Rottie froze and his eyes went wide as he looked - it was the longest 10 or 15 seconds of my life!. I was seriously hampered to intervene should a dog fight occur. I could of course run back the 50 yards to my friend and hand off Razzle - and run back to try to intercede in a dog fight - but the time it would take? Serious very serious damage could have been done. To either one or both dogs. Thankfully the Rottie decided to turn tail and run back up the hill. That is when owning a serious dog with serious attitude is a boon. How-ever it could easily have been another dog who decided he could take Magic. If you have ever seen two large dogs fight and particularly working protection breeds, in the space of a few seconds three or more bites can happen. The thoughts that went through my mind at light speed I can hardly recount them all. I had already put in the closest emergency hospital in my GPS (remember we were on vacation) - I travel with their medical records. The time it would take to get to the hospital from the cottage. Separation techniques - my first aid kit (where was it?) etc etc.


WE did continue to go for our late day walks, but only with a couple of Yorkies at a time - for we had no idea if that Rottie was still out n about. I handled Magic alone as the protector of the pack. Magic loved all the multiple walks as we had a dozen or so Yorkies to exercise. And there was no off lead walking of Yorkies....

YAY Magic! These stories are making me smile, thank you. I'm glad no one was hurt in your group and Magic really did save the day!

Thank you - and for sure he did - and continues to do so even today :-)