Wont Leave Bed!!!
 

I am really worried about our Yorkie Tatis.

She is three years old and healthy. However, lately she has been refusing to leave her bed and/or crate. We live in a small apartment and have two beds for her. One is in the bedroom next to our room and the second is in the kitchen area. When the Mrs and I leave for the day we close the doggie door to the kitchen and she hangs out there all day. Its not preferable to keep her confined in a small area, but it has done wonders in getting her potty trained. (I cant wait to we have our house with a doogie door so she can have more freedom.) The wife and I also work 9 hours a day. We are always concerned that she will be lonely. We have thought about bringing in other dogs, but she doesnt get along with anyone but humans. We tried socializing her but she wont.

Well, all has been well and we have run into very few problems (The only big one is that she becomes CRAZY possessive with food, trash when she finds it, and artificial bones). However this week, she has become obsessed or unwilling to move from her beds. Yesterday she spent the ENTIRE day in the kitchen bed refusing to get up.

Knowing that she hadnt pooed or pee'd all afternoon, I decided to physically remove her from the bed and she went NUTS! She calmed down and we went for a walk like nothing had happened, she did her business, we got home and she layed on me for 30 mins. But after the 30 mins, she went back to her bed in the kitchen and stayed there until this morning, where she again refused to move! (normally at night she moves to her bed in the bathroom, she didnt) In the morning we take her out to pee, but she didnt move.

Has anyone run into this kind of problem? Does anyone have a clue on what can be going on with her?

Hi and welcome to YT :).

Well, yorkies can def be extremely quirky, dramatic, and goofy - so I'm not totally surprised at this odd quirk of hers. BUT...bc this is sort of "isolating" type behavior I'm actually worried that something could be wrong your little one. When dogs are in pain somewhere or not feeling quite right, they'll often be lethargic and/or isolate to one area.

I would perhaps palpate her body all over, and I'd also give her mouth a VERY good inspection - looking at and feeling around the teeth, and notice if there is a bad mouth odor too, indicating a dental issue and possible pain.

If this isolating behavior is sort of sudden, then you kind of do have to wonder if something is wrong/bothering her or something. But I just don't know.

Also sounds like she is doing what is called "resource guarding" (google it for more info) with food/trash/bones...and maybe even her bed now. That's something you really want to nip in the bud if able via training...

Thank you for your reply!

I will google Resource Guarding .

I was worried about her being injured. But when I took her bed away, the ferocity that she attacked (All Bark and small bites but never anything that breaks skin) and the normality of our walk afterwards, made me feel that it isnt physical.

However, I was concerned when petting her this morning, that her bed felt "warm", But she hasnt vomited or poo'd diarrhea'd, so I dont know...

We will try to inspect her, but when she is bunkered down, if we try to pick her up or move her, she gets extremely aggressive.

Are all yorkies so aggressive? Tatis is three years old but I have only had her for a year. She came with the wife. :-P haha I love our dog, but I do feel envious of friends that have obedient and loving dogs. Tatis is very loving but can be very explosive and selfish.

I would suggest two things to you, for the best interest of your baby girl.
1) Forget the doggie door, especially in the part of Texas where you live! Yorkies outside, unsupervised and unattended, is asking for trouble! I can promise you, if that little yorkie is outside alone in your yard, she will disappear....she will either get stolen, or carried off by a bird of prey, or another wild animal will get into your yard and get her, or she will just find a way out of that yard! Leaving a yorkie outside in the yard, unattended for even a minute is a disaster waiting to happen! Like Mr.Good Wrench says, "It may not happen now, but it WILL happen!"
2) You are not able to handle this girl without being met with defensive aggression....she doesnt want you fooling with her! Something is not right! She needs to be seen by a vet, in my opinion.....get professional eyes and hands on her so she can be accurately diagnosed, rather than trying to "guess" what the issue is.

If she is already up and about, she has no problems with us picking her up. It is when she is on her bed, that she gets really upset if we pick her up. We can also pet her and love her in bed without any problems (she gives us the cute baby eyes) but if we try to lift her then, she gets upset.

But lifting her from her bed has always been a point of conflict and is not new.

However up until a week ago, the only time she was spending in bed, and not getting up when we called, was at night...

When my Chi is resting in her bed she doesn't want to be disturbed however, everything else is normal. In other words her schedule is normal. I would be worried that your girl is in some kind of pain or discomfort as others have mentioned here. Hope you find out what's going on with your baby!

Is she cold???? I know this seems silly to some but some don't want to move when they are cold. Just a thought.

Others have given super advice and have more experience than me so I would heed their wisdom.

I know that some of mine will refuse to get out of the bed when their anal glands are full. I also agree with Yorkiemom1 that a doggie door is never a good idea for any small breed dog, just too dangerous.

You know honestly, I thought that too, that maybe she was cold. Of course- I would say that there is clearly a deeper problem because that aggressive behavior is not a healthy response and that the first thing to do would be a vet check to rule out or identify a potential health issue. Once that has been cleared or established would be a great time to move forward with some new training protocol.

I'm glad your girl is so loving :) they really are a special and interesting breed of dog and sometimes take a different approach then may be typical. I'm happy that you care about her and are concerned and seeking advice- what a lucky dog! I think Ann, Wylie's mom was pointing you in a good direction with the behavior concern but definitely don't skip the vet check- these guys can have bad teeth even at an early age or knee problems and making sure she is safe, healthy and comfortable before anything else will be the best platform to work from with your training efforts.

I wonder if the same would happen if you took that bed away and put a different bed down...? Also, if she were laying on the sofa or your bed, does she do the same if you try to pick her up?