# Yorkshire Terriers



## homesweethome (Jan 27, 2011)

I am considering getting a new yorkie puppy but I am not sure. I am searching the breed to try to find out more about their temperaments, but I keep getting conflicting results. AKC says that they don't bark a lot. When I have talked to a couple people (one who never owned one, but worked in a pet store, and one) who's mom had one for about a year before giving it away in which it was confined most of the time) they say they bark all the time and they are really hyper as puppies and young adults.

If anyone has ever owned or owns a yorkie, could you PLEASE respond and let me know honestly what they are like. I want to be well aware of what they are like before making a decision. 

Thank you


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## kaixixang (Jul 16, 2012)

Also make sure you use a harness instead of the collar. You don’t want to hurt their throat!


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## homesweethome (Jan 27, 2011)

kaixixang said:


> Also make sure you use a harness instead of the collar. You don't want to hurt their throat!


Yes, I would. But, do you know anything about the yorkie's temperament?


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## cathysmith97 (Jul 3, 2013)

I had a Yorkie growing up. He had a wonderful personality and I adored him. However, he did bark a lot. We did not neuter him. That may have made a difference. Show Dog Yorkers may be different. I spoke to an owner, and his Yorkies did not bark a lot.


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## MMWRay (Dec 2, 2016)

Hyper is right. My sister had one for 17 years and a friend had many, many yorkies over the years. I found them hyper and very barky. They are also very fragile thin boned dogs prone to injury in jumping on and off furniture. I love dogs and have 4 but do not want this breed and the problems I have seen with them. They are loving and attentive to their owners. That coat requires professional grooming.


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## SAMkewel (Mar 5, 2011)

cathysmith97 said:


> I had a Yorkie growing up. He had a wonderful personality and I adored him. However, he did bark a lot. We did not neuter him. That may have made a difference. Show Dog Yorkers may be different. I spoke to an owner, and his Yorkies did not bark a lot.


We have had a neutered Silky Terrier for the past 11 years; they are a bit larger than Yorkies but definitely a "barky" terrier. I have to say that I've never met a terrier of any breed that wasn't a barker. People who are good at and spend the necessary time may be able to tame that trait. We had a Jack Russel Terrier living across the street who seemed never to stop barking, but his people did nothing to change that.


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## kaixixang (Jul 16, 2012)

homesweethome said:


> Yes, I would. But, do you know anything about the yorkie's temperament?


You got me curious so I looked at a few links: https://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/yorkshire-terrier#/slide/1

Make sure you keep scrolling down through the website. Your future mini-warrior will want to protect you. :sm24:


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## KnitterNatalie (Feb 20, 2011)

MMWRay said:


> Hyper is right. My sister had one for 17 years and a friend had many, many yorkies over the years. I found them hyper and very barky. They are also very fragile thin boned dogs prone to injury in jumping on and off furniture. I love dogs and have 4 but do not want this breed and the problems I have seen with them. They are loving and attentive to their owners. That coat requires professional grooming.


I agree. I've had two Yorkies, a male and a female. The little female died this past month, just shy of 10 years old. I found them extremely difficult to housebreak. I still have the little male. They do bark a lot, although I think that the little female barked more than the male and they are hyper.


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## homesweethome (Jan 27, 2011)

Thank you, everyone!! I guess I will keep looking for something else. I want something small; just don't know what!


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## liz morris (Dec 28, 2014)

The one I had, admittedly a 7year old rescue when we had her, only barked when necessary. She was quite playful, but as with all dogs, was a result of her upbringing with an elderly lady. A nice little thing, was our Mitzi.


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## MMWRay (Dec 2, 2016)

I know Maltipoos are designer dogs right now but they are the best of two breeds. Miniature poodles are smart and tough. Maltese are so loving and smart. They do need to be groomed. I have Chihuahua mixes and they are small and mostly smart. I do not recommend a Cavalier King Charles as an easy dog. A lot of the barking is how they are raised.


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## Hazel Blumberg - McKee (Sep 9, 2011)

My husband and I adopted a 9-year-old Yorkie from our veterinarians, who had seized him from abusive and neglectful owners. Butch, who weighed all of 6 pounds--once he'd spent a month or so at our vets' getting well--was the absolute BEST little dog we've ever had. He died in 2018, and we still miss him. Butchie _never_ barked. He was a sweet, loving little cuddler. He ignored our cats and our big dog, and they ignored him. We have wanted to adopt another adult or senior Yorkie ever since, but they seem to be very hard to come by. Breeders have puppies available, but we very much want an older dog. And we would prefer to adopt a dog, rather than buy one. I would take another Yorkie adult or senior in a heartbeat. What wonderful dogs they are!

Hazel


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## colly (Apr 29, 2013)

I have had a Yorkie for about 13 years. She is absolutely wonderful. I’ve often said it I wasn’t for her I would have gone days without smiling. But the reason you are getting different answers to you questions is that as they age they change. My yorkie was never hyper and always loving and supportive. She likes to be at my side always. And as she has gotten older she will bark and nag at me if I am not doing what she wants me to. She knows when it is nap time and bedtime and if I’m not where she is comfortable to sleep she barks and whines at me. She will also bark continuously to make me go outside to see something she finds disturbing. (Like a cat in the yard, or a toad she found). Once I go out and look she stops barking. Because I understand what she is trying to tell me I’m ok with her barking. She doesn’t bark without a reason and I’m glad she is trying to communicate. My son had a yorkie and I found that they both yorkies had the same basic personality. Which is sweet and outgoing. But his was left alone a lot and became lazy. He slept all day when my son was at work. My yorkie is busy all day because I am busy all day And she follows me around and stays with me. I am very happy with my yorkie, she is a joy to me.


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## Hazel Blumberg - McKee (Sep 9, 2011)

FWIW: If _anyone_ knows of an adult or senior Yorkie who's up for adoption anywhere in the continental US, please let me know! I live in far northern Florida, but I would travel miles and miles to adopt a Yorkie. Thank you.

Hazel


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## cathysmith97 (Jul 3, 2013)

Hazel Blumberg - McKee said:


> FWIW: If _anyone_ knows of an adult or senior Yorkie who's up for adoption anywhere in the continental US, please let me know! I live in far northern Florida, but I would travel miles and miles to adopt a Yorkie. Thank you.
> 
> Hazel


Hazel,
I met a lady at a dog show, years ago who rescued Yorkies. Google Yorkie Rescue.


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## kaixixang (Jul 16, 2012)

cathysmith97 said:


> Hazel,
> I met a lady at a dog show, years ago who rescued Yorkies. Google Yorkie Rescue.


Or whatever other breed rescue of dog you might be looking for. I did the responsible thing and gave my standard poodle to poodle rescue…NOT to an animal shelter/pound!


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## SAMkewel (Mar 5, 2011)

kaixixang said:


> Or whatever other breed rescue of dog you might be looking for. I did the responsible thing and gave my standard poodle to poodle rescue…NOT to an animal shelter/pound!


I understand your point, but our county has two no-kill shelters, one private and the other run by the Humane Society. We have adopted a number of dogs from the second one over the years and have never been sorry. One was a female Lhasa Apso, my favorite breed, whose family dumped her there so they didn't have to handle her pending death from cancer. We made her last four months as comfortable as we could and she was a good girl the whole time. The other dogs we still have seemed to know what was happening and behaved exceptionally well during her time with us. Shortly thereafter we adopted a Chihuahua mix girl from the same shelter who was so obese she couldn't walk. She is our youngest and it took us about eight months to get her weight down to a normal range. Her personality shines now. Her vet is proud of her :~).

EDIT: We had to sign an agreement to return any pet adopted from there if anything happened to us forcing us to give any of them up for rehoming. Since we are in our 80's, it allows us to keep three dogs we otherwise wouldn't have felt comfortable keeping for their sakes, but knowing that they will be cared for in that event is a real plus all the way around.


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## Lynjoywal (Jun 3, 2019)

SAMkewel said:


> We have had a neutered Silky Terrier for the past 11 years; they are a bit larger than Yorkies but definitely a "barky" terrier. I have to say that I've never met a terrier of any breed that wasn't a barker. People who are good at and spend the necessary time may be able to tame that trait. We had a Jack Russel Terrier living across the street who seemed never to stop barking, but his people did nothing to change that.


One of my dogs is an Australian Silky Terrier (very much like the Yorkie) but I don't have a problem with her barking. When I first adopted her a couple of years ago, she did have a tendency to bark at the birds that came into my yard to feed. I spent a couple of days religiously stopping her each time she ran out to bark and praised her each time she came back. Took me a few days but now, when other dogs in the street bark, she looks at me and all I have to say is "No barking" and she turns around and heads back inside. In fact if she (and her Cavalier sister whom I adopted as a bonded pair)are out in the yard when other dogs start barking, they both rush back inside to make sure they get praised and rewarded for not getting involved. I think all dogs do like to please and it really just needs some consistent training which is well worth the effort you put into them.


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## homesweethome (Jan 27, 2011)

Well, I am thoroughly confused now. I keep telling my husband that I don't understand how yorkies can be such barkers when all the ones I "meet" at the stores are so quiet and nice, and just riding around in the shopping cart. I really don't know what to do now. The little pup I wanted is going to be sold before I make up my mind. (No rescues are available)


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## homesweethome (Jan 27, 2011)

Can anyone tell me if they are hard to housebreak? I know their little bladders are so tiny, so from experience, I know they have to be taken out often. But are they stubborn or just don't get it? And, can they be left by themselves for a little while if you need to run to the store? I am home all day, so I would be here most of the time. I had been told to never leave them alone. But, occasionally, I may need/want to. Has anyone kennel trained one?


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## Hazel Blumberg - McKee (Sep 9, 2011)

cathysmith97 said:


> Hazel,
> I met a lady at a dog show, years ago who rescued Yorkies. Google Yorkie Rescue.


Thank you so much! I will do that!

Hazel


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## Hazel Blumberg - McKee (Sep 9, 2011)

homesweethome said:


> Can anyone tell me if they are hard to housebreak? I know their little bladders are so tiny, so from experience, I know they have to be taken out often. But are they stubborn or just don't get it? And, can they be left by themselves for a little while if you need to run to the store? I am home all day, so I would be here most of the time. I had been told to never leave them alone. But, occasionally, I may need/want to. Has anyone kennel trained one?


We adopted our tiny Butch when he was 9 years old. He had not been housetrained. He had lived outdoors his entire life. His "owners" were abusvie and neglectful, and our vets seized Butch from them. I met him the day he came to the vet clinic. He was starving and dehydrated. We think that he had been a stud dog at a puppy mill. He'd obviously been kept in a tiny cage in which he could barely move. He had neurological, back, and neck problems. He'd had little contact with humans, but with love and patience, he turned into such a wonderful, happy, loving little guy.

He was easy to housetrain, even at his age. I took him out every half hour or hour and praised him extravagantly when he went to the bathroom. If he made a mistake in the house, I didn't yell at him or do anything negative. I simply scooped him up and took him outside immediately. He made so few mistakes and he learned so quickly.

We also put down puppy pads in our bedroom, in the living room, in the kitchen, in the utility room, just in case. The only ones he really needed to use were in our bedroom. Sometimes he couldn't get through the whole night without having to go to the bathroom. Instead of waking us up, he went to his puppy pad and did his business there. He never missed.

During the day--I work at home--he would come to me and let me know that he had to go out by tapping me with his paw or by running from me to the door. Of course I praised him a lot whenever he did that.

Butchie died in 2018. I have a tattoo of him on my arm. We both still miss him so much.

Hazel


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## Hazel Blumberg - McKee (Sep 9, 2011)

kaixixang said:


> Also make sure you use a harness instead of the collar. You don't want to hurt their throat!


That's such a good idea! We got a harness for our tiny Butch. We were afraid that we'd hurt his neck if we put a collar on him.

Hazel


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## Hazel Blumberg - McKee (Sep 9, 2011)

MMWRay said:


> Hyper is right. My sister had one for 17 years and a friend had many, many yorkies over the years. I found them hyper and very barky. They are also very fragile thin boned dogs prone to injury in jumping on and off furniture. I love dogs and have 4 but do not want this breed and the problems I have seen with them. They are loving and attentive to their owners. That coat requires professional grooming.


We bought a staircase for Butch. Actually, 2 of them: one so that he could get into and out of our bed and one so that he could get up onto and off the couch. He was thrilled with them. We also took him to the groomer and got him a "puppy cut." We knew that we didn't want to have to brush him all the time, and the puppy cut, which is a very short, close cut, was perfect. He looked just adorable, and it was absolutely no work to keep up.

Also, our Butch next to never barked. If someone came to the door, he barked briefly. So did (and does) our American bulldog/pitbull, Daphne. We like that they both let us know that someone had come up onto our porch. Their hearing is exceptional.

I think that training has a lot to do with how a dog behaves. I have seen some people actually encourage their dogs to bark. They think it's "cute." Sigh.

We've only had one dog who's barked a lot, and we managed to tone that down, at least somewhat. He was a long-haired chihuahua mix, Leroy, whom we adopted from our local animal shelter when he was 9. Sadly, little Leroy died over a year ago, and we miss him a lot, too.

I really think that, if you spend a lot of time with your dog--since I worked at home, that was easy for me--you can train him or her to do or not do all sorts of things. Even a senior dog can learn! One of our dogs, Sidney, became totally deaf toward the end of her life, in her late teens. She was a lab mix. She learned hand signals and learned that, when we flashed the lights on and off, we were trying to get her attention. Sidney came from a local animal rescue.

We just have one dog at the moment, our Daphne, and we have eight cats. Daphne treats them like all the puppies she was forced to have and who were taken from her. She grooms the ones who like to be groomed. They come up to her, give her head butts, and then she knows they want to be groomed. One lick of her giant tongue gets one cat pretty wet. They love it.

Hazel


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## Hazel Blumberg - McKee (Sep 9, 2011)

Lynjoywal said:


> I think all dogs do like to please and it really just needs some consistent training which is well worth the effort you put into them.


I totally agree with you! Dogs very much want to please. Consistency in training, no matter what age the dog is, is very important. Your dogs sound absolutely adorable.

Hazel


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## colly (Apr 29, 2013)

homesweethome said:


> Can anyone tell me if they are hard to housebreak? I know their little bladders are so tiny, so from experience, I know they have to be taken out often. But are they stubborn or just don't get it? And, can they be left by themselves for a little while if you need to run to the store? I am home all day, so I would be here most of the time. I had been told to never leave them alone. But, occasionally, I may need/want to. Has anyone kennel trained one?


My little 13 year old will go outside and go potty when I tell her to. She also goes out on her own when she needs so. My yard is completely fenced and safe for her. The only time she goes in the house is if I lock her in for long periods of time. Then she goes on a puppy pad. She was easy to train but I was very consistent in her training. I set an alarm and took her outside every 2 hours for a few days. Every time I took her out I told her to "go potty" she quickly learned to go on commend. She sleeps on my bed at night and has never gone on my bed, but she wakes me up whining if she needs to go out at night. 
BUT…. If I go somewhere where another dog has gone to the bathroom in the house she will smell it and go on the carpet. So if I take her somewhere I have to watch her carefully.


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## Hazel Blumberg - McKee (Sep 9, 2011)

colly said:


> My little 13 year old will go outside and go potty when I tell her to. She also goes out on her own when she needs so. My yard is completely fenced and safe for her. The only time she goes in the house is if I lock her in for long periods of time. Then she goes on a puppy pad. She was easy to train but I was very consistent in her training. I set an alarm and took her outside every 2 hours for a few days. Every time I took her out I told her to "go potty" she quickly learned to go on commend. She sleeps on my bed at night and has never gone on my bed, but she wakes me up whining if she needs to go out at night.
> BUT…. If I go somewhere where another dog has gone to the bathroom in the house she will smell it and go on the carpet. So if I take her somewhere I have to watch her carefully.


You have done a wonderful job of traiing your little girl! And I think it'd be hard for any dog of any breed to resist going to the bathroom where another dog has gone.

Hazel


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## SAMkewel (Mar 5, 2011)

Lynjoywal said:


> One of my dogs is an Australian Silky Terrier (very much like the Yorkie) but I don't have a problem with her barking. When I first adopted her a couple of years ago, she did have a tendency to bark at the birds that came into my yard to feed. I spent a couple of days religiously stopping her each time she ran out to bark and praised her each time she came back. Took me a few days but now, when other dogs in the street bark, she looks at me and all I have to say is "No barking" and she turns around and heads back inside. In fact if she (and her Cavalier sister whom I adopted as a bonded pair)are out in the yard when other dogs start barking, they both rush back inside to make sure they get praised and rewarded for not getting involved. I think all dogs do like to please and it really just needs some consistent training which is well worth the effort you put into them.


Max, our neutered Silky Terrier, was 11 months old when he was given to us; the people who had him didn't want him and he had been somewhat abused. He has pancreatitis and a heart murmur that is worsening. He's mostly a good boy except for the barking; we can't decide whether he is playing dumb on that issue or is reminding us that he is definitely alpha amongst the three dogs and considers us part of his group :~). We can't do the food reward thing because he's on a special and strict diet. *sigh* Toys are just not that appealing to him as a substitute. He's otherwise very sweet tempered so we put up with it. He's now 11 years old and still has some anxiety issues from his early life. We choose to adopt dogs with physical/behavioral issues; usually they can be retrained, but not always perfectly.


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## Hazel Blumberg - McKee (Sep 9, 2011)

SAMkewel said:


> Max, our neutered Silky Terrier, was 11 months old when he was given to us; the people who had him didn't want him and he had been somewhat abused. He has pancreatitis and a heart murmur that is worsening. He's mostly a good boy except for the barking; we can't decide whether he is playing dumb on that issue or is reminding us that he is definitely alpha amongst the three dogs and considers us part of his group :~). We can't do the food reward thing because he's on a special and strict diet. *sigh* Toys are just not that appealing to him as a substitute. He's otherwise very sweet tempered so we put up with it. He's now 11 years old and still has some anxiety issues from his early life. We choose to adopt dogs with physical/behavioral issues; usually they can be retrained, but not always perfectly.


Your Max sounds wonderful. And thank you so much for adopting dogs with physical/behavioral issues. Jim and I also choose to adopt dogs and cats with special needs, the ones who have the hardest time finding a forever home.

Hazel


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## homesweethome (Jan 27, 2011)

Thank you for all of your input!


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## SAMkewel (Mar 5, 2011)

Hazel Blumberg - McKee said:


> Your Max sounds wonderful. And thank you so much for adopting dogs with physical/behavioral issues. Jim and I also choose to adopt dogs and cats with special needs, the ones who have the hardest time finding a forever home.
> 
> Hazel


Max is as cute and loving as the devil; it makes up for the bit of grief he causes ;~D. Would you believe that the people who gave him to us changed their minds the very next day and wanted him back? They had been tying a heavy rope with a large ball of more heavy rope on the end around his neck and running him back and forth multiple times in their back yard to "calm him down." No way would we give him back!


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## Hazel Blumberg - McKee (Sep 9, 2011)

SAMkewel said:


> Max is as cute and loving as the devil; it makes up for the bit of grief he causes ;~D. Would you believe that the people who gave him to us changed their minds the very next day and wanted him back? They had been tying a heavy rope with a large ball of more heavy rope on the end around his neck and running him back and forth multiple times in their back yard to "calm him down." No way would we give him back!


OMG! What horrible "owners"!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Butchie was brought to our vets weighing one pound and almost dead. Quoth the owners: "We forgot to feed him." Our vets gave them the choice: either the vets kept him or they reported the owners for gross violations of FL's animal cruelty statutes. (I think our vets reported them anyway.) I met Butch the first day he came in. He was connected to so many tubes. He'd had so little human contact. He was at our vets' for a month or so, and everyone made such a fuss over him. They gave him a stuffed toy, which he loved until the end of his life. He was with us for over five years, but that wasn't nearly long enough.

Our next little dog was Leroy, who came from the animal shelter. He had a severely maimed front leg, which was grotesquely twisted. His "owner" never took him to the vet to get it fixed. It was much too late for the shelter veterinarians to rebreak and reset his little leg. They considered amputation. But Leroy did use his leg some, so they left it in place. With time, Leroy put more and more weight on his leg. He could run like the wind. He'd stand on our bed, just waiting for Daphne, our pittie girl, to move. When she did, he'd race down the stairway to our bed, and over to her. He'd chase her throughout the house, barking and trying to bite her ankles, which were all he could reach. (Leroy weighed 6 pounds, and Daphne weighs between 60 and 70 pounds.) Leroy had two teeth. Daphne was terrified of Leroy and tried her hardest to stay out of his way. But both were terrified of thunder and lightning. At thunderstorm times--and we get a lot of those--they'd both hide under the kitchen table together, shivering, and cuddled up with each other. Leroy died over a year ago, suddenly and unexpectedly (he had a grand mal seizure while he was eating his breakfast, became unconscious immediately, never came to, and Jim rushed him to the animal emergency clinic while I finished feeding the rest of our herd; the vets there could do nothing to bring him back). We miss Butchie and Leroy terribly. We would love to have another little dog, one who gets along with eight cats (who normally totally ignore our dogs and whom our dogs ignore) and one dog (Daphne normally ignores all other dogs, as well). But so far we haven't been successful.

We adopted Lex, a chi mix. Turned out that he really wanted to be an only animal. We brought him to an acquaintance, who had just lost her keeshond, for a visit. She asked if he could stay overnight. We said sure. He never came back home and is living a life of total luxury, with at least five beds so that he doesn't have to carry his original bed from room to room to be right next to her. She'd had a hip replacement, Lex loves to go for walks, so they walk many times per day. Her keeshond wasn't friendly, but Lex is. So she's made friends with a bunch of her neighbors, thanks to Lex.

We adopted Ernie, a chihuahua mix who was two years old. He wasn't housetrained, but most of the dogs we've adopted haven't been. I did my usual routine of taking him out frequently and praising him to the skies. He insisted on defecating and urinating on our bed, many times per day, every day. We tried and tried to housetrain him. We tried outfitting him with puppy pads. With diapers. He ignored puppy pads. He pulled off his diapers. Sadly, we realized we were not well-trained enough ourselves to help him, even though I was home all the time. With vast regret, we returned him to the shelter. The very next day, a family from Pensacola adopted him. They'd had a lot more experience with young puppies than we had, and were the perfect family for Ernie. They managed to housetrain him far more quickly and far better than we did. He is greatly loved, and we are thrilled that he has such a happy home.

But we still long for a tiny dog.

Hazel


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## Meowkie (Mar 4, 2015)

homesweethome said:


> Thank you, everyone!! I guess I will keep looking for something else. I want something small; just don't know what!


all dogs need training to live with humans in peace however, Maltese are small and very even tempered..


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## Artbarn (Aug 1, 2014)

homesweethome said:


> I am considering getting a new yorkie puppy but I am not sure. I am searching the breed to try to find out more about their temperaments, but I keep getting conflicting results. AKC says that they don't bark a lot. When I have talked to a couple people (one who never owned one, but worked in a pet store, and one) who's mom had one for about a year before giving it away in which it was confined most of the time) they say they bark all the time and they are really hyper as puppies and young adults.
> 
> If anyone has ever owned or owns a yorkie, could you PLEASE respond and let me know honestly what they are like. I want to be well aware of what they are like before making a decision.
> 
> Thank you


I have had three Yorkies over the past 20 years. The first one was 4 years old when a friend gave her to us. Her barking drove us crazy and got worse as she aged. I blame her barking on her prior owner.

Now I have two Yorkies. My boy came to us when he was 10 months old. He barks to go potty and you'd better hurry up, lol. He barks when someone is on our property, so he's a good watch dog. My girl almost never barks. She is delightfully quiet. If she needs to potty, her brother will bark for her, lol. I don't know how he knows.

So my answer would be it depends on the dog whether or not he or she will be a barker. I think our first dog barked because of her prior situation. I think she taught my boy to bark, but he doesn't carry it too far. My girl is just too laid back to bother barking. It's all about personality.

EDIT: I should say it's all about personality and training. I got my girl when she was 12 weeks old. Out of the three, she's the only one that I got as an "infant." She was already pee-pad trained when I got her and I trained her to potty outside as well. I decided to let her keep her pee-pad because we have very cold winters and I worry that someday it will be hard for me to walk her. She uses the pee-pad most of the time and she never has accidents. She'll go outside with my boy if she's in the mood. My boy was harder to potty train and he does have occasional accidents. I wish I had pee-pad trained him, but by the time I tried it, he was about five-years old and wasn't interested. I've heard that males are harder to train.

All three of my Yorkies were/are sweet, cuddly dogs. They follow me all over the house and like to sit in my easy chair with me. If I ever get another dog, it will be a female Yorkie. They are smart, sweet, loving pets.

One more thing. They CAN be left home alone for two to three hours at a time. My girl would be fine to be left alone longer because she uses the pee-pad.

Oops, one more thing. When my girl was small she was a chewer, so we put her into the kennel when we went out. She was fine with it. Now that she's older she has free reign of the house when we go out.


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## Lynjoywal (Jun 3, 2019)

Artbarn said:


> I have had three Yorkies over the past 20 years. The first one was 4 years old when a friend gave her to us. Her barking drove us crazy and got worse as she aged. I blame her barking on her prior owner.
> 
> Now I have two Yorkies. My boy came to us when he was 10 months old. He barks to go potty and you'd better hurry up, lol. He barks when someone is on our property, so he's a good watch dog. My girl almost never barks. She is delightfully quiet. If she needs to potty, her brother will bark for her, lol. I don't know how he knows.
> 
> ...


I disagree with the part where you say that it depends on the dog whether or not he or she will be a barker (highlighted text) - it is often due to prior lack of training not the personality of the dog or breed. I commented previously how one of my girls came to me as a "barker" and a few days later had learned that barking wasn't one of the accepted behaviours here!!!! People across the road from me had two great dogs who caused no problems at all until they brought in a dog who had a barking problem (which is how they managed to end up with him) and have done little or no training despite many complaints from neighbours, and the dog has now taught the other two dogs to bark at everything and anything and so we now have three dogs barking. It is often a "learned behaviour" and can definitely be stopped with consistent training!!!!


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## Artbarn (Aug 1, 2014)

Lynjoywal said:


> I disagree with the part where you say that it depends on the dog whether or not he or she will be a barker (highlighted text) - it is often due to prior lack of training not the personality of the dog or breed. I commented previously how one of my girls came to me as a "barker" and a few days later had learned that barking wasn't one of the accepted behaviours here!!!! People across the road from me had two great dogs who caused no problems at all until they brought in a dog who had a barking problem (which is how they managed to end up with him) and have done little or no training despite many complaints from neighbours, and the dog has now taught the other two dogs to bark at everything and anything and so we now have three dogs barking. It is often a "learned behaviour" and can definitely be stopped with consistent training!!!!


I guess you didn't read my complete post. A few minutes after posting, I added an edit where I wrote: "I should say it's all about personality and training." Training definitely can help with a barker.

I didn't train my girl not to bark. She just can't be bothered. So in her case it is all about personality.


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## KnitterNatalie (Feb 20, 2011)

homesweethome said:


> Yes, I would. But, do you know anything about the yorkie's temperament?


I currently have a 12-year-old Yorkie; I've had him since he was weaned. I also had a female Yorkie who died suddenly a couple of months ago. She was the same age as the male but from a different litter. I would say the Linus, my male Yorkie, probably barks about as much as any other dog. He does quieten to my command of "quiet." Neither he nor the little female (Lucie) ever fully potty-trained. The piddle pads (tried several different brands) were torn up by the Yorkies but never ever used appropiately. I love Linus's personality...more so than the little female's. Lucie seemed the more hyper of the two. Linus LOVES ATTENTION! The basic personality depends of the specific dog/puppy, so you'd need to visit a breeder or different breeders. I hope that this helps. BTW, my Yorkies are/have been indoors only because we have an abundance of red tail hawks in the are where we live, and Yorkies are about the size of a small rabbit and easily snatched up by predator birds & four-legged creatures! Let us know what you decide!


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## JoanDL (Aug 26, 2013)

homesweethome said:


> I am considering getting a new yorkie puppy but I am not sure. I am searching the breed to try to find out more about their temperaments, but I keep getting conflicting results. AKC says that they don't bark a lot. When I have talked to a couple people (one who never owned one, but worked in a pet store, and one) who's mom had one for about a year before giving it away in which it was confined most of the time) they say they bark all the time and they are really hyper as puppies and young adults.
> 
> If anyone has ever owned or owns a yorkie, could you PLEASE respond and let me know honestly what they are like. I want to be well aware of what they are like before making a decision.
> 
> Thank you


Puppies are so cute but, and this a big but....if you get a puppy, you are getting a baby. A lot of training and attention that first year or so. I have a Yorkie /terrier mix about 9 years old. We have had her about three years. Barks at every noise she hears outside or inside. Someone knocks on the door, hard to get her to stop. I'm 
working on getting her to stay on her bed while I answer the door. All the small dogs can have a collapsing trachea and excessive barking can weaken the throat. Research online all the qualities of the breeds you are interested in. Puppies are a lot of work. You will need to puppy proof your house. Having said all that, having a pet brings so much that's great into your life. We are planning a road trip to Canada this summer. Taking our 18lb Yorkie mix with us. Motels don't always a allow dogs and some charge an extra fee. 
Good luck with your search.


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