petsitting tomorrow

[orchid25]

We have a 4 month old yorkie...and have had him for about 2 weeks. We will be petsitting another yorkie starting tomorrow ...for 9 days. Is there anything I should know when introducing them...or how we should have them safely interact? They're both boys. My baby is 6 lbs....at 4 months, and the one we will be babysitting is 4lbs and is a year old. They are both used to their crates also. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.=) Another concern..is our Ralphie(our baby) is learning the stairs...the one we're watching runs up and down them as fast as he can.....how to avoid any accidents?

[Patti]

That should be fun! I would just see how they interact and always supervise when they are together. Sounds like they should be fine! Take pictures.

[snoopymom]

Can you block off the stairs? Snoopy learned to go up the stairs before he would try down the stairs. I wouldn't worry to much about him falling down the stairs, but I wouldn't want to be going up to bring him down a million times a day!

Have fun! Oh, and pix.....

[smallmans]

Just keep an eye on them until you know how they are getting along. I think I might have tried a trial run before the beginning of the 9 days in case there's a problem. Keep us posted on how it goes. But, I think you're going to have fun watching them.

[John Stelting]

the fact that after having two Yorkies in the house for 9 days is that you'll definitely want to get a 2nd one after he leaves.

Your Yorkie will want a forever playmate too.

Have fun.

[megooego]

I watch 2 shih tzus for a week, every month or so, when their mommy goes out of town. My Jimi loves going over to see them! Jimi is still a puppy, so he is much more energetic than these dogs. He jumps all over them, trying to play, (fun to watch) but they don't have any of it. By the end of the week, I think the shih tzus are just sick of Jimi and can't wait to get him out of the house! lol.

When you first introduce them, make sure they get along okay. At first, the other dogs loved Jimi but as time went on they showed aggression towards him. I think they felt threatened and were thinking, "Oh no! What is this cute new puppy doing in OUR house?! I hope he doesn't think he is going to live here!" lol

When he was younger and did not go up and down the stairs, I would just block the stairs off with a gate. He eventually learned how to go up stairs first, but he would cry when he wanted to go back down the stairs because he didn't know how to go down and was scared. For now, I would just baby-gate the stairs off. It makes things alot easier!

Also be careful about where you place their food bowls. They might try to eat each other's food (which can cause food aggression and also tummy aches!), but if they eat the same food, that is great- You dont really have to worry about it as much, although they may still prefer to have separate eating places. (You mentioned they are used to crates, so maybe they could eat in there.) I know one of the shih tzus kept trying to eat Jimi's food, so I had to gate Jimi off when he ate.

Hope this helps!
Oh, and I agree with everyone else. You will want to get another.