Am I a yorkie person?

[ChibiLuv]

Maybe this is a weird place to ask this but I have been wondering lately if yorkies are my breed. Chibi, my first dog on my own and my heart dog was a yorkie mix. Molli is AKC but not from the most reputable place, I think we got lucky with her. She’s 11pounds and feels very sturdy. She loves to play in the water and loves everyone. She was a great therapy dog for awhile, and I love that about her. I can trust her 100% to never bite me or my son or anyone. After our experience with Taco (young dog we adopted then had to give back) and how aggressive he was I worry about the yorkies tendencies to be nipppy. I also know many of them are tiny and fragile and that’s not what I want. Yet I’ve been doing tons of research and found the havanese sounds like a great fit for us but I look at their faces and I just don’t feel the same joy in my heart like when I see a yorkie face.
Anyways sorry for the ramble but maybe someone will have insight.
Here’s Molli in one of her therapy work dresses

[Lisa and Pic]

It sounds like you are a Yorkie person but need a certain type of personality. Their aare certainly varied. Love your picture.

[yorkietalkjilly]

I think you're a Yorkie person but I'll admit from my experience, Yorkshire Terriers usually are a bit nervous around small children who seem so unpredictable to them, but so are tiny Poodles and Poms, Chihuahuas, Griffons, Pekes, etc. Toy dogs seem to sense their tiny bodies are at the total whim of any small child living around them and usually keep their distance unless they know and trust the child never to hurt them. Even total ham, attention-hog Tibbe, so eager for all the attention and socialization he could get, was a bit wary of little kiddos, although if they approached him, he turned to a jelly rather than getting tense, then moved away from the child first chance he got, haha. Still, I wouldn't like to trust any of the Yorkies or other fragile toy dogs I've had around a toddler, under a 5 or 6 yr. old child.

[yorkietalkjilly]

"...same joy in my heart like when I see a yorkie face".

I so know what you mean about a Yorkie face. No dog face rends at my heart, pierces my soul and my joy the way that tiny, bright-eyed, alert, precious, special little furry Yorkie face does. Just something about a Yorkie face that totally owns me unlike no other breed I've ever seen, known or loved. Can't explain it but it's a connection beyond words, set in place I know not when but the first one I saw up close, I had to have. It's just a Yorkie thing.

[Lovetodream88]

I guess my experience has been completely different. Mine have never been nippy or aggressive. I wouldn’t allow it anyway. I think most of the time it all has to do with training and many people don’t train their yorkies and think it’s cute when they behave badly. I make sure mine don’t get aggressive by making sure to mess with them when they have food, I will randomly take their toy or chew of course I give it back but it keeps them from getting aggressive over things. Now saying that, sure mine get away with a lot and I’m not a drill sargent but training is a huge thing. My moms rescue yorkie was kind of food aggressive when we got him but we worked with him and he lost that. Penny and Ollie started getting very barky during this whole lock down thing and I have been able to get them to stop when I tell them thank you but it took a few weeks. Yorkies get a bad reputation for being stubborn but if you find the way they train best and work with that they are extremely trainable but you have to put in the time. Mine are definitely not fragile either Penny 16 pounds, Ollie 15 and Joey 14 pounds. They were unwanted because they were bigger. Penny absolutely loves kids but they all do very well with them. We had a family reunion and all of them were great with my 2 year old and 3 year old cousins. My 3 year old cousin wouldn’t stop crying because he was being made to take family pictures so we asked him if it would be better if Penny came and sat with him and so she is in all the pictures with him lol. Mine are not the terrible stereotype people put on them but I have worked hard to make sure that doesn’t happen. Joey is actually almost ready to submit his video to become a champion trick dog.

[Bluebells]

Personally, I don’t think you should rely too much on what characteristics various breeds are “supposed” to have. I’ve fostered dozens of dogs over the past ten years. I’ve fostered chihuahuas who were mellow and laid back and loved everyone ... and I’ve fostered chihuahuas who would sink their teeth into anyone who startled them or touched them in the wrong way or didn’t happen to be their favorite person. And the same is true for every dog breed or mixed breed I’ve owned or fostered. Dogs are individuals, and you just never know. You can (usually) train them out of any really unacceptable behavior, of course, but their individual personalities are still going to be there under the surface and might come out under the right/wrong circumstances.

Jax is the first yorkie I’ve ever owned (although I did foster one once). I never actually intended to have a yorkie until he unexpectedly came into my life, so I didn’t have any preconceived notions of what he would be like. From what I’ve read since then, it’s difficult to know whether he’s “typical.” In some ways he probably is and in other ways he probably isn’t.

I have a Havanese, by the way. I’ve had her since she was a pup, and she’s going on 14. She’s AKC, but she’s probably not typical of the breed in some ways. I have to keep her trimmed short, because she has an impossible cottony coat. She barks, a lot. She hates everyone outside my immediate family. She’s one of those dogs who can’t be trusted around people, especially small kids, she doesn’t know, because she will wag her tail like the person is a long lost friend and then snap when they get close enough. I love her to pieces, but she’s a difficult dog.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by Bluebells

Personally, I don’t think you should rely too much on what characteristics various breeds are “supposed” to have. I’ve fostered dozens of dogs over the past ten years. I’ve fostered chihuahuas who were mellow and laid back and loved everyone ... and I’ve fostered chihuahuas who would sink their teeth into anyone who startled them or touched them in the wrong way or didn’t happen to be their favorite person. And the same is true for every dog breed or mixed breed I’ve owned or fostered. Dogs are individuals, and you just never know. You can (usually) train them out of any really unacceptable behavior, of course, but their individual personalities are still going to be there under the surface and might come out under the right/wrong circumstances.

Jax is the first yorkie I’ve ever owned (although I did foster one once). I never actually intended to have a yorkie until he unexpectedly came into my life, so I didn’t have any preconceived notions of what he would be like. From what I’ve read since then, it’s difficult to know whether he’s “typical.” In some ways he probably is and in other ways he probably isn’t.

I have a Havanese, by the way. I’ve had her since she was a pup, and she’s going on 14. She’s AKC, but she’s probably not typical of the breed in some ways. I have to keep her trimmed short, because she has an impossible cottony coat. She barks, a lot. She hates everyone outside my immediate family. She’s one of those dogs who can’t be trusted around people, especially small kids, she doesn’t know, because she will wag her tail like the person is a long lost friend and then snap when they get close enough. I love her to pieces, but she’s a difficult dog.

All dogs really are individuals. Having had 4 yorkies they all are different. All 4 never had something all in common except love for me . My best friend growing up was a lab mix who looked like a miniature lab and she absolutely hated water when the majority of labs love it. I have meet many yorkies over the years who were all different.

[ChibiLuv]

I know they are all different..I’m just scared after our experience rescuing and I remember all the broken Yorkies I would see working at the rescue. And the health issues but I’ll probably have to find a great breeder. If any of my Texas friends have a breeder suggestion please PM me.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by ChibiLuv

I know they are all different..I’m just scared after our experience rescuing and I remember all the broken Yorkies I would see working at the rescue. And the health issues but I’ll probably have to find a great breeder. If any of my Texas friends have a breeder suggestion please PM me.

Generally people don’t abandon perfect yorkies so the ones that get dumped either have health issues or behavioral issues. All breeds no matter where you get them have their own health issues. You might have less of a chance of health issues with a reputable breeder but I have heard of dogs with health issues that came from great breeders and I have even heard of Luxating Patella in show yorkies. The biggest issue you are going to face is most reputable breeders won’t sell their puppies to families with little children whether that seems fair or not. Reputable breeders generally give you exhaustive questionnaires kind of like rescues and that is one way you can tell if they are good or not.

[Britster]

I know it's not 100% guarantee but this is why my preference is to go to a reputable breeder. The true Yorkie personality should *not* be timid, nippy, etc. Confident? Yes. Tenacious? Absolutely. But not aggressive. Good genetics can play a huge part in the dog you get but so can training and socialization. They should be fine with children if the owner knows how to teach the child to be around little dogs, or dogs in general. Tbh, most Yorkies I meet are super friendly. I've only seen a few that have "issues".

[ChibiLuv]

Originally Posted by Britster

I know it's not 100% guarantee but this is why my preference is to go to a reputable breeder. The true Yorkie personality should *not* be timid, nippy, etc. Confident? Yes. Tenacious? Absolutely. But not aggressive. Good genetics can play a huge part in the dog you get but so can training and socialization. They should be fine with children if the owner knows how to teach the child to be around little dogs, or dogs in general. Tbh, most Yorkies I meet are super friendly. I've only seen a few that have "issues".

Yes I’ve been learning a lot about how important the breeder is. My Molli girl is so sweet she was a therapy dog. Chibi was a yorkie mix and sweet to me but could be a little grumpy with strangers but he came from a not great place.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by Britster

I know it's not 100% guarantee but this is why my preference is to go to a reputable breeder. The true Yorkie personality should *not* be timid, nippy, etc. Confident? Yes. Tenacious? Absolutely. But not aggressive. Good genetics can play a huge part in the dog you get but so can training and socialization. They should be fine with children if the owner knows how to teach the child to be around little dogs, or dogs in general. Tbh, most Yorkies I meet are super friendly. I've only seen a few that have "issues".

While I agree that good breeding is important I think the training kind of tops the list at least in my experience. With Joey he had no papers a tail and everything else so wasn’t bred well but we started training from the beginning at 9 weeks when I got him and he is extremely confident. With Penny her training wasn’t as much and she was from a puppy mill but is like a hunny badger and the only thing that shakes her is bangs like shooting and fireworks. But I do have Ollie who is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum and very timid not from a great breeder but not a puppy mill either, training has helped but I think his thing was he was with a breeder way to long that did nothing with him so at almost 6 months he had been exposed to nothing.

[nanajoy]

My first two yorkie mixes were brothers from different litters. I got them from the same person. The first one, Max, I got for my daughter during her junior year in high school. He was such a delight that my husband got me his younger brother, from a different litter, shortly before our daughter started commuting to college. His name was Mo (Elmo). Although my daughter took Max when she moved into a house with other roommates, she later ended up sending Max back to live with us when she found her dream apartment...which wouldn't allow dogs.

When our first grandsons were born, we had both Max and Mo with us. Unfortunately, Max had not had the level of socialization with children, nor the level of training, that I would have preferred. Although he was happy with us, and fit back into the family, we could not trust him with the toddlers. He never nipped or was aggressive with them, but would let out a low growl if they came too close. It was obvious that they made him nervous with their quick movements. Mo ran straight to them when they were at the house, and reveled in rolling around the floor with them. We always supervised every minute spent with our dogs, and the boys learned "pet pet" (gently patting them) from their earliest time...with us holding their little hands and praising them for being gentle.

Although Max never learned to truly enjoy the grandkids, he would just ignore them. We gave Mo a red collar and Max a blue collar. We could tell them apart, but we wanted to make sure that the children knew who was who. All of our grandkids learned to play with the doggy with the red collar, (and leave "grumpy old Max" alone) and things worked out well.

[ChibiLuv]

See what’s hard though is I am a Yorkie person but I also love schnauzers (my Chibi was a mix of both) and this puppy isn’t for me. I will be taking care of it but it is a companion for my son and my other dog. I worry about Yorkies small size. Mini schnauzers are still small enough to be portable but slightly bigger for little boy adventures... I met a puppy mini schnauzer the other day and he was so cute... I dunno

[nanajoy]

Originally Posted by ChibiLuv

See what’s hard though is I am a Yorkie person but I also love schnauzers (my Chibi was a mix of both) and this puppy isn’t for me. I will be taking care of it but it is a companion for my son and my other dog. I worry about Yorkies small size. Mini schnauzers are still small enough to be portable but slightly bigger for little boy adventures... I met a puppy mini schnauzer the other day and he was so cute... I dunno

One of our sweetest dogs ever was our black mini schnauzer named Lucky. He loved our grandkids when they were babies, and even slept under our first grandson's crib...guarding him. Lucky was an older dog by the time the grandkids came along, and had never experienced babies, but he was fine with them, and had a sturdy build. He did not play with them, but was patient and kept them company.