h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was surprised to see that Huddersfield Ben was not only a show dog but actually a ratter as well. Most show dogs these days wander around in rolled up bits of tissues to protect their long fur.

They can be extremely vicious if untrained (I've seen them take other dogs's eyes out and bite small children in the face), so be warned. If you have one of these and intend to let it sit on the furniture at the face level of other dogs and children, make sure they are trained (or at the very least socialised). They can be very sweet, but they are hunting dogs and for a small dog they look very scary when snarling and that gobfull of sharp teeth are showing.

Your opinion of yorkies is different from mine Mina.

I've not come across any vicious Yorkies. Before I got mine, I went Yorkie hunting in parks and local shops, stopping and asking people about their Yorkies temprement, not that I needed to ask, their tail wagging and friendliness when I stroked them, (the Yorkies, not the owners )was evidence enough for me, that this was a suitable family dog.

Like any breed, there can be the exception, where their is a vicious trait, IMO any with this kind of trait, should not be bred from.

And IMO any dog of any breed if unsocialised/untrained or mistreaded has are likely to bite, and this is the fault of the owners, not the dogs.

I've been bitten by dogs several times, both as a child and adult, it's not put me off dogs, though I won't look in a dogs eye, as one of the bites as a child, a dog jumped up and bit my face, it turned out that dog had a brain tumour, though why that made it bite me, I don't know.

Emmily

All of the yorkies I know have belonged to my mother, who now has a yorkie-cross going the same way. I just wanted to warn people that they can be as dangerous as a bigger dog, simply because people think as they are small they are harmless.

I've just had bad experiences.

Like Mina, I have met some pretty nasty Yorkies in my time.

All of the worst-behaved ones were either puppy mill / pet-shop Yorkies or from a backyard rather than professional breeder. In both cases, the puppies can miss out on some important socialization early on -- and just like with any breed, that can lead to significant behavior problems.

Animals and children are very alike in that early neglect can lead to severe problems down the road - in both, those behavior problems can sometimes be treatable, but only with a tremendous amount of effort, care, and consistency.

Sadly, this is one of the reasons why pet-shop dogs are more likely to end up at the pound.

they seem ready to fight being so energetic i prefer pointers even untrained ones are well mannered

I knew nothing about Yorkies when I bought my present dog - it was an 'emergency buy', because my daughter was distraught that I'd had our previous dog put down. After years of large dogs, I thought "This time I'll get the smallest thing I can find, that she can look after herself". Looked in the paper, saw a Yorkie litter for sale, so a Yorkie it was. As usual, I did what you're ALWAYS told not to do, chose the shy pup instead of one of the bouncy friendly ones.

She's 14 this July, and is still like a pup. She's never been a bit snappy. The fact that she's gone 'mostly deaf' over the last few years has been a bit of a relief - before that she sat all day on the windowsill barking at every fly that landed within sight. She's MOST peculiar about food - from the time she was a pup she'd eat only if she thought she was stealing the cat's food when no-one was watching

I always feel that small dogs become snappy BECAUSE they're small and, maybe, kids or adults are rough with them when they're pups. Before I had kids I owned 2 long-haired dachsunds, and was given dire warnings about how vicious they'd turn when I had small children. On the contrary, they were absolutely fine with the kids (apart from an intense interest in full nappies lol). I did a 'mother dog' thing, of snarling and threatening the dogs when they approached the baby. By the time the kids were crawling or walking the dogs just saw them as members of the family. I'd never allow a child to be rough or disrespectful with a dog, or vice versa.

I wondered about this quote in the Guide Entry
"On the other hand, the downside is that many are not truly purebred Yorkshire Terriers, but are delightful dogs with the Yorkie's characteristics. "
Does that mean that they're cross-breds, or that there are differences in the breed?

Nice to hear you've had pleasant experience with a yorkie.

Mine barks at blades of grass that move though shuts up when I tell her to. She's not a fussy eater.

One of the dogs which bit me as a child was a dachsund. I was at my mum's friends house, doing nothing, just sitting and listening, no idea at all why that one bit me.

Though the worst bite, (I still have the scar) was from our family dog, a crossbreed. She was chained up in our garden (as was common in the 1960s) I was playing in the garden with my brothers, I'm not sure how I came to be near enough to her for her to bite me, or wheher she felt threatened by my presence, or was frustrated by being chained up, for whatever reason she gave me a nasty bite, and paid for it with her life, as my dad had her put-down.

The comment about "the downside is that many are not truly purebred" was about the amount of in-breeding of yorkies, as they're such a popular dog. The size and colouring is often different from the 'Breed Standard", also not many people register their yorkie, it can be difficult to tell if the are 'real' yorkies, and there appears to be two main different types, the show yorkie, and the pet yorkie.

Emmily

With purebred dogs, ancestry isn't the only thing that determines if a dog really counts as "X" breed or not -- there's also adherence to breed standard. This is why when a professional breeder has a litter of puppies, he or she will insist that those who aren't the most perfect examples of the breed standard are fixed, so that they aren't contributing to the gene pool.

Puppy mills and the like, however, are most often bred from dogs who do not meet breed standards (and often have parents who didn't as well), even though they don't have any other breeds in their ancestry. These are the 'yorkies' you'd see in pet stores or what have you, and the same thing generally happens with backyard breeders.

Ah, that's a good way of expaining it Mikey We call them puppy farms in the UK, and they should be avoided.

Emmily

Oh yeah, puppy farms When I first moved to London (many many years ago) I already had a standard long-haired dachsund. I passed a pet-shop window one day and saw a miserable little black long-hair sitting in the corner. I'd never heard of puppy-farms, and bought him. It cost a fortune to have his health problems sorted out - but I hafta say he had a lovely nature with humans. Not with other dogs, but I think that had to do with having to be on a lead for walks. He was the dog that my husband took when we split up, years later, (the other dachsund was dead by then, and I kept the German Shepherd bitch that we had). I always regretted giving him up, because the poor little thing staggered on until he was 17, blind, deaf, a little bag of bones. I'd have had him put to sleep at 15. It's so cruel to hold on to a dog too long - the only thing you can do for them at a certain stage is to give them a nice ending. Typical man (she said in a sexist fashion!) - f**k up your wife and children good, but 'can't bear' to put a dog to sleep when necessary

What a cheery start to a Monday morning. I should entitle this post Dead Dogs From My Past, Plus Assorted Prejudices

I've not had any personal experience of puppy farms, just heard loads of negative reports about them.

My first dog of my own when I left home was Tina, a golden labrador cross. I got her at 6 weeks old, I would have got her out of that house sooner, if I could have.

Tina was one of a litter of 8, the female owner (a friend of one of my brothers) owned both parents of the puppies, and had used their mating as sex education for her 4 year old daughter. Of the other puppies, (there were 4 golden and 4 black) she found homes for 2 of the other puppies, the other 5 she drowned in the bath when they were 8 weeks old.

I had Tina for 13 years, I had to have her put down due to illness at 13

The dogs I have now are 10 and 5 years old, I hope I'll have the pleasure of their company for quite a few years.

Emmily

Oh my God! First off, imagine 'sex education' for a four-year-old that involves living creatures, with no sense of responsibility for the results. Then imagine drowning 8-week-old pups in a bath, not even bothering to bring them to a vet or shelter

Who'd want HER as a friend! What will that child grow up like?

The daughter is around 30 years old now, no idea where she is, or what she's like now. Just over 2 weeks after I got Tina, I moved from Essex to Kinross, Scotland, couple of years later, I moved back to a different part of Essex.

Emmily

I totally agree with Emmily there. I own a Yorkie, called Jeffree, and he has never been a vicious dog. I have never seen a vicious Yorkie, and, as with any dog, they usually only get vicious and evil if they have been mistreated, or neglected. Jeffree is very amusing to have around, and I would recommend the breed to anybody with a soft spot for small dogs. A Yorkie will give them years of pleasure.

This doesn't really have anything to do with what you are talking about, but I want to adopt a Yorkie and I do not know how. If you could please give me some advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
alohayorkielover

Your best bet is to try a Yorkshire Terrier rescue centre - there are some listed on the bottom of this page: http://www.dogpages.org.uk/breedt.htm