My Unpredictable Yorkie: A Love-Hate Relationship

Hello everyone.

I've been a happy Yorkie owner for over a year now, and I'm excited to share my thoughts about this little guy.

So, the story goes like this... I've always dreamed of having a big, real dog - a companion and a protector - but living in a small apartment always held me back. So, I lived happily until I turned 32, when this miracle happened in my life.

My daughter told me she wanted a puppy, and not just any puppy, but a Yorkie. I tried to convince her to get a real dog, not some tiny thing, but my husband was on her side, and we ended up getting a beautiful little pup, which we named Bublik. And, well, we started loving her, and she started loving us, our nerves, and everything that crossed her path, including Kusya... The price for this purebred little bundle of joy was 25,000 rubles, no papers, just for the fun of it.

The first week was a nightmare for my husband and me - we took turns not sleeping because the little ball of fluff needed attention all the time. We survived, and then we started getting used to it. After that, there were plenty of exciting things happening in our lives... We ripped down a concrete wall, partially ate the linoleum, and then came the renovation. Our old cat learned to exist only during the puppy's sleep, as the old cat was always getting distracted by the puppy's playtime, and couldn't resist joining in. And then the fun began with her health - let's just say we became frequent visitors to the vet's clinic.

Enteritis - our favorite illness, without which we can only survive for a month max, and then it's back to square one. It eats everything, lies, stands, and weighs like a trash dog, it'll eat a sock, a doll, gnaw on a flower, and then diarrhea and vomiting. We cook porridge not for the kids, but for the dog, because dry food leads to enteritis and isn't even fit for a king. According to my wife, dry food is tasty for the cat, and she buys all sorts of rubbish for it. By the way, the cat eats KitKat, and the dog doesn't even touch premium-class food. And, by the way, she gets more ultrasound scans of her abdominal cavity than any member of our family... And, from an ethical standpoint, I won't even tell you about how she regularly raids the cat's litter box, getting all the leftovers... And once she ate used toilet paper... FROM the trash can, sorry if I've offended anyone's sensitive souls, but if you're reading this, it's probably not for nothing.

Next up, she had ticks, luckily without any consequences for her organism, we got rid of them, she spit them out, and forgot. Be prepared to spend money on Simparica or Bravecto. And the worst part is that she's brought home several unattached ticks on herself a few times, which is terrifying, what if one attaches to someone in the family? So, be prepared to wash, brush, and inspect her after every walk.

Accidents... One of the arguments in favor of Yorkies was that they go to the bathroom on a pad. Yeah, right, I totally believe it! They do make serious efforts to go to the bathroom on a pad, but with their poop, don't count on it. The mechanism is simple - the front paws are placed on the pad, while the back ones aren't, then the dog sits down and does its business, and the puddle flows towards the area of least resistance, and these streams are constant. According to friends, happy owners of these little critters, the problem is quite common.

Food Aggression... She defends her bowl, the cat's bowl. The cat had to move its bowl to the windowsill because it would simply starve to death. And for her bowl, she'll bite the cat even if it just walks by.

Reactivity... You can't pet or pick her up, everyone gets bitten.

Other details aren't worth mentioning - washing, trimming, and brushing are all pretty self-explanatory. By the way, if you don't want to see your dog's butt sticking out of the bathroom window, you'll either need to learn how to do a sanitary trim yourself or take them to a groomer every two weeks.

We've got a few pros to balance out the cons. First, she loves kids - all of them, absolutely all of them. Second, she doesn't shed much, and it barely smells if you wash it once a week. Third, we got a silent one, so it hardly barks at all. It only reacts to knocks on the door and the doorbell. Fourth, she gets along great with other dogs, sometimes even gets a little scolded for it. Fifth, she's fun-loving. Sixth, after the puppy phase, she gets pretty lazy and can sleep for hours on end - it's no Jack Russell that needs to be taken out for hours. Seventh, it's a breeze to teach new commands. And lastly, we just absolutely adore it like it's our own child.