Okay, you love this little dog, and nothing is going to keep you from owning him. He’s adorable, loving, adventurous, and you can tell as soon as you’ve met him that the two of you have a special bond.
What Yorkie’s Think
Your Yorkie believes that you are her property, and she loves you dearly. She wants to spend all her time, sleeping or waking, with you, so she naturally assumes that you want to do the same with her. She will ferociously protect you and your things, and then she’ll take them partly because she believes that what is yours is hers.
My dog loves to play the game of grabbing one of my shoes and running under the dining room table (because it takes me a couple of minutes of moving chairs around to get under there with him) and then making loud, growling noises pretending he is destroying it – and he is to a certain degree. He has chewed up important papers, and has made little puncture marks in the soft cloth on the tops of my running shoes, and I have several pairs of underwear that have teeth mark holes in the seats of them. He likes to snatch things, and I have caught him browsing beside my laundry basket like a customer in a cafeteria line!
Of all the unlikeable things that he does, this is the only one that really bothers me because when I say no, he thinks it’s part of the game he’s playing, so I certainly must not mean it. Or at least he used to think that; as time has gone on, he’s realized I’m serious and I don’t want my things destroyed. I save empty toilet paper rolls – the cardboard things – for him, and he shreds them. He loves to eat paper, and I’ve resignedly come to the conclusion that a little of it now and then can’t be so bad for him, just like I’m sure my mother must have eventually realized about me and dirt when I was a little tomboy.
Like I said, I am officially retired from a full time job, and that makes me an ideal Yorkie owner, because most of the time I am working around the house or sitting at my computer doing part time research or writing, and Mason can sleep in my lap or at my feet. And I have time for the two long walks a day that he and I both enjoy. When he wants to play and I am not busy, I throw his ball for him and he retrieves it. He could happily do this all day long.
Worth It!
There are many Yorkie owners who work full time and look forward to seeing their little baby bouncing up and down when they get home at the end of the day. I have talked to several who have told me the adjustments they’re made – putting piddle pads in the same place every day, leaving the dog in the same room every day or leaving him the whole house, training him so that he has a safe routine he can follow for food, water, and house training. When I was working full time as a teacher, I seldom came home after just an eight hour day, so I didn’t dare have a dog then because I couldn’t stand the thought of a dog waiting painfully for hours for me to come home and take him outside. My cat had her litter box and she was fine.
Next time I’ll tell you how I ended up with a Yorkie!