Yorkie Facts and Information
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England.
SPECIAL SKILLS: Historically a rat-catcher but nowadays usually a family pet.
WEIGHT: The weight average 4 1/2 - 6 1/2 lb.
COAT: This breed has very long, silk-like hair, body steel grey and feet and heads are tan or gold. As puppies they are born black and tan or black and gold. Their coats are continually changing shades of color. I have found that the ones that are going to stay smaller seem to start getting their grey color faster. Colors that AKC recognizes are listed blue and gold or tan and black and gold or tan.
CARE REQUIRED: The Yorkshire Terrier needs daily grooming with brush and comb. If you do not have the time to do this, you should have the coat trimmed short by a groomer. The hair is normally kept out of the eyes with a ribbon tied in a bow or with little girls pony tail holder the smallest you can purchase. Show dogs' coats are usually protected to keep their condition by being rolled up on curling papers. Check the ears regularly and remove loose hairs from the ear passages. When you purchase your new puppy and it's ears aren't standing perfectly, don't worry. They can be trained to stand. The cartilage is very weak in new babies. Just keep the hair trimmed off the ears till they learn to stand on their own. If your dog is kept inside they will not need weekly baths. Do not bath them too much. When you bath them, towel dry, and spray an instant leave in conditioner on coat. I use Pantene Instant Spray Conditioner. Comb hair and let air dry to avoid drying hair out. With the proper care their coat will be long and beautiful.
CHARACTER: This is a lively, intelligent, sometimes too-brave dog, which is loving, vigilant, and becomes attached to its family. Yorkshire Terriers are very alert and bark whenever they sense danger.
TRAINING: The Yorkshire Terrier is a fairly quick-learning pupil. Provided you are consistent in your approach and ensure the lessons are positive, enjoyable and varied, it will soon learn to obey. Yorkies are a very smart breed and can be taught to do anything.
SOCIAL BEHAVIOR: Provided children do not treat them as a toy and do not invade their territory, these dogs will not cause any problems with them. Some of this breed can be rather foolhardy in their courage towards other dogs but usually get along very well with cats and other household animals. These little dogs think they are just as big and bad as the other dogs they encounter. This is where training and obedience comes in. This ensures their own safety. Strangers will always be announced by loud barking. Yorkies can get out of hand very quickly if treated like a toy instead of a dog. Treat them just like they are a big and train them not to do the things that are unsatisfactory to you.
EXERCISE: This breed adapts its exercise needs to the family circumstances. This little dog can readily be kept in an apartment. It's size accomodates small areas well.
DIET: Do not immediately change your new babies diet. Shock can occur causing their sugar levels to drop. If they seem to be sluggish feed them a little Nutrical. This raises their sugar levels. If you fell the need to change their diet, do so gradually till they are eating a different food. Do not feed your new yorkie table scraps. Table scraps do not have the vitamins and nutrients needed to sustain their health. They put too much weight on and that is very unhealthy. Also, it causes their stool to be sticky. It will stick to their long beautiful hair and can be very messy. If you keep them on a good dog food you should have little trouble with them with dietary problems.
SPECIAL REMARKS: The beautiful long hair of this breed is much admired at dog shows but to keep such a coat in good condition requires considerable work. Most Yorkshire Terriers which are kept as pets go through life with shorter clipped coats. Although purists may find this upsetting, it is better for the dog than an unkempt coat with tangles which hurt and bother the dog.
HYPOGLYCEMIA: In small toy or young yorkies this condition can be brought on by stress or some type of shock. Make sure your little baby gets plenty of rest, food, and water. Do not over handle your new little baby. They are so sweet you want to hug and cuddle them all the time, but remember they need their rest also. Do not immediately change food, this is stressful on their digestive systems and can cause hypoglycemia.
Hypoglycemia is a drop in the blood sugar levels in the body. It must be raised immediately and they must be removed from the stressful condition. If blood sugar levels are not raised immediately your little puppy can go into coma or convulsions leading to coma. They can show symptoms of something going wrong by tremors (involuntary shaking) or weakness. They can appear limp and lifeless, and gums may appear blue gray in color.
If puppy seems to have something wrong, give a small amount of Nutrical. It is very sweet and they will readily eat it. If they are unable to lick tube, put on finger, open mouth and put a very small amount in mouth. They will lick out of the roof of their mouth. Watch for a few minutes and if they don't respond, take immediately to your veterinarian.
Make sure you keep your puppy in a location that you can watch it very closely, but also out of reach of children. Children love these little babies but don't understand how fragile they are at young ages.
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