Help, my Yorkie is living on his nerves!

Barb

Gold Member
Does anyone out there have a nervous yorkie? Ozzie has always been 'jumpy' and inclined to shake if there is a loud noise etc..
Lately though, since he heard some fireworks whilst out walkies and then a car running over a plastic bottle, he does not want to go out.

We have to drag him down the drive, we often end up carrying him and the afternoon pleasure for him and us is now gone.

We have bought him 'DAP' collars, which are supposed to help calm him, I think they help a little but not much.

Ideas anyone of what we could do to help? He is such a dear little chap and I hate to see him shake and look so terriifed.

Thanks in advance!

Love
 
Poor Ozzie! The world must seem like such a big, noisy, scary place to such a little dot!

My Yorkie, Maisie, was quite a nervous little thing and would do the 'trembling' thing. Sometimes when we were out, a lorry would go past and she'd hit the deck and end up star-fish shaped flat on the pavement, she was that terrified. I don't really know what to recommend but I just thought I'd say 'awwwwww'.
 
Hi Yau Barb

I have 2 yorkies and I find they are either barking and chasing or cowering in the corner. They die a death when the hoover is on. We have a boy and girl and the boy Billie is the worst.

You would of thought we had beaten him but I think perhaps Yorkies are just like that.

good luck
 
Barb, have you spoken to your vets? My old vets had a behavioural therapy specialist. I took my westie, Macca to see him and he was diagnosed as hyper vigilant (doggie version of ADHD!!!!).

He gave me lots of tips and suggestions to modify behaviour, and he's become a lot happier. He hates fireworks too, but tries to attack the noise (same with thunder) because he takes the noise as a form of attack on him!!

Hope you can find some answers because it's awful when you see your precious bundle not feeling 100%.
 
Hey Barb,

My year old yorkie boy, Onyx is the same. Very anxious little chap. He follows me everywhere (even to the toilet :rolleyes:) and jumps/trembles at the slightest noise. My puppy trainer recommended that I be very careful not to reinforce his fear by cuddling/fussing when he is scared. She said to just act normal and pretend that nothing is wrong. She also suggested distraction therapy i.e. when he starts to cower in the corner do something to distract him.

We seem to be making progress, but as with all dog training consistency i guess is the key!!

Good luck with your little man
x
 
Thanks for all the ideas everyone. I will be careful how I go with Ozzie; he is very precious and I would not want to make him worse. At the moment he seems a little better, so fingers crossed he is improving!

Love
 
Poor Ozzie, we have been through firework terror with our gsd x Cassie for years. Only now she is 13 and her hearing has become less acute has she finally stopped panicking. I don't have any cures I'm afraid, with Cass it was linked to winter evenings so she refuses to go out in the dark. Sometimes bribery can help.
 
Hey Barb,

My year old yorkie boy, Onyx is the same. Very anxious little chap. He follows me everywhere (even to the toilet :rolleyes:) and jumps/trembles at the slightest noise. My puppy trainer recommended that I be very careful not to reinforce his fear by cuddling/fussing when he is scared. She said to just act normal and pretend that nothing is wrong. She also suggested distraction therapy i.e. when he starts to cower in the corner do something to distract him.

We seem to be making progress, but as with all dog training consistency i guess is the key!!

Good luck with your little man
x

Very good advice there, if Ozzie is scared and you pick him up or fuss him you are going to unintentianlly reinforce the fact that he should be worried, he wont know you are worried about him he will just think your worried about the same things.
You can get cd's to play indoors that help desensitise them to loud noises, they are not quick fixes but might help long term, have you tried rescue remedy in his water and around bonfire night create him a dark den and put a small t shirt on him, this will help make him feel more secure.

As for the walking its tricky, if he is scared and you have to drag him its going to be counter productive, i fostered a scared puppy once and we just went as far as they could manage and the minute he was scared i just stopped walking, waited a minute for him to calm down ( ask them to sit then lay down as it refocuses the brain ) if they settle give a treat and maybe say " come on then " and see if he will set off a bit further, if not i would go back and end the walk on a high, you will probably find he will start relaxing more each time

Dont know if any of that will help but he sounds like a love
 
Thanks for that Vodka - all good advice. He is a bit better at the moment; interestingly he is much keener to go out on a sunny day. Yesterday, it was 14degrees and he went for his walkies no trouble at all. I'm beginning to think he is getting more determined to have his way as he gets older.

He is the most adorable dog on the planet though!
 
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