My husband & I have a 6-year-old male Yorkshire Terrier, we’ve had him since a puppy. He is very attached to me, very attached, and protective of me. We also had an English Bulldog up until she recently passed away. We had the bulldog 1st, then the Yorkie as a puppy, they were together all day, every day for close to 6 years & got along fine. My English Bulldog was just so mellow, she did not care about much, besides food & sleeping. We just got a puppy, a pom-chi 9 weeks old. My Yorkie is not accepting him, like to the point if the puppy tries to even barely touch him, my Yorkie is growling and snapping at him. If the puppy comes near him he gets up and moves. I don’t know how to get my Yorkie to accept the puppy. The puppy tries to play with my Yorkie, but the Yorkie is not interested. I know the Yorkie can hurt the puppy. Any suggestions on how I should go about getting my Yorkie to calm down, relax, and not be so aggressive? My Yorkie has always had some anxiety issues from day one. I don’t want to totally push the puppy on him, I just don’t know how to even start to get him to accept the puppy. Please Help!
Yorkshire Terrier Aggression
Hi Karyn,
Considering your observations of your older Yorkie’s behaviour around another household dog, the Bulldog, it’s unlikely that he would intentionally seriously hurt the pup. However, he’s not going to put up with behaviour he doesn’t like from a junior. I’m sure by now if he wanted to hurt him he would have. Normally these things work themselves out over time but you can help out a bit by putting a lead on the pup at all times and supervise like it’s a two-year-old child around a house guest less than thrilled with children. Better you should be disciplining the pup as if the older dog is forced to constantly do it he may escalate and develop a more permanent dislike.
The only bit that might cause a problem is you not nipping that part where the older is “protective of me”. That’s not usually the sort of flattering protection as you might think. It’s more of a resource guarding behaviour with you being a resource, like a bone or a toy or treat. In other words a possession. Hard to influence behaviour when you’re thought to be a possession. I’d do some reading about how to get his head right in this regard. Try my book The Beautiful Balance – Dog Training with Nature’s Template™. You’ll learn how to gently transition him over. You don’t want to rush as he’s under enough stress as it is.
Generally speaking, I think over the next month you’ll see the older dog thaw out a bit. Take some video of what is going on and send it to me if you’re worried.
John
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John "Ask the Dog Guy" Wade
Long time dog trainer
12 thoughts on “Yorkshire Terrier Aggression”
Within the last 6 months my 9 year old male yorkie started attacking my 7 year old female golden doodle. The doodle could just be walking by and the yorkie will suddenly jump on her and attack. The doodle has not hurt the yorkie…yet but her growls are fierce and we really have to pry them apart! Over the last 2 months the yorkie has calmed and wasn’t attacking barely at all. But now we just got a puppy. The doodle is still not sure about the puppy and will growl if the puppy is in her space. As soon as she growls the yorkie attack’s. What can I do? I am so worried that the doodle will finally attack back and that would be horrible!!!! Please help!
Living with more than one dog requires living with them so that they’re all clear as to who is the dog and who is the loving authority figure. Few people find the formulae for this, which can cause conflict between dogs as they compete for hierarchy and resources. Something they’re far less likely to do when the two-legged folk is constantly making it clear as to who lives in whose house. Seek out a trainer that isn’t mesmerized by the ideologies of ‘All Positive/Purely Positive/Force-Free/Never Say No/R+…’, treat, treat, treat or ‘Might Is Right’, Alpha, Pack Leader, Dominant (Yank and Crank). If you can’t find someone local, then contact me and I’ll provide details of my virtual program.
– John “Ask The Dog Guy” Wade – Embracing Science and Common Sense
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hi john I have a 5 month old biewer morkie and all of the sudden he is becoming aggressive he bit me as I picked him up is there something you can share as to how we can have him tune down his aggressiveness
Hi Noemi,
As I’ve commented in other threads, it sounds like he’s being lived with as a cute roommate and sees you that way. That, as opposed to raising him as nature intended, where he sees you as a loving authority figure, often results in this behavior.
– John “Ask The Dog Guy” Wade – Embracing Science and Common Sense
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& FREE Brain Drain Activity Guide For Your Dog
PS Don’t forget if you find that the many free resources I provide companion dog owners via Ask The Dog Guy website (http://www.askthedogguy.com) and elsewhere (YouTube, newsletter, etc.) inform, save you time and, or money, why not buy me a coffee? Click the link to Buy Me A Few Coffees
PPS You can also become a Patron and support spreading the word about science and common sense in companion dog training by clicking on the membership link instead. Click the link to Become An Ask The Dog Guy Patron (Various levels of sponsorship have benefits for you as well.)
Why does my loving 3 year old yorkie only want to bite puppies when he meets them but fine with older and other bigger dogs ?
Not enough of history here to say anything with confidence, but depending on what you mean by ‘bite’ – puppies can be annoying and sometimes need a nip if they ignore body language and, or tone telling them to lighten up. Also, forcing interactions upon a dog is the Disney way of dogs. Not all dogs, just like not all people are highly social, or like children etc.
– John Wade (www.askthedogguy.com)
Our one year old yorkie female spayed has started growling at people and other dogs. She has been socialized since early on. We fly with her all the time since 10 weeks and take her everywhere with us. This just recently started and I’m not sure what to do. She sounds vicious and I’m not sure why this started
Socialization means different things to different people, so I can’t be sure she was even in her imprint period when the socialization occurred, let alone was broad spectrum enough. Either way, socialization does not replace training, and what you’re describing sounds like a dog that hasn’t been trained and perhaps incorrectly socialized. I’d need to know a lot more to be more helpful.
– John “Ask The Dog Guy” Wade – Embracing Science and Common Sense
Visit http://www.askthedogguy.com For A Free Weekly Newsletter
& FREE Brain Drain Activity Guide For Your Dog
PS Don’t forget if you find that the many free resources I provide companion dog owners via Ask The Dog Guy website (http://www.askthedogguy.com) and elsewhere (YouTube, newsletter, etc.) inform, save you time and, or money, why not buy me a coffee? Click the link to Buy Me A Few Coffees
PPS You can also become a Patron and support spreading the word about science and common sense in companion dog training by clicking on the membership link instead. Click the link to Become An Ask The Dog Guy Patron (Various levels of sponsorship have benefits for you as well.)
I just got a 9 year old Yorkie who has been adopted a lot for various reasons. My aunt last had him. He was injured by her riding wheelchair and the. She fell over him. He is not letting me touch him most of the time. Then he will let me and then again not. He was treated by the vet and taking pain meds and eye infection meds. Tonight he was very aggressive to the point he reared back so hard and jumped from the sofa and hurt his leg again. I’m afraid he is not going to be cared for. He attacks me when ever I try to put his leash on to take him out. I don’t know what to do.
Hi Brenda,
When his leg heels, start by finding a very light leash and leave it attached to him at all times you’re together, as opposed to putting it on and taking it off when you take him for walks. This will keep you safer as you’ll have something of a means to control his head when you need to do something with him. (Like practicing putting on and off a second leash, or having his body calmly handled (wear gloves).) There are a lot of other things that you should be doing to build his trust and desensitize him, but that’s more than a comment reply can cover. I’d seek some qualified training assistance. (Read this first: Questions You Should Ask Before Hiring A Dog Trainer (Especially If They’ve Given Themselves A Fancy Title – by John Wade). If you have trouble finding someone qualified locally, reach out to me, and I’ll send information about my program. ([email protected])
– John “Ask The Dog Guy” Wade – Embracing Science and Common Sense
Visit http://www.askthedogguy.com For A Free Weekly Newsletter
& FREE Brain Drain Activity Guide For Your Dog
PS Don’t forget if you find that the many free resources I provide companion dog owners via Ask The Dog Guy website (http://www.askthedogguy.com) and elsewhere (YouTube, newsletter, etc.) inform, save you time and, or money, why not buy me a coffee? Click the link to Buy Me A Few Coffees
PPS You can also become a Patron and support spreading the word about science and common sense in companion dog training by clicking on the membership link instead. Click the link to Become An Ask The Dog Guy Patron (Various levels of sponsorship have benefits for you as well.)
My neighbor has a 10 year old yorkie and everytime he comes over to visit if i scratch my leg or arm he attacks me
Hi Lorraine,
Why does he bring the dog over with him?
– John “Ask The Dog Guy” Wade – Embracing Science and Common Sense
Visit http://www.askthedogguy.com For A Free Weekly Newsletter
& FREE Brain Drain Activity Guide For Your Dog
PS Don’t forget if you find that the many free resources I provide companion dog owners via Ask The Dog Guy website (http://www.askthedogguy.com) and elsewhere (YouTube, newsletter, etc.) inform, save you time and, or money, why not buy me a coffee? Click the link to Buy Me A Few Coffees
PPS You can also become a Patron and support spreading the word about science and common sense in companion dog training by clicking on the membership link instead. Click the link to Become An Ask The Dog Guy Patron (Various levels of sponsorship have benefits for you as well.)