# Can I train him to ignore/not get too close to our Yorkie?



## Tulip (Jul 31, 2012)

I have a 7 yr old, 3.5 lb Yorkie as well as my 2 yr old GSD and I would like to be able to have them out together in the house and backyard at some point (supervised obviously). However, my Yorkie is a little bit older and doesn't really like dogs getting all up in her face. She's fine going up to Kody and sniffing/licking noses through his crate, or when I put him in a down-stay and make sure he can't inch his face toward hers too much. But he will occasionally break the stay and try to sniff her face, which she doesn't like, and will try to nip his nose for it! I've even had times where I've (gently)pushed her out of the way with my foot if Kody was pushing through the door and Miley was right there, and she'd actually bite my foot (not hard enough to hurt, but I could feel teeth). I'm pretty sure it's just some fear aggression and not liking big, hyper dogs all up in her face. It's weird cause she used to love every big dog she'd meet but has always been scared of the smaller dogs.

Anyways, should I just proof Kody's leave it command and practice with Miley until I can get him to not put his face too close to hers? Is there anything I could be doing with Miley to get her to tolerate him more? Thank you so much!!


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## zyppi (Jun 2, 2006)

sounds to me like your yorkie is the problem.

Small dogs get away with their behavior while big dogs cannot be allowed such behaviour.


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## zetti (May 11, 2014)

Big dogs often think little dogs are puppies & put up with more nonsense from them. I would just crate them separately & take turns with out time.


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

She is 3.5#????? Seriously? 

My cats are almost 3x bigger than this dog, so to be honest, I am going to do whatever I have to to guarantee their safety from animals that are 5x (or more) bigger than them even if they "ask for it" by doing something that a dog could interpret as enticing. Tough. The weaker is the winner here. So the dogs have learned to read my signs, and the signs of the cat, and have stopped doing things that get them in trouble. And if they can't, then they don't get to hang out together. That matters only if it matters to them. 

So 1 - 
Does it matter to them to hang out? If no, then there's no motivation to change behavior, and you can work out the best way to manage their lives fairly.

2 - 
If you can guarantee her safety, and she knows it, and knows there won't be mistakes, her defensiveness will decrease. 

3 - 
I use praise and food to tell my dogs what I do want, to mark when they are doing well, and to associate the cat with things that are amazingly good. Corrections will be used only if the dog goes too far/doesn't listen once they know. That may be a body block type move, a sharp verbal, withholding attention - whatever the dog responds to - I don't normally use a correction if I can help it, but safety trumps. 

Dr. Yin on impulse control - Can I Get My Dog to Stop Chasing the Cat?

It sounds like you have a very good boy, who is subtly or not knowingly pushing the envelope and not reading the signs the Yorkie is sending, and/or a Yorkie who is not giving great signals because she is freezing out of fear. You just need to shape his behavior so that he knows face to face is never going to be a thing that's okay for her, and in the meantime, you need to make sure that doesn't happen by stopping it wellllllllll before it starts, not when his face is there.


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## Tulip (Jul 31, 2012)

Thanks for your reply, Jean. I think you have a good idea of the situation- Kody is generally good, but I don't think he realizes Miley's terrified of his nose right up next to hers. And of course it's hard for me to even make sure she's doing okay when he's getting close cause I have to get to the right angle to see if she's doing weird eye things or lifting her lips a bit.

The whole thing is just really strange because Miley has been around big dogs her whole life and every time she saw big dogs (like bigger than Kody), she would go right up to them and jump around and try to play with them. My best guess is that she's just older now and would rather be left alone. Poor Kody... he adores her haha. 

My dad had Kody out with Miley on the couch (yes, I know, bad idea, but it's the only way she feels safe and I feel I can see her and "protect" her) earlier, and I just put my hand up a little bit around her mouth (not constricting, just putting a barrier between her and Kody in case she snapped- I would rather her get my hand than him) and praised her whenever she seemed calm and okay with him being close, as well as telling Kody to leave it and praising him for being close to her, but not shoving his face at her. He seemed to do really well and mostly just paced around the house and just occasionally came over to say hi to her. He's never really been dominant- always licked other dog's faces at the dog park. Miley's never really acted super dominant or submissive... always super laid-back and not really concerned with my sister's chihuahua (when we had her), who was very dominant. Is this okay to continue doing??


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

I think you may be over thinking this and tend to also see the Yorkie as the problem. 

CLEARLY you don't want any play to get out of hand with the size difference. But I know tons of people with GSD's and small dogs that are out and about with each other all the time and do fine. And I have 3 GSD's and 2 cats so am going thru the TEACHING issues with my 10 m old GSD (GENTLE with the kitties already!!!). 

All you need to teach the GSD, and assure (which, frankly, your GSD seems like a wonderful dog and doing what wonderful dogs are SUPPOSED to do when greeting another dog) he is gentle.

On the other hand, I'm guessing you failed to be able to socialize your smaller dog over the past years to teach it that just cause a dog is larger does NOT mean it's a bad thing to be so terrified of.

So I'm with helping your poor Yorkie to get over it's extreme irrational fear. You'll never get them to be normal together like dogs are supposed to be until that is addressed.


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## Tulip (Jul 31, 2012)

Thanks
And I literally just said she had been socialized with mostly large dogs (she's generally afraid of smaller ones), which is why it's weird that she's so afraid of Kody. She's never been attacked by a dog or anything like that either.


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## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

We have 3 year Gsd, 7 month Gsd and 7 year old Yorkie living together. The little one is not best friends with the big ones, but they coexist. I've always allowed the couch for the Yorkie as her safe place, just from the rough housing and mass of the other two. The pup will still try to take toys from her I just stay on top of the situation. The pup isn't allowed with her unsupervised, and if Daisy (yorkie) gets snappish over a toy she gets corrected.


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

Tulip said:


> Thanks for your reply, Jean. I think you have a good idea of the situation- Kody is generally good, but I don't think he realizes Miley's terrified of his nose right up next to hers. And of course it's hard for me to even make sure she's doing okay when he's getting close cause I have to get to the right angle to see if she's doing weird eye things or lifting her lips a bit.
> 
> The whole thing is just really strange because Miley has been around big dogs her whole life and every time she saw big dogs (like bigger than Kody), she would go right up to them and jump around and try to play with them. My best guess is that she's just older now and would rather be left alone. Poor Kody... he adores her haha.
> 
> My dad had Kody out with Miley on the couch (yes, I know, bad idea, but it's the only way she feels safe and I feel I can see her and "protect" her) earlier, and I just put my hand up a little bit around her mouth (not constricting, just putting a barrier between her and Kody in case she snapped- I would rather her get my hand than him) and praised her whenever she seemed calm and okay with him being close, as well as telling Kody to leave it and praising him for being close to her, but not shoving his face at her. He seemed to do really well and mostly just paced around the house and just occasionally came over to say hi to her. He's never really been dominant- always licked other dog's faces at the dog park. Miley's never really acted super dominant or submissive... always super laid-back and not really concerned with my sister's chihuahua (when we had her), who was very dominant. Is this okay to continue doing??


The underlined - I would say that any time he has his face less than a foot/18 inches away - he is in her body bubble and too close, and that is when to call him back to you for a good boy, and her a good job, high happy voice praise for both (if it doesn't get either too amped!). I allow my dogs to have a body bubble, which varies for all - of space that they need to be comfortable and happy. I know I have it with other people - it's like 15 feet -  but when you watch you can see the subtle signs that someone is getting too close. And they are generally polite about it, and that is to be marked, rewarded - nice job, good, well done! 

Calming signals may be something you want to get or rent or borrow or whatever - Turid Rugas is a close approximation of her name. 

Right now, I would go backwards and not work on any interactive situations, but reward parallel play/interactions, where they are doing things in the same room, not together, and doing well. Back it up, THEN, when everyone is comfy, work on the training of him to stay outside that bubble, and she may feel like she doesn't have to protect her space any more because you are doing it, and he's respecting it. 

He sounds like a super great dog!!!! As she's getting older, there may be some aches and pains too, that can always be looked for -- little dogs have knee problems a lot, from what I understand. 

Possibly a difference with the big dogs she's met before is that they weren't in her space 24/7, and it may be she would be doing this with another dog that is constantly around no matter what the size. I'm not saying my dogs get to choose to be jerks, but I respect that they may have some limits, and try to make reasonable accommodations for them = setting them up for success.


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## Lark (Jan 27, 2014)

MaggieRoseLee said:


> I think you may be over thinking this and tend to also see the Yorkie as the problem.
> 
> CLEARLY you don't want any play to get out of hand with the size difference. *But I know tons of people with GSD's and small dogs that are out and about with each other all the time and do fine.* And I have 3 GSD's and 2 cats so am going thru the TEACHING issues with my 10 m old GSD (GENTLE with the kitties already!!!).
> 
> ...


I agree with this - I was so paranoid about my GSD and my husband's yorki when we got married. I even sent my dog to his trainer to interact with her yorkie before we introduced our two dogs (and he did great with all of the trainer's small dogs). I spent the first few months of marriage with my stomach in knots, worried my dog would eat my husband's. But now the dogs have been together well over a year, and mine has never intentionally hurt his. He did accidently plow him over a few times, but learned very quickly to be gentle and watch out for the smaller dog.

My husband's yorkie is a stinker, and has been allowed to act in a way I wouldn't have tolerated with my GSD, but as he has gotten used to having a big dog around it has really improved.


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## pets4life (Feb 22, 2011)

can you work out more time space like gates to keep your shep away from the small dog?

PRoblem is cats occupy other parts of the house than small dogs, Cats jump high they climb up their scratching post, THey jump over the banister hide under the sofa and sleep, or couch or bed looking for insects? , They keep out of the dogs annoying face, cats are good at evading the annoying beastly dogs. Cats do not play fair either they love to hide behind things or under things and start clawing the dogs face. It is much harder for small dogs who cant just jump up on a shelf to get away or climb up something. Cats can just be let out the front door to sit on the front steps. They dont really have to share any space with the dog. Actually my cat will sit on top of my dogs crate any my dog will have no idea shes up there lol

I hope it works out for you.


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