re: Are Yorkies really that stupid?

I have a three year Yorkie that I am convinced is part human. She is incredibly intelligent. She hasn't crapped in the house or destroyed anything since the first couple of weeks. It's her emotional intelligence though, that astounds me. Smarter in that regard than any dog I have ever had. She is easily the favorite dog of my lifetime.

We adopted my sister-in-law's yorkie when she couldn't take care of him any more. For years he was a great dog, never pissed in the house, always barked when he needed to go out. But as he got older he's turned into, well, an old man. If you don't let him out within a minute of him barking at the door he's pissing somewhere in your house, probably somewhere you won't find for a few days. With two little kids and another dog, we decided to let my wife's parents take him. He's much happier over there, but every time we keep him he pisses and poops all over the house.

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Like from a fire?

Or like did you dive into a body of water with a knife in your teeth to save it?

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Drowning. Saw her while driving over a bridge. Video of my insertion... Youtube Link

Hey, at least it's not addicted to toddler throat meat like pitbulls are...

They're actually in the top tier of dog intelligence, albeit on the low end of that "top." 76% of dogs are dumber than Yorkies, yes, even your incredibly intelligent Beagle who's the 8th dumbest dog in the world, or your big old Mastiff who's reliably ranked 1st or 2nd on "dumbest" dogs.

I always question how they rank these things. Highly trainable - to me - in the human world means "dumber than a rock." If you think of people who conform or just go along with everything, they rarely come across as intelligent. But they're happier. I think it's the same with dogs. Not easy to train doesn't mean the dog is stupid. It means the human is stupid and doesn't understand the breed.

I trained my dumb beagle dog perfectly. I can't get my Yorkie to reliably do anything, but it's not because she's dumb, it's because she's stubborn. When she wants to - or thinks she'll get a treat - she'd do cartwheels if I asked. So I'm not sure how reliable the dog IQ tests are anyway, but that's what they say. Yorkies are actually brighter than 104 other dog breed and only dumber than about 33 of them.

I think the problem is always the owner. If you can't train your dog, you're the problem, not them. If you know the breed, know their limitations, know their strengths and their personality, you can train almost any dog. But humans don't have time for that most of the time.

Anyway, Yorkies aren't dumb by a long shot. But if you get the wrong owner - AKA tough guy who's ashamed to have a little dog - stupid insecurities prevent a bond from forming, and eventually that little dog doesn't give a flying dang what you think. So bad owner = bad dog.

I got my daughter a cat and it pisses in the house all the time. It seems to be tied to when I work long hours or spend the night somewhere else. Send the hawk my way

Since this was bumped, I'll finish the story. Everyone loved Johnny Cash. He was super friendly with all of us in the SCIF. Then we get some new LTC who immediately comes off as a dick. Johnny Cash bit him within the first few days he worked with us. Prior to this he had never bit anyone...hell he never even so much as growled at anyone. That was the end of Johnny Cash in the SCIF.

Turns out this LTC ended up being one of the biggest sacks of shite I ever had the pleasure of working for in the Army. Johnny Cash knew a shitbag when he saw one, so they're obviously not that stupid.

Pee pads, station them behind furniture and in parts of the house you don't visit...we have one that will pee and poop outside, but it takes a half hour for her to find the spot

Damn. I have a Yorkie and it’s the opposite. I’d like to take credit for that but it arrived damn near perfect from the breeder. It’s like a little human, it never has to be told twice and it’s smart as hell. And I’ve had a lot of dogs.