Hello! I'm new to this board and to Eskies. We recently adopted an Eskie from a rescue organization who we absolutely love! Her story is a little sad. Apparently, the owners didn’t want her or her brother and dumped them both along the side of the road at only 5 weeks old! Nobody could figure out why someone would throw out two full blood Eskies when they could have made some money on them…though I’m not an advocate of breeding especially if the puppies aren’t going to be cared for. They were covered in fleas and ticks and the foster family nearly ran over both of them in the middle of the road. We adopted our Eskie, Marshmallow, or Marshie for short when she was about 7 weeks old. I had some concerns about her being away from momma at such a young age, primarily the possible development of behavioral problems. However, we have 3 Yorkies, Minnie age 7, Jake age 5, and Isabella age 1.5. In the 3 weeks we’ve had Marshie, we’ve noticed that the 3 Yorkies have taught her a lot. I’ve noticed she’s done quite well with bite inhibition, boundaries, playing nice, being “told” when she’s too rough, and so on. I hope that Marshie will learn the things she needs to with her new family. We’re familiar with positive reinforcement and it’s worked well for the 3 Yorkies.
Anyway, I have a couple of questions regarding our situation:
1) All 3 Yorkies are under 5 pounds. We know Marshie will probably grow up to be around 25 to 30 pounds. As she grows, do you think she’ll learn to “play down” to the level of the 3 Yorkies? I’m hoping that getting her at such a young age will be beneficial to all and that all of them continue to learn to play nice together.
2) I hope she starts sleeping most of the night soon. Each of the 3 Yorkies didn’t take long to do this when they were puppies…but then again, they were about 12 weeks of age or older when we got them. Right now, she goes to bed about 9:00, wakes up at 1:00 to potty, then she’s ready to play for a couple of hours at 4:00. Do you think after about another month or so she’ll sleep all night?
3) I know that socialization is key to any dog. We’ve taken her to the neighbor’s house a couple of times already and she has 2 young children, who Marshie seems to like. She also had a black Lab and a Cocker Spaniel and they seemed to get along just fine. I’m trying to figure out other ways of socialization that won’t compromise her health since she’s still needs a couple more vaccinations. So, dog parks are definitely out of the question for now. What advice do you have for socialization beyond what we’ve already done?
Attached is a picture of Marshie and the 3 Yorkies. Her ears are beginning to stand up now but I don't have a picture of that yet.
Thanks!
