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Posted: 10/19/2014 10:33:23 PM EDT
When we lost our 15 yr. old lab, we decided to get a smaller dog because of several reasons including having little kids in the house. We decided to get a Yorkshire Terrier. Once I got over the pussification factor of getting a lap dog, I realized this little thing is a badass. He retrieves anything I throw and has unlimited energy. I've trained multiple labs to retrieve my birds over the years.
My question is this: Has anyone seen or heard of a Yorkie being trained to retrieve birds? I think I might give it a shot. |
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That would be epic to watch a Yorkie retrieving doves.
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Do it and post a video. I bet you would get 5 million hits on youtube.
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They are very capable dogs for their size. I've always had one, including now.
He is the best dog I have ever owned. In terms in hunting, if trained, I think any dog could do that. |
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Yorkies have historically been used as ratters, and dogs that went to ground.
Of course, before we fucked them up for the "cute" factor, they were a great deal larger than now, 20 pounds was very common. |
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Quoted:
When we lost our 15 yr. old lab, we decided to get a smaller dog because of several reasons including having little kids in the house. We decided to get a Yorkshire Terrier. Once I got over the pussification factor of getting a lap dog, I realized this little thing is a badass. He retrieves anything I throw and has unlimited energy. I've trained multiple labs to retrieve my birds over the years. My question is this: Has anyone seen or heard of a Yorkie being trained to retrieve birds? I think I might give it a shot. View Quote They are pretty smart pups. We've had ours for almost 5 years now, and I went through the same thoughts about not wanting a little yapper. But he's smart, loyal, and fearless. They are stubborn, but trainable, and once they learn something they don't seem to forget it. Good dogs if you work with them (like anyone should with any dog), although if you need GD approval on what dog to buy, a Yorkie may not be what you want. ETA: Post pics up if you take him hunting! |
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semi related: our mini-schnauzer retrieved a baby redbird that fell out of the nest.
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A couple years ago I was on a dove field and some guys had a little dog like that out with them.
They ended up shooting a dove that fell deep into the uncut corn and for shits and giggles told the dog to go in there after it. Nobody expected that the dog would find the bird, but sure enough he came running back out of the bird in his mouth. That was a cool little moment in time. |
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My 6 year old niece is an awesome bird dog. Killed birds the other weekend and she didn't lose a single one. She thought every scratch from chasing them through the brambles was a badge of honor.
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Would be interesting the see none the less. Many little dogs don't realize they are little.
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Would be interesting the see none the less. Many little dogs don't realize they are little. View Quote Our first family dog (40 some years ago) was a male yorkie. His life came to a tragic end when he didn't realize he was little and went after a GSD that was on the loose in the neighborhood. |
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Male Yorkies can be pretty hard core. For tiny little hairballs, that is. Females pretty much just hang around on your desk and eyeball you until you give them a treat. http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee55/JamesP23_photo/FullSizeRender_zps4fa596bc.jpg View Quote Holy shit. The cuteness. Its unbearable. |
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I dove hunted next to a guy on some state property that used a couple jack russels as retrievers, seemed to work out ok.
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Quoted:
When we lost our 15 yr. old lab, we decided to get a smaller dog because of several reasons including having little kids in the house. We decided to get a Yorkshire Terrier. Once I got over the pussification factor of getting a lap dog, I realized this little thing is a badass. He retrieves anything I throw and has unlimited energy. I've trained multiple labs to retrieve my birds over the years. My question is this: Has anyone seen or heard of a Yorkie being trained to retrieve birds? I think I might give it a shot. View Quote Our Yorkie retrieved birds. But he was a big Yorkie, about 16#. |
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Holy shit. The cuteness. Its unbearable. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
Male Yorkies can be pretty hard core. For tiny little hairballs, that is. Females pretty much just hang around on your desk and eyeball you until you give them a treat. http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee55/JamesP23_photo/FullSizeRender_zps4fa596bc.jpg Holy shit. The cuteness. Its unbearable. She's a good little spud. |
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Can't get my mom's dog to play fetch. He will retrieve what I throw and fucking loves it but then he doesn't want to return it. He wants you to get it from him. He'll eventually drop the ball at your feet to get you to throw it again, but it's inconsistent. When I was watching him I got him to retrieve and drop the toy using treats but it never really stuck although I did get him to learn a few other commands like sit, stay, rollover, down, etc. using treats as motivation.
I don't know if he's like a typical Yorkshire Terrier though. He looks identical to an Australian Silky Terrier and weighs like 15 pounds. |
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You might trim the hair first. Or last. But it will need trimmin'.
Anything with the word "terrier" in it is badass. I know a couple girls that got yorkies thinking they were getting foo foo doggies. They were surprised at how rambunctious they were. |
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Pretty much any of the terriers are great dogs. I have no doubt one could be used to retrieve.
Only caveat is most labs naturally will hold something in their mouth "softly". Not sure how hard it would be to get a terrier to do it. |
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The best thing you can do for any of those little yappy, froo froo dogs, is to treat them like any other dog. When you treat them like "OMG, just the cutest thing evaaar" accessory, that's what turns them into little yappy, pain in the ass terrors. If you treat them like any other dog, they'll be just like any other dog except small, and kind of froo froo looking.
So what I'm saying is, yeah train him to retrieve doves, and scare up rabbits. |
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I use my jack russell for doves. She picks up my empty shells too.
She used to run rabbits and tree squirrels for me, but she's getting old now. |
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Yorkies are just about the right size bait for gators or big yellow cats...
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Can't believe I'm the first to ask, but is your dog gun shy? If yes it's hard if not impossible to remedy that.
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Quoted: Absolutely no reason in the world not to try it. You and the dog will have fun, and you may end up with a fine hunting companion in the end too. Lots of people have trained "non-traditional" breeds to retrieve. If you do, post pics and vids. http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h103/kkustoms/bevemcqueen2.jpg View Quote Now the breed of peace is killing quail. |
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I had a little black pomeranian once that used to catch birds in the yard. Her technique was so bad I don't see how she ever caught one. She would run at them barking like crazy. She weighed about 5 pounds and would catch some fairly large grakles.
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I've had Yorkies all my life and they are hard to train. Also, they are fearless to a fault as they will go right up to larger and more dangerous animal without caring if its dangerous or not. So I'd advise against taking a Yorkie out hunting.
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My male yorkie is 4lbs, thinks he's the most badass dude ever, and won't retrieve shit. Fuck you. Alpha doesn't retrieve shit.
Our female will retrieve, but refuses to drop it. She wants to fight you for it. Wish I could figure out how to stop her from doing that. |
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