Help me get ready for a Yorkshire terrier please!

[sleepingonthesparebed]

We are taking on a bouncy Yorkshire terrier from a family member soon who can no longer look after him. He's about 2 yrs old and full of beans. What do we need to be aware of about YTs in general please? We've had dogs in the past so we're not complete newbies.

We also have a 9 month old baby so any dog vs baby tips would also be very helpful.

Thanks!

Yorkies, especially if they are tiny, can be quite delicate and easily injured, but they are also feisty and can be sharp. I would never leave your child and the dog unsupervised, ever, (not that I expect you would). Very difficult with such a young child, to teach them to be gentle with the dog, and vice versa. Of course it may be a big beast of a Yorkie, some are pretty solid. Two main things with them; teeth problems. Daily teeth cleaning is a good idea. They are so prone to tartar build up and consequently bad breath and tooth loss, plus expensive vet scale and polish treatments. The other thing is grooming. They don't moult, so need regular trimming (every 6 to 8 weeks) and regular grooming otherwise the coat will knot up. All the Yorkies I have had loved long walks, chasing rabbits and rolling in fox shit. Their cute looks make you forget they are every inch a terrier. Have a read up in the Internet for common Yorkie problems, such as luxating patella and tracheal problems. All mine have been long lived (15 on average), but some of them have been very heavy on the vets bills, so insurance is essential.

That's incredibly helpful thank you v much. All costs are going to be taken care of by his current owner but I don't think they actually have insurance at the moment so I will suggest insist that they get this in place pronto.

Baby and dog get along well already and are rather intrigued by each other but I know we need to be super cautious.

We're dog and baby proofing the house this weekend...nothing like getting it all done in one hit!

I wasn't aware of the teeth issues so I'll be reading up on that and some general yorkie care tips too

Thanks again.