Yorkie attacking senior dog

Question
I have a 10 month old female Yorkie that has been in the house with us for 7 months (since 3 months of age). I also have a 13 yr old Maltese/Poodle. The dogs have tolerated/gotten along for the last 6 months, now over the last 3 weeks my yorkie will viciously attack my senior dog (viciously). We have to chase and pull her off, usually after she has a mouthful of hair. I have been scolding her and putting her in the laundry room with the door shut as punishment. I have talked to a trainer, a pet store owner and most recently a vet. Their comments are that this could be a range of reasons, but that definitely needs training, but there are no guarantees that they will be successful. They also recommend that if training doesn't work that I should take her to a behaviourist (very expensive). I am not sure that my senior dog can tolerate any more of this (training/behaviourist). I have to keep them apart while in the home and while away, hardly a good scenario.  Just wondering what you think and if you think its wise to expose my senior to this type of situation. I am seriously thinking of finding a suitable home for the yorkie!!!!

Answer
Karri,

I am so sorry to hear about your troubles.  What I am about to tell you is my opinion based on ten years of breeding and dealing with Yorkshire Terriers.  I believe there is something wrong with your Yorkie.  I do not believe that any amount of training or behaviorist help is going to do any good.  Let me explain why.

Any dog that attacks another unprovoked has a flaw in their genes.  With pure breed dogs if a female is bred back to many times the result is not so much a deformed puppy but an aggressive dog.  I am glad you are keeping them apart because left unattended the Yorkie would probably seriously injure your Maltese/Poodle or even kill her.

I would ask if you know the origins of your Yorkie (pedigree) but it really wouldn't be much help.  A lot of unscrupulous breeders who have many dogs will breed back many times but list another dog as the male.  There are many reasons for this such as a female going into heat and they may have a male that won't mate with her so in order to not miss the heat they will breed back to a brother, father etc. and the result is a puppy that comes from to many breed backs.

Of course you would have no knowledge of this because the breeder is not allowed by the American Kennel Club to breed back more than once.  The way unscrupulous breeders get around this is to have several males and they simple put the name of the male they want on the papers when in actuality it was a different male that was used.

I know it is a difficult decision but you really have to take this seriously.  You have to make a decision whether you want to continue living in what I am sure is a very stressed situation.  If it were me I would get rid of the Yorkie.  I would caution you though that it would not be a good idea to give it to anyone with small children or other pets.  If you have knowledge that a dog is vicious you can be liable for their harming someone or even someones pet.  At this point I would cut my losses and since your Maltese/Poodle is thirteen years old I would wait until she has passed before I considered getting another puppy.

I am sorry you have had to experience this.  All of my Yorkies over the years have brought me and my customers great joy.  There have been incidences though where people have called me in tears because their other pet killed their Yorkie.  It can happen.

I would like to suggest that you remain vigilant about keeping them apart until the situation is resolved.  Your Maltese/Poodle deserves to spend her twilight years in peace and I know if anything bad happened to her you would be devastated.

I am sorry I could not give you better news.  When you give me feedback by rating my answer please let me know what you decided.

Sincerely,

Melinda