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Dear AKC: My question deals with how Yorkshire Terriers socialize. Do “Yorkie” females get along better with other females or with male Yorkies? We have been told varying opinions and need to know, as we are in the process of purchasing another Yorkie and need to pick the correct gender to get along with my son’s female. — Gender Generalizations Dear Gender: These small toy dogs of less than seven pounds are very alert, love to play and investigate everything. They are truly little terriers as their names suggests. Whatever gender you decide on, remember having a puppy in the house will require lots of work, training and time. It would help to know the age of the other Yorkie and if the two dogs are planning to live together in the same household or if your son’s pet is strictly on a visiting only basis. If they will be just visitors then whatever you want to get is the sex you should chose, but if they are living together then I would speak with the breeder of the Yorkie to get a breed expert’s opinion. Breeders know what works best for their breed. Welcoming a New Pet How you socialize your new pet applies to all breeds of dogs. If you bring a new puppy into the household, there must be supervised introductions as well as letting the youngest know who ruled the roost before they arrived. Most puppies are very submissive and will follow the lead of the older, established dog. Be careful not to shower the pup with too much affection at the cost of the older dog or the long-time resident may act out with undesirable behavior like chewing or “marking” the house. In my experience I have owned many males and females together, but my personal favorite is to own one male and one female. Having one of each sex seems to compliment each other. Many times bitches don’t get along or dogs don’t get along and then again sometimes they do. But in my observations the one of each pairing seems to create the most harmony.

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