11 year old Steel blue and tan Yorkshire Terrier

About This Dog

Bella is a 11 and half year old “tea cup” sized yorkshire terrier. She has been living with an 80+ year old lady in a small terraced house in London with a small garden. For many years Bella lived with another dog, a Tibetan terrier who died two years ago. Her owner then got another puppy Tibetan who lived with her for a year and a half until she was rehomed a few months ago. Bella has a few habits. At dinner time her owner often gave her small morsels of food while she ate. So at meal times even though she has her own food in her bowl she will often sit near the dinner table barking until she gets a little morsel or two so she feels included in the meal with her owner. She should eat soft wet food because like many yorkies her age her teeth are not great. She has a lunchtime meal at about 12pm and evening meal at about 6pm. She likes food in small pieces because she has a small mouth. Even if she wants and likes the food if the chunks are too big she won’t eat it. She is generally house trained and if the sleeping arrangements are quiet and dark will usually sleep through the night between 10pm and about 6am. If she needs to go she will go on newspaper if it is laid down. She has a delicate constitution so any large chunks of unusual food can cause her to make messes at night. If there is light and noise at night she will wander and bark. She barks at letters through the letterbox. On walks she has a strange habit of sometimes barking at young children until they move away. But the barking is harmless; she is just wary of being bumped into or her foot being stepped on. She doesn’t like being bathed too often, perhaps once every 6 to 8 weeks. She gets cold quite easily so needs to snuggle into fleece blankets to stay warm and for much of the year between October and April likes to wear a light hand knitted loose jumper. She wears a small harness on walks with a long retractable leash so she can wander a bit further on her walks. Her elderly owner always kept her on the leash to keep her safe and because the owner was elderly and concerned about other dogs being overly interested or intimidating to her. The walk can last for about 20 minutes every other day before she gets tired. She doesn't like wet cold weather. She likes to sniff a lot on her walks and will need time to do so as long as the area she is sniffing is safe and not contaminated. She sleeps in the car and can be left alone for 2 hours.