Miniature Yorkshire Terrier

Well, I had a bit of disturbing news today

Luxating is a fancy word for dislocating. Patella is your dog's "knee", the joint on the front of her hind leg. So a luxating patella is a dislocating knee or trick knee, a knee that keeps slipping out of its socket. This can happen in yorkies with weak ligaments, tendons, and/or muscles. It can also happen in Yorkies whose kneecap groove is too narrow or shallow. The knee usually slips inwardly, toward her body, and locks so that your Yorkie can't bend her leg.

Suspect luxating patella if your Yorkie sometimes lifts one hind leg while she is running, or if she often moves both rear legs at the same time, like a hopping bunny. Sometimes the knee slips only for a few moments, then slides back into place. Sometimes the knee slips out and stays out, and your Yorkie will hold her leg off the ground and limp, perhaps tucking her thigh into her body. Luxation may occur in one knee, or in both. It is seen in many other toy breeds, and in both sexes, though it seems to be more common in females. No matter how firm the knees seem as puppies, toy dogs are liable to injure their knees.

Any advice?

Home Remedies?

Vitamin or food suppliments?

On the East Coast this week, a dog owner is heartbroken after

her 3-pound Yorkshire terrier hung itself on a

leash after a "negligent" groomer left it alone to soak in a bathtub.

Groomingdales owner Lisa Boughton said her 21-year-old

assistant placed the terrier into a

special bathtub to soak in shampoo. The assistant, she said,

left the dog alone for a few minutes. She returned to find

the terrier strangled by the leash meant to secure it from

running away. The dog appeared to have leapt

from the tub, Boughton said.

Boughton said she believes the death won't hurt her business.

Firing her assistant, she said, "wouldn't accomplish anything

for me" because she needs the extra help.

"My customers will follow me anywhere ...

we're very sought after," said Boughton.

- That's not a very good attitude, I don't think!
I would guess that the accident will in fact hurt her business!

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