A dainty yet feisty dog, having a floor-length, glossy coat. Torkies are cute little toy breed dogs that are active and intelligent. These dogs once earned their popularity by taking care of the rats in the mills and mines of England before they found their way into the laps of Victorian ladies. It’s a compact, toy-sized pup that weighs no more than seven pounds as an adult. So, in this article, we will discuss some facts about this cute little breed.

 Brief Description of Breed

What Are Torkie Dog Breeds?

This breed results from a cross between two purebreds, a Yorkshire Terrier and a Toy Fox Terrier. It is a mixed breed containing the characteristics of both of its parents. Both purebreds used to hunt rats, rabbits, and foxes, but now they are considered in Toy Group. 

What Do They Look Alike?

The appearance of Torkie dogs is just like their parent breeds. They get their features from both of them. They are small in size, closer to the toy breed, their weight ranges from 7-10 pounds, and their height ranges from 8-9 inches during adulthood. This soft toy puppy has a black or brown nose, brown eyes. They have a variety of coat colors including, brown, cream, silver, fawn, white, red, gray, and black. 

 Brief Description of Torkie’s Appearance:-

Torkie looks more familiar to Yorkie than Toy Fox breed but contains identical traits of these breeds. So, just like Yorkie, Torkie dogs have shiny and silky hair and are mainly in black and tan colors. However, the single difference between these breeds is the length of the hair. Yorkie has longer hair than Torkie.

Despite that, their uplifting ears always make their personality to be attentive and alert. These ears make them cutter and even unique from the others.

What Is The Temperament Of Torkie?

Both the parent breeds of Torkie are excellent for the hunt, so they have the temperament suited for hunting. However, Torkie is full of agility, fearlessness, and spunkiness. Despite this nature, these dogs are good companion dogs.

Their small size makes them easy to carry around while walking, running, or even shopping. These dogs are easy to travel dogs that you can bring them anywhere. They also like to snuggle in the lap when you have some downtime. Even if you have younger children in the family, this breed could be the perfect addition to consider.

What Is The Maintenance Of Torkie?

For Hair:

Torkies don’t have much hair; they have pretty thin or sparse hair. So the coat of these dogs doesn’t need much maintenance. You only need to brush their hair once a day, that’s it. You don’t need to worry about their grooming sessions.

For Toenails:

Maintenance of nails is a vital step to consider for a happy and healthy dog. Long unmanaged length of nails can cause pain and irritation to the dogs.

They may harm themself while scratching their body. They can also scrape you while playing with you. So trimming their nails is necessary and should be done every 3-weeks.

For Teeth:

Many people don’t consider brushing a dog’s teeth important and always ignore this step. But experts always recommend that brushing your dog’s teeth is as crucial as eating food. Brushing your dog’s teeth can keep them away from dental issues, plaques, gum, tart, etc. So it is vital to keep their teeth healthy. Brush their teeth every couple of days and make sure to use the right brush and toothpaste, specially made for dogs.

For Ears:

We all know how important it is to clean your ears, and the same goes for dogs as well. They are also prone to some ear infections, unlike humans. But overcleaning can harm your hearing power and irritate the ear canal.

The right time to clean their ears is; when they are dirty and smelly. It is not necessary to clean ears when they already look clean. Clean them with earbuds and ask the vet for ear drops, which you can put in their ear in the interval of cleaning.

Do They Need To Be Physically And Mentally Challenged?

It is crucial to maintain the physical and mental health of dogs. Even if you don’t give them the proper space to walk or play, these dogs may suffer from lethargy and destruction. To prevent them from getting bored or evolving into depression, make sure to give them some challenging tasks to do. They also love to do tricky work, and if they have nothing to do, they can destroy your household stuff like furniture, clothes, cushions, and whatnot. They do all these things to keep them busy.

Even though Torkies can’t destroy many things, but ensure that this couldn’t become their habit. They need some extra time for mental and physical exercises, which would be crucial for their overall health. It will help you to control their unnecessary habits. 30-45 minutes of exercise each day is enough to give them proper exposure to the activities. Though, you can take them outside for a walk or play the throw and fetch game at home. It will make them busy and curious.

Training is the best way to keep them mentally stable do it. Start with simple training or teach them commands like come, go, run, sit, stand, etc. These tricks can be handy in the future and also keep them energetic.

How Often Should You Bathe A Torkie?

How frequently you need to bathe your dog depends on some factors like weather, dog’s condition, and skin condition. There is no exact time and day for bathing your dog. You can bathe them at least once a week or probably when they stink. Make sure don’t bathe them too often because over-bathing can stimulate dry, flaky skin. It can cause various skin problems in dogs. It is also ideal to use only pet shampoos; these are gentle on their skin and prevent skin irritation, itchiness, and dryness. 

If your Torkie is suffering from any skin infection, it is ideal to consult your vet as he can prescribe you the best skin products for your dog. These skin infections can be more dangerous if not treated properly. So it’s significant to keep them free from any skin issues to give them a healthy life.

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What Are The Things Needed After Adopting A Torkie?

Getting a Torkie at home means getting a family member for the next 12-13 years. These small fluffy puppies need love, time, attention, effort, and money to become happy and healthy. Besides that, things you need to get after adopting a dog are a hairbrush, hair trimmer, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, soap, dog food, food bowl, treats, vitamins, nail clipper, dog bed, toys, leash, harness, or dog clothes.

Do Torkies Bark A Lot?

Torkies are cute, happy, and lively dogs, and they often seem in the lap of their owners. But these dogs are not just companion dogs. They are active, clever, protective, and possessive of their family.  

These dogs are excellent guard dogs; hence, they bark a lot and become noisy. Their over-enthusiast protective and possessive nature can keep you safe from anything and anywhere.

Is Torkie Easy To Train?

Torkies are smart and intelligent dogs and are also known for their stubborn streak because of their parent traits. Apart from that, they are a bit difficult to train at home. You can give them crate training. You can teach them at home while giving them some fun tasks. It is significant to exercise daily and playtime to keep them attentive and curious about learning something.

They are good learners and understand the words uttered by humans very well. They can understand your commands, voice, and gestures and respond to them immediately. You can use treats to encourage learning new commands. It’s also an excellent way to keep your Torkie well-behaved.

What Are Torkie’s Possible Health Concerns In The Future?

Every dog breed is prone to have health problems. There are some diseases that this breed is prone to have. The health problems are-

What Are Torkie’s Possible Health Concerns In The Future?

Every dog breed is prone to have health problems. There are some diseases that this breed is prone to have. The health problems are-

Patellar Luxation:

It’s a health problem mostly seen in small dogs. It is the dislocation of patellar bone(kneecap). Although, it doesn’t affect a dog’s life. They can still spend their life with this issue, and it doesn’t negatively interfere with their life. The treatment for this issue would be surgery.

Hypothyroidism:

This issue occurs when the thyroid gland shrinks. It mainly occurs in dogs aged 6-8 years old. Symptoms include thinning hair, weight gain, too much shedding, dull coat hair, inability to manage cold, and lethargy. It can affect other organs as well. 

Some major health issues are Lens Luxation, Von Willebrand’s Disease, Portacaval Shunt, Tracheal Collapse, and Legg-Calve Perthes Disease.

However, to identify any of these health problems, you need to get a proper check of your dog and diagnose through thyroid tests, blood tests, allergy tests, X-rays, or physical examinations.

Torkie’s Food Consumption

These small dogs don’t eat much or even eat in small intervals. Their jaws are small, so they can’t eat big chunks of food; give them food in small sizes. Give them safe and healthy food in their diet. Safe food items that you can give to your dogs are boneless chicken, fish, watermelon, peanut butter, cucumber, plain popcorn, white rice, orange, carrots, and apples. All these food items have a variety of nutrients, fibers, minerals, and vitamins that are good for your dog’s overall health.

Also, avoid giving your dog some harmful foods as a treat. These foods can lead to kidney failure, liver failure, and even death. If your dog accidentally eats these food items, immediately call a vet.

Is Torkie Good For Kids And With Other Pets?

Besides the fact that these dogs are goofy enjoy being around kids. They are possessive and protective towards their family, so considered guard dogs. Their small and active personality makes them applicable to play with kids. Although because of their small size, you need to be extra careful while letting your kids play with them. They are flimsy, so kids could injure or break their bones while playing. It is ideal to properly instruct your kids and supervise them every time they play with the dog.

In the case of other dogs, Torkies are active, fearless, and bossy dogs. They can hurt other dogs due to their agility; even they can get hurt by them instead. They are small from their size but not from their mind. They think of themselves as big bossy dogs and chase other dogs that can put them in danger. It may result in wounds or even death. Moreover, this behavior could be dangerous for them.

So keep them socialized with other pets at an early age. It is the only thing you can do to keep them safe from biting others.