Yorkshire Terriers - Training Your Yorkie May Be More Difficult Than You Thought


by Connie Ragen Green - Date: 2007-04-02 - Word Count: 486 Share This!

I have three dogs as pets. One of them is Sarah, my Yorkshire terrier. This is the second Yorkie I've owned and now I am starting to see some of the common problems with trying to train these tiny creatures.

Sarah weighs just under five pounds but she has the personality of a huge dog. She is stubborn and has a mind of her own when it comes to behavior. When I give her a bath she fights with the strength of a Doberman. I was very frustrated when I was first trying to train her to follow some simple commands.

Yorkshire terriers are typically lap dogs. Because of their small stature they feel more protected when they are close to their owner. Sarah likes to sit in my lap while I am using the computer, and I carry her with me as I move throughout the house.

The problems arise when I try to get her to do something she doesn't want to do. This can be something as simple as getting her to come to me when I call her name or to walk on a leash without getting tangled around my legs. I spend many hours each day with all three of my dogs, but Sarah seems to require more attention. She is so independent that she reminds me of a spoiled child.

Yorkshire terriers are supposedly very intelligent, but my little Sarah does not seem too bright when I am teaching her some very basic commands. She will sit and come only if the mood strikes her, and then roll over onto her back so that I can rub her stomach.

Because this breed was originally bred to kill rats over in England I think they still believe they are the size that they were at that time. In England, during the 18th and 19th centuries, Yorkshire terriers weighed around thirty pounds. It wasn't until they were brought to the United States during the 1870's that people began to breed them down to the five to seven pound range they are today.

Yorkies are also very hearty and resistant to disease, but my veterinarian says that there are sometimes problems with their hearts and lungs because they have been bred down so small, and also because of inbreeding.

Sarah is a year and a half old now and finally housebroken. That was also very difficult to do, mainly because she seemed to enjoy the attention she got when she had an accident in the house. I tried withholding love when she would go in the house and that seemed to help. I love this little dog very much, but training her has been a challenge. She is also a troublemaker, barking at other dogs when I walk her and stealing food right from under the noses of my other two dogs.

I was finally able to train her, but I had to learn how to do it from an expert.


Related Tags: dog, dogs, dog training, yorkshire terrier, yorkie

To see how I finally was able to train Sarah to be a good pet, and for help in training your Yorkie visit http://www.YorkshireTerriersAreTheBest.com Connie Ragen Green loves dogs and has three as pets. She is a writer and motivational speaker living in southern California.

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