It is no fun having a yorky that growls, snarls, or snaps at anyone who approaches when he is eating or playing with his toys. Prevent your yorky from becoming overpossessive by taking his toys away from him, removing his food, and adjusting his bed every once in a while.

This should be enough to prevent possessiveness from starting, and to teach him all about sharing. Don’t tease him by quickly grabbing at his belongings; that will make him nervous and snappy.

Also, make sure children steer clear of his eating area because he may think of them as rivals for his food. Tell children not to annoy him, and reprimand him for making any nasty moves.

Some dogs consider one small area such as their sleeping places the ultimate safety spot and become so overprotective of it that they will attack anyone who comes near. The moment your yorky manifests such behavior, reprimand him harshly.

Make sure your yorky realizes that others can approach that spot, but at the same time be sure no one annoys him there. Every dog is entitled to feel secure and comfortable and to have a little privacy.

If your yorky shows any resentment at giving up what he’s holding, stop him the first time it happens. Take hold of the object requested and insist that your yorky let go.

If he does, praise him; wait a moment and give the object back. If he refuses and even growls when you reach for whatever he’s holding, don’t grab at it or jerk your hand away. Instead, take hold of it, and give him a firm rap on the side of the muzzle to make him let go.

If necessary, pry your yorky’s mouth open and take the article out. If he adamantly refuses, throw something in front of him to startle him, thus making him drop the object.

You must make him let go or his possessiveness will become increasingly worse every time someone goes near what he thinks is rightfully his. If your yorky gets away with a snarl the first time, the next time he may actually bite since he feels he has already warned you to steer clear.

Once you have taught your yorky to let you take things away from him, expand the lesson to include at least other members of your family.

Whenever anyone passes, rings the bell, or enters your home, some dogs charge doors and windows with a fury and this can be disconcerting at the least.

If you are in when this happens, and you catch him in the act – throw an object in front of him.  You could even set him up by having a friend or family member ring the bell or bang the window.

When your yorky charges the door, let him have it with the object you choose to throw. Or, go outside yourself and ring the bell. When you hear your yorky charging, quickly open the door and throw something heavy in front of him – like the telephone directory.

Even if you have managed to control this behavior while you’re at home, a really errant animal will usually start again when you are not around.

To handle this, have a friend walk your yorky while you hide somewhere in your home near the door or window he tends to charge at.

Be sure to have an appropriate object with you. After a few minutes, your friend should drop your yorky back home, then leave, only to return a couple of minutes later to ring the bell or knock on the window.

When your yorky makes his move, quickly jump out of your hiding place and throw something in front of him. Aim carefully because you won’t get too many opportunities to surprise your yorky this way. It won’t be long before he gets smart enough to check out every hiding place in your home to see if you’re still around.

However, if you can manage to really surprise him in the act a few times, he’ll never know whether you’re in or not. That in itself should be enough to stop him. To reinforce your personal direct training, use booby traps to prevent your yorky from charging the door and windows.

This way, your yorky will be corrected whether you are there or not. A good trap is to blow up some balloons and hang them against whatever your yorky tends to charge. When he leaps up, he will burst the balloons or at least be surprised by their presence.

This works especially well if you blow up one or two first, and burst them near him.

No matter what the cause, a yorky must be reprimanded for any misbehavior. The standard negative training methods are, again, the corrective measures used for controlling bad habits.

Of course it’s best to prevent a chewing habit from ever starting, but once it’s begun, you must be firm and use definite measures to stop the behavior.

Don’t allow yourself to cement the habit further by being lax in your corrections. Before a yorky starts to chew on furniture, he will usually show some interest in it by smelling or licking it. This is how he finds out what he likes. Whenever you catch him in the licking stage, throw a magazine or leash down next to him.

Don’t say anything, just startle him. He will immediately associate something unpleasant with the chewing of forbidden objects. A few lessons should be enough to teach him what he can and cannot chew – or even touch.

When you have to reprimand your yorky for doing damage, be consistent. Don’t let him get away with any chewing. If you actually find him dining off anything, don’t nag!

Correct him quickly and immediately; let him know right from the start that you don’t want him to continue chewing. Disciplining your yorky with a firm tap when you catch him in the act is equally helpful.

If you return home to fine that your yorky has been busy chewing up the place, you can still reprimand him. But first you have to remind him of his misdeed so he knows why he’s being corrected.

Never call your yorky if you intend to punish him, or else every time you call, he will think he is going to be punished again and will never come. Don’t use your yorky’s name to admonish him or again, he will associate it with punishment.

In fact, don’t threaten your dog at all; just make the correction. If you talk to your yorky, it’ll give you time to think of excuses why you should go easy on him. Remember, if you fail to correct your yorky for one reason or another, you’ll end up ruining him.

Let the dog know that everything in your home is just as valuable to you as the ones he chewed.

Finely ground pepper can be especially effective in preventing chewing because it leaves a reminder when the yorky return to continue his destructive behavior.