Consistent refusal to obey requires that you go over him calmly give your yorky a firm tap, and walk back to your call spot as you would indoors – but this degree of disobedience generally means you have to go back a few steps and review the training.

Once this part of the outdoor training is complete and your yorky comes to you consistently, take him somewhere where there aren’t any really well-defined restrictions. Before you can do this, you have to be absolutely positive your yorky will return to you when called.

Even if your yorky responds so well to the command that he comes back every time, you should still subject him to throwing an object in front of him at least once while in an enclosed area.

This will remind him that you can reach him anywhere that he must come even when completely free, or there will be trouble.

Freedom to be outside without restrictions is reserved only for those dogs that really obey when called. It can come only after working with your yorky through all the preliminary stages.

Once out in the freedom of your local park, nearby countryside, or beach, you must vigorously reinforce your yorky’s training by using the off-leash throwing object in front of him. Even the best trained yorkys wander around, getting so involved in new sights and sounds that lose track of their owners.

Never allow your yorky to run off in a new area, but keep him in sight at all times so you can readily call or signal him to come back.

If he appears to be wandering off, call him back close by your side and keep him there. Don’t hesitate to throw your training aid in front of him if he doesn’t respond right away. And, if you use something like a chain or keys that rattle, just a shake of them should be enough of a reminder so you can call him and get him to come to you.

Many yorkys are perfect about coming when called except when there are other dogs around; then they just don’t seem to hear the command. Because your yorky is in the midst of a mass of other animals, you can’t throw an object in front of him.

Don’t let him get away with not coming because he’s involved in play and you don’t ant to interrupt his social life.

If your yorky assumes an oversubmissive posture when approaching you after being called, treat it as an emotional problem. If it is just a matter of habit, you have to make your yorky at least look happier about coming.

Pick him up the minute he comes to you or simply grasp him immediately when he gets near you, and hold him in place to give him security while you praise him.

Bring his head upward toward you by always chucking him under the chin. A treat or a favorite toy held high in the air will also force his attention up.

Some dogs run to everyone but the person who called them, as if looking for protection. This of course makes everyone think that the owner giving the command – namely you – is a complete tyrant. To overcome this trait, you must enlist the aid of the same people to whom your yorky runs.

To teach your yorky to come only to the person who calls him, make him associate something unpleasant with everyone else. Once you’re sure your yorky knows the command, take him into a familiar room where a couple of family members or friends – three people at most – sit around casually.

Call your yorky to you. When he starts running from one person to another, they should give him no sympathy, but ignore him. If he persists, they should reprimand and chase him.

If several people throw things at your dog when he disregards a call to come, he will run fro protection to the person calling him. Equally, if not more efficient, is to have each person he goes to ignore him completely.

If there are two or more owners, there is often a problem of one interfering with the other. In this case, each one of you should work the yorky separately at first; the second owner must ignore or chase off the yorky once the other gives the command.

Your yorky must learn to go only to the person who calls.

Some dogs come so slowly that they appear to be in slow motion. Lack of praise while the yorky is learning is often the reason. People get so carried away by the dog’s obedience that they forget to let the yorky know they are pleased.

Be sure to praise your yorky to get him coming happily and excitedly.

If your yorky braces to tense himself and refuses to give in and lie down, hold him in position until he relaxes slightly. Once he does, immediately place the pressure on him again until he settles to the ground.

Don’t give in to your dog – if you do, he will test you forever. Remember, it’s nor force that gets him down, but rather firm, insistent pressure. It may take time, but if handled quietly and surely, all dogs will eventually give in.

You have to be absolutely persistent and give the necessary encouragement and a sufficient amount of praise when your yorky obeys. Constant repetition will soon connect the words “lie down” and the signal of a hand, palm down, with the desired position.

When exerting pressure to make your yorky lie, be sure to give him every opportunity to comply. As soon as your dog starts to go into the down position by himself, let up on the pressure immediately and repeat the command using both the word and hand signal to reinforce your yorky’s understanding.

Once your yorky is lying down, don’t be too enthusiastic with praise unless you are holding him in position; otherwise your yorky may be tempted to jump up in excitement. Instead, hold him in place and stroke your yorky calmly and gently.

After your yorky mastered the command when you’re sitting next to him, he must learn to lie down while you’re standing up. Put his six-foot training leash on him, and place your yorky close by your side or right in front of you.

Holding the end of the leash in your left hand, hook it under the instep of your shoe so it can slide freely. Be sure to place your full weight on that foot so you won’t be thrown over backward if your yorky struggles.

Stand erect – your yorky is the one that is to lie down, not you. Give the voice command and hand signal. Wait five to ten seconds. If he obeys, praise him. Otherwise, give the command once more, and give him ten seconds or so to comply.

If there’s no response, immediately exert pressure on the leash, compelling your yorky downward by forcing his head to the ground. Then hold him in place until the rest of his body drops down as well. If it doesn’t, lean over and push him down with your hand.

First accustom your yorky to the leash. This is generally a simple matter if he accepts the regular collar. Once he has worm the regular collar for a while, remove it and slip his choke collar on.

Attach the leash to the choke collar and allow it to fall or drag on the floor for a while to get him accustomed to feeling something around his neck.

Later, when you pull on it, it will be familiar, and he will not be afraid. Don’t let him play with this leash now, or he may constantly bite at it later.

When you pick up the leash and put pressure on it, some dogs will fight like a newly bridled colt, but hold on firmly. If you insist, your yorky will soon realize that there is no point in struggling.

Start to walk your yorky around on the leash. He will probably either remain behind or lunge ahead. Just continue walking until he realizes there is no point to struggling and he might as well walk. When he does, reassure and praise him.

Avoid taking him to strange surroundings, and as you walk, talk to him and pet him frequently until he becomes used to the leash. Do not attempt to train your yorky to heel at this time; simply try to accustom him to being restricted on the end of the leash.

Always remember to be firm in teaching your yorky. Having him walk on a leash means he shouldn’t go anywhere unless you call him. Teaching you and him how to walk properly on a leash comes in the regular training sessions.

Patting the floor on your knee and coaxing the yorky to come along will teach your yorky to have no real fear of the leash. Do not drag him roughly at first. The yorky may apply all four brakes and refuse to budge.

Pull the dog slowly along the floor until he makes up his mind he is going to walk.

Keep in mind that yorkys associate things, so repetition is important; as taught; training commands are just to start the association process in your yorky’s brain – a prelude to all training. Do not link commands at this point, but make sure your yorky understands one command at a time.

Uninformed and unsuspecting owners allow uncontrolled, vicious dogs through half-hearted leadership and actually encourage it in other ways.

Some people find it amusing when a little dog growls and barks, or reassuring when large dogs do so. Unfortunately, encouraging what you consider to be cute snapping or snarling will only teach your yorky pup to grow into a dog that bites.

The flattering thought of a puppy that comes to your aid when anyone approaches you or your family will not be so reassuring when your full-grown dog takes a chunk out of a neighbor.

At maturity, a dog that’s been raised to permissively may begin to take advantage of you. Teasing is one method used to train a dog to attack. Unfortunately, unsuspecting people often use this method to make their dogs aggressive.

Sometimes the owner doesn’t realize what’s happening; perhaps a jealous child or a neighbor annoys your yorky when you’re not around. A teased yorky may learn to be a vicious animal.

Make sure no one grabs bones and toys away from your yorky puppy for the fun of it. He should not have to growl and chase other dogs or people away from his food.

A tug-of-war over a toy is in effect a form of teasing that teaches your yorky the power of his teeth, and should not be encouraged unless your yorky understands it’s only a game and you are in complete control.

A yorky that is kept enclosed in a yard or confined consistently in a small area should be protected from people who would throw things to incite him or run around just out of reach, taunting him. All of these teasing games can cause your yorky to become nasty.

Perhaps the most prevalent (and so disconcertingly unintentional) aggressiveness training is done by owners who believe they are actually reprimanding their pets. Wherever a yorky hears a noise, sees something unusual, or spots another animal, he may growl and bark.

On hearing this, the owner may pat and say “good dog” to calm him down. Actually, this “good dog” encouragement is a good way to teach your yorky to bark and growl. The yorky, thinking this is what is wanted, may eventually go on to more pronounced forms of aggression.

What you should actually do is firmly slap the dog or reprimand him in some way for his undesirable behavior.

Stay is really for emphasis on all stationary commands, but the earlier your yorky learns to stay still where he is put, the better.

While it acclimatizes the yorky to the training to come, it is also a lesson in self-control, teaching the yorky patience and increasing his concentration and attention span.

Place your yorky in a sitting position and say “stay” while gradually backing away from him the length of the leash. He’ll probably try to move, but just keep placing him in the sit-stay position until he obeys. “Stay” should be reasonably easy after he knows “sit”.

Lie down is an optional part of this lesson, but it’s a good thing to get over with quickly. It lays the basics for some good tricks and helps make the yorky realize from the outset that you are the boss.

After all, it is a submissive gesture. Again, it is better to have your yorky on a leash so he cannot dart off, and you can use it as an aid. Tell him “lie down” and pull his front feet forward from underneath him as you apply pressure on his back to force him down.

When he lies down, don’t stroke and praise with too much enthusiasm or it may tempt him to get up. This lesson lasts as long as it does so that you can take frequent breaks and thus separate the various aspects of training.

The concentration span of your yorky is short, so watch for him to tire. After short, frequent breaks, stop and give your yorky a rest; walk him or do whatever you have to do to break the routine. Keep on working the animal until he knows something, but also give him time to rest.

The later training sessions may have slightly different methods, but these employed here give your yorky a quick idea of what training is all about. By the end of this session you’ll know the things about your yorky that need the most work.

You will be able to judge your yorky’s temperament and what type of methods he will need. Every dog that has had some preliminary training, that is not afraid of the leash and understands “come”, “sit”, and “down” will learn the subsequent exercises more quickly.

Though you may not realize it, a certain understanding between the yorky and you has already been established through this small amount of training.

This is one command that is better not taught unless thoroughly controlled. If you constantly give your yorky treats for barking, you may be encouraging barking and yapping – which in turn can become a real problem that requires much corrective training.

Make sure you teach him controlled ‘speaking’, or barking on command only. Don’t allow him to begin barking for its own sake, or to use this as the first step in aggression.

If you can make your yorky bark on a given signal, however, it can be a great trick that can also help your security. The mere barking of a dog is often enough to make an undesirable person back off. And if either you or your yorky are ever injured, he can signal where he is, or you are by barking.

If your yorky’s lost or has been accidentally locked up somewhere, he will respond to your command to bark – even at a distance. But if your training is lax and your yorky isn’t properly controlled, he may become a nuisance and bark constantly.

In the process of learning to speak on command, therefore, your yorky should also learn to when not to ‘speak’. Indiscriminate barking is easy to encourage; the hard part is getting him to stop on command.

By far, the easiest way to start off the training is simply to encourage your yorky every time he barks. Every time you hear your yorky bark, tell him “speak” or “bark”, whatever word you want to use as a signal.

The hand signal you use is up to you, but the standard one is to hold out your hand and move it up and down slightly. At the start, whenever he barks of his own volition, give your selected voice command and hand signal.

To reinforce the barking, give him a treat every once in a while. This way he’ll start to associate his bark with your command and signal.

If you take advantage of all the available opportunities to make your yorky connect barking with the command, he will. Some yorkys bark at the slightest provocation, while others are slow to become aroused.

A yappy dog naturally learns to speak more quickly than a quiet one – he may also take more working later when it comes to controlling him.

Testing for social status is normal in dogs. If there is no clear leadership in a group of dogs, conflict may break out until one is established. This aggression may be overt; or it may be so subtle that you’re unaware of what is happening because the bullying occurs when you are not around.

In any group of dogs, the best promoter of peace is a clear pecking order.

But for this to remain stable, the group has to stay constant. Bringing in or removing one member of a group will disrupt the status and necessitate its reestablishment.

An animal that has not learned his place shows no respect for authority or social order, and shows no mercy to subordinates. This is why fights often occur when new pets are brought into the home, or put in with others that have formed a social circle, such as dogs that normally run together in the park.

Most often, newcomers are eventually assimilated into the group, but some tightly knit groups will not easily open up for a newcomer – especially if he poses a threat to the more dominant dogs.

With some other breeds, the social hierarchy is not obvious; while others have a clear, sharply defined one. Terriers are so competitive they cannot tolerate the close proximity of other dogs that might be a threat of any kind.

Only a very small social grouping is possible with these breeds; they will allow no threatening newcomers and will constantly bicker among themselves.

With this type of yorky, the only time peace reigns is usually when the dogs have been housed together from an early age, or when they are a mated pair.

Because ranking is established early, these pre-acquainted dogs may squabble, but rarely get involved in injurious fighting unless extraordinary circumstances prevail.

Another main cause of fighting is a dog’s sexual drive. This natural (and highly volatile) hormonal force is seen most acutely when there is a female in heat around.  A male yorky may become aggressive toward strangers who he thinks might interfere with his possession of the female.

After the actual mating, a previously normal dog may start exerting dominance. However, it is the violent rivalry among male dogs over who is going to mate with whom that causes the worst problem.

If more than one male is present around a female in heat, there will be undoubtedly be a fight for sexual possession.

Knowingly or unknowingly, owners frequently reinforce and even encourage the formation of bad habits. When their yorkys lick at chairs, pull on shoes, take socks, or bring the leashes out, they ignore it.

They then wonder why the dogs eventually chew or possessively hoard these items. To prevent your yorky from gnawing your possessions, give him a suitable substitute he can chew to satisfy his oral cravings.

Rawhide bones and solid, hard rubber balls are good choices. Encourage your yorky to chew on these to the exclusion of everything else. Don’t give him anything that can be harmful if ingested, such as soft rubber toys.

Also, be sure not to give him anything that he could later generalize to include your possessions. Foe example, never give your yorky an old shoe or discarded glove. Later, he may not stop to distinguish between his old one and the new pair you just bought.

Giving your yorky bones from the butcher can be dangerous if they can splinter or are small enough to get lodged in the throat. Small fragments of bone can become impacted in the large intestine of older dogs and cause serious constipation.

If you must give him one, make it a heavy thigh or shank bone that you have thoroughly boiled to remove all the grease, thus making it almost sterile. If you don’t take this precaution, the grease stains will get into your floor and furnishings, encouraging your yorky to chew at these spots.

A yorky that chews out of spite or anger has no excuse and needs to be corrected harshly. There is no way to explain to a yorky that you have to go out to shop or work and can’t always be with him.

Simply confining your yorky in a separate room for a while each day while you stay in another will demonstrate to him that at times he will be alone without your company..

Every once in a while, check him to see if he is up to any mischief. If he is being good, praise him; if he is doing something he shouldn’t, punish him. After this he may be on guard, not knowing whether you are there or not.

However, confinement generally needs additional methods to ensure compliance. If your yorky is really obnoxiously spiteful, direct harsh reprimands are needed.

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.