When a Yorkshire Terrier Won't Listen

1) Your Yorkie needs to know why he should listen to you. Being your dog's owner is simply not enough. In order for a puppy or dog of any age to truly pay attention, follow commands and do as you ask, that dog needs to understand why he should be listening to you.

A Yorkshire Terrier that may seem defiant or unresponsive may actually be metaphorically thinking 'Who made you boss?' and unless you first show why and what does indeed makes you an authority figure that should be listened to, there will not be full obedience. 

2) Your Yorkie needs to be shown how to listen. Unless a dog is taught exactly what a word means and what actions are expected when those words are said, a dog is not going to understand what an owner wants him to do. 

Your Yorkie may hear his name and then a bunch of sounds that have no meaning. Canines can learn up to 200 words; and you'll just need to teach your Yorkshire Terrier about 10 of them for true obedience. 

How to fix this: It should be a steadfast rule that all humans enter and exit first, followed by the Yorkie and any other pets. While this takes a bit of practice and you may feel as if you need to be a bit of a contortionist at first, you can soon learn how to extend your arm so that your Yorkshire Terrier follows when leaving and when arriving. 

It is recommended to:

1. Within a few feet of the door, command your Yorkie to 'Sit'.

2. Place his/her harness on (this is always recommended instead of just using the collar, as it can prevent injury to the neck including collapsed trachea and gives you much better control when walking).

 

3. Connect the leash to the harness.

4. Reaffirm the 'Sit' command by repeating it as you open the door. If your Yorkie rises, give a firm 'No' and repeat the command until he is sitting. In the beginning, it is just fine to offer a reward when he listens and remains seated. Later, he will listen purely by instinct and reflex behavior. 

5. Extend your arm so that you can step through the threshold first. As you practice this, your Yorkie will catch on and should be able to sit in place until you are fully outside and give the 'Okay' release word.

6. Repeat when it is time to go back inside with your Yorkie waiting on the doorstep as you go into into the house first. 

How to fix this: You may wonder how you are supposed to teach commands when your Yorkshire Terrier won't listen to you in the first place, however this can be done. When first learning a command, a puppy or dog is motivated by the reward that is given for doing a good job. Once a dog learns how to do something, reward is no longer needed because the particular action becomes an automated response to a spoken word; Muscle memory kicks in and a dog listens due to it being an instinctive action. 

All dogs should know the 5 basics of: Sit, Come, Down, Stay and Heel. If you are not sure where to begin and are looking for a super easy and effective guide, we highly recommend Faye Dunningham's book: The Well Trained Puppy: Housebreaking, Commands to Shape Behavior and All Training Needed for a Happy, Obedient Dog. You'll find this in both hard copy & Kindle. 

Alternatively, our book: The YorkieInfoCenter Book, is a 296 page book (both print & eBook), packed with all sorts of care, including training. 

Some Yorkshire Terriers have been inadvertently taught to not listen for such a long time (via confusion over who is the leader) that they are downright defiant. The dog may never listen, may growl when picked up (some will be as sweet as pie once in a while and moody and growling at other times; this is because the dog is deciding when he wants to be touched), may nudge people away or even nip at children. 

In these sorts of more extreme cases, stricter training will need to be incorporated until the Yorkie is not only listening well, but also has his behavior under control.

Additional strategies include:

1) Humans are always in a physically superior position. This reaffirms the Alpha/Beta hierarchy that must be taught. This essentially means that all humans should be physically above the dog at all times. Here are some rules:

2) Social isolation - This is reserved for Yorkies that are not listening but are also displaying signs of aggression including growling and nipping. It can also work for problems with jumping up repeatedly or even for incessant barking. 

Please note that this is social isolation and not physical isolation; since placing a misbehaving puppy into an out-of-the-way area far from where he feels safe or putting him into a small claustrophobic crate can cause quite a bit of stress and can cause even worse behavior. For biting, growling, hyper jumping and the like, you may need to place him in his area (all dogs should have a small gated off area for when they are home alone - this should have a bed, toys, water and all needed items for comfort and safety).

If he is simply not listening but without aggressive behavior, the goal will be to ignore him to such an extent that he wonders and worries that he may have crossed the line and is being excluded from his pack.   

During this time-out period, there should be zero interaction including any sort of eye contact. You may even need to limit what is said between you and other humans so that this is not misconstrued as communication with the dog. 

This is most effective if the duration is 5 minutes passed the time when the Yorkie actually notices that he is being ignored. Some may play with a toy and not even be aware that anything changed for a good 20 minutes… and others will take note almost immediately.  

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