How To Discipline a Yorkie: 12 Right & Wrong Ways
Yorkies are known to show a little difficulty during training so let’s discuss how to discipline a Yorkie the right way and not the wrong way.
The best way to discipline a Yorkie is to insist on proper conduct during training, never give in to your Yorkie demands that are negative always correct them in the act, not after the act.
I will try to keep things very simple as possible so keep reading…
How To Discipline a Yorkie
Here are some common ways how to discipline a Yorkie in a positive way:
1. Set clear rules for Yorkies to follow
From the minute your Yorkie arrives, you must educate him on all he needs to know about his new home and the rules, limitations, and boundaries.
When your Yorkie disobeys your house rule, such as not allowing it to sit beneath the supper table during meals, say “no” and gently pull it away from the table.
When it comes to enforcing your Yorkie house rules, it’s vital that you and your family members be on the same page.
To prevent sending your Yorkie contradictory messages, make a list of pet-related home rules and put it somewhere everyone in your family can see it.
The following are some instances of Yorkie rules:
- There will be no leaping on kitchen cabinets.
- There is no going potty outside the potty area.
- Begging for food is not a good idea.
- There will be no leaping on TV stands.
- There will be no scratching of the furniture.
- Mealtimes will not be skipped.
- There will be no eating on the floor.
- Please don’t follow me into the restroom, and so forth.
2. Always insist on proper Yorkie behavior
It’s critical to maintain your firmness and insist on doing the correct thing at all times, rather than giving up when your Yorkie refuses to follow your direction.
Switching modes or action plans may help in the long run, but being constant and focused yields speedier results.
Positive conduct should be strongly rewarded in order to build excellent relationships that your Yorkie will seek out in the future.
Positive behavior may be rewarded with praise, stroking, food, and your Yorkie’s favorite toys.
When a Yorkie does something particularly well, trainers may use clickers, which emit a distinctive sound that is swiftly followed by a treat.
3. Always communicate with positive energy
Keep in mind that Yorkies can sense when their owners are worried or nervous by reading your energy.
Yorkies are smart and bossy, therefore this will always be interpreted as an invitation to take authority.
By mixing your emotions and actions with spoken commands, you can stamp your authority and correct bad behaviors.
Your Yorkie must understand that you take obedience seriously and will not beg for it.
4. Use a clear stop word or stop sign
It’s vital to keep in mind that Yorkies aren’t human humans capable of comprehending a wide range of word combinations.
To employ the stop word, just make a stop sign or say “NO” before or during the unpleasant behavior.
Make sure your Yorkie knows what “NO” means and how it connects to the term “stop.”
It’s easy; don’t complicate things by combining long statements since your Yorkie may not know when to quit.
If you repeatedly say “NO” when you don’t mean it, your Yorkie will learn to equate it with negative behavior and stop saying it.
Make sure your Yorkie knows and correlates your stop phrase or sign with stopping their behaviors.
5. Correct your Yorkie in the act and not after
Punishing your Yorkie after the act is pointless since the punishment will no longer be linked to the behavior you’re punishing.
Stop your Yorkie from doing something it shouldn’t be doing, or just as it’s about to do something it shouldn’t be doing.
Correcting your Yorkie right away will assist it in making the link, albeit it may take a few repetitions for the rule to take hold.
By firmly expressing “no” and removing the shoe, you may prevent your Yorkie from eating or placing it in its mouth.
6. Always reward submissive behavior
Both you and your Yorkie will benefit from rewarding submissive conduct.
It should be a fun experience teaching your Yorkie to respect you as the alpha.
It’s important to encourage good behavior, but don’t attempt to force your Yorkie to exhibit affection.
One approach to show your Yorkie that you care is to groom and praise him.
Regularly touching, stroking, and holding your pet’s paws will help him gain control while still enabling him to enjoy cuddle time.
7. Always use positive reinforcement
Never strike or yell at your Yorkie since this sends out negative vibrations or reinforces poor behavior.
Instead of addressing a negative behavior, employ positive reinforcement instead, such as giving your Yorkie a fun task to accomplish.
This adjustment will allow you to correct poor behavior while simultaneously encouraging new, more desired behavior.
Give your Yorkie a chew toy of its own if it is chewing on one of your child’s favorite toys, for example.
8. Give Yorkie a timeout in the act, not after the act
If your Yorkie is being hyperactive, pestering another pet, or disobeying your commands, give it a time out.
The time-out should be held in a drab, unpleasant setting for your Yorkie to recall what it’s missing and not acclimate to its new surroundings.
A Yorkie timeout should not be longer than 60 seconds.
It may be required to repeat the procedure several times until your Yorkie recognizes that its time has arrived as a result of certain behavior.
Don’t give your Yorkie an unneeded timeout; instead, do it while they’re doing something wrong, not after they’ve done something wrong.
9. Try to control feeding time
For both discipline and health reasons, Yorkies should be fed the same amount of food at the same time every day.
To show your command, ask your Yorkie to sit before placing its food bowl in front of it.
Say “no” and retain the food dish in your hand until your Yorkie sits.
Every mealtime, reinforce this rule to teach your Yorkie that eating necessitates calm and well-behaved behavior.
Ensure that your Yorkie eats during mealtimes and that mealtimes are controlled.
If your Yorkie doesn’t finish his or her meal, save it for the next meal.
10. Teach Yorkies the fundamentals of obedience
Be consistent and precise when it comes to regulations.
From the time your Yorkie is a puppy, create rules, restrictions, and constraints for him.
This includes personal space restrictions as well as restrictions on where your Yorkie may sleep, dine, and play.
Allowing a dominant Yorkie to sleep in your bed or laze on the couch is never a good idea.
The reason for this is that the alpha dog sleeps in the largest space.
Allowing your Yorkie to yank on the leash while training is essential.
Teach your Yorkie to walk beside you or behind you, and to come to a complete stop when you say so.
This makes your Yorkie want to learn from you.
11. Use a firm voice to make corrections
Yorkies are very obstinate, so using a soothing tone to urge them to stop won’t work.
Make sure your Yorkie understands how to respond to various voice tones and what each tone means.
As a result, use a stern voice if you want your Yorkie to stop doing anything.
To startle your Yorkie and halt any abusive behavior, say something loud like “ouch” or a similar term.
This is especially effective for Yorkies that are aggressive toward humans and may bite or grasp your arm or leg.
12. Seek expert assistance
Seek professional help. If everything else fails, seeking expert help with your Yorkie discipline issue is the most effective way to handle the matter.
Veterinarians can tell if your Yorkie’s bad behavior is caused by underlying physical problems.
If not, your veterinarian may recommend you to a professional dog trainer who may help you teach and improve the general obedience of your Yorkie.
Wrong ways to discipline a Yorkie
When it comes to teaching your Yorkie, here are some common blunders to avoid:
- Don’t yell at your Yorkie as a form of punishment.
- Do not scold or hurt your Yorkie as a punishment.
- Pulling your Yorkie’s tail is not a smart idea.
- Never drive with your Yorkie in your arms as a form of punishment.
- Never punish your Yorkie by slamming its mouth into its feces or pee.
- Keep your Yorkie’s water bowls clean; don’t leave them unattended as a punishment.
- Never leave your Yorkie alone in the house for a lengthy amount of time as a form of punishment.
- Your Yorkie should never be thrown out the window as a punishment.
How to prevent bad behaviors in Yorkies
Here’s a list of things you can do to assist your Yorkie to avoid negative behavior:
- Make good conduct for Yorkies incredibly rewarding.
- As soon as possible, begin socializing with your Yorkie.
- Instead of yelling or shouting at your Yorkie, employ positive reinforcement.
- Learn which disciplinary measures are ineffective.
- Avoid any form of Yorkie aggression triggers.
- Fun and rewarding ways to bond with your Yorkie
- Make sure your Yorkie has the necessities.
- Make poor behavior unattractive or unavoidable.
- Discover the medical causes behind your Yorkie’s unruly behavior.
- Learn about the factors that may be causing your Yorkie’s misbehavior.
- Provide your Yorkie with early obedience training lessons.
- Set limits for your Yorkie when it comes to bad behaviors like leaping, begging, barking, and chasing objects.
- Putting an end to attention-seeking disobedience.
- Avoid Yorkies’ anxiety or stress.
