Yorkshire Terriers are terriers first and lap dogs second — they're feisty, persistent, and have more confidence than their 7 pounds should allow. Housetraining is genuinely harder with Yorkies than with larger breeds, and small-dog syndrome (where owners laugh off behaviours they'd train out of a bigger dog) is the main reason Yorkies develop problems. They come home at 8–12 weeks, and treating them like a real dog — not a toy — from day one is the single most important thing you can do.
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Yorkies are smart and can learn quickly when properly motivated. They respond well to positive reinforcement, especially food rewards. The key is not letting their small size trick you into letting behaviours slide that you'd address immediately in a larger dog. A 5-pound dog jumping on guests is less physically dangerous than a 70-pound Rottweiler, but it teaches the dog that jumping works — and that lesson generalises.
Potty training is the most common challenge, partly because of small bladders and partly because owners often use pee pads as a permanent solution rather than an interim step. Yorkies can be fully house-trained, but it requires the same structured approach you'd use with any dog: scheduled outdoor trips, crate training when unsupervised, and immediate rewards.
Yorkies are vocal and will bark at strangers, sounds, and other dogs. This is normal terrier behaviour that can be managed with a trained "quiet" cue and adequate mental enrichment to reduce boredom-driven barking.
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