How to Get a Yorkie to Stop Barking?

Anyone have any experience with this breed? My girlfriend just moved in and she has a 4 pound Yorkie. Great dog, but she barks at fucking everything. She will sit in front of the door and bark for 20 minutes straight at absolutely nothing. I only have experience with training large breeds. The little shit doesn’t listen to anything I say. Advice?

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I occasionally dog sit for a friend’s Teacup Yorkie. He’s only like 3 pounds. The first week was terrible but I just got done with the third go-round and the little fucker finally warmed up to me and stopped most of the seemingly purpose-free barking. I also house broke it for her, since that was seemingly too much trouble for her. I think she treats it like a spoiled grandchild, not a dog.

I think they’re like any other breed of dog, but easily frightened and often very cold. It has no body fat and baby-fine hair, so he’d shiver a lot even with the ridiculous little BAE hoodie she dresses him in. The house-breaking process probably let him know that he’s not the alpha of this pack, even though he may be when he’s at home.

I put a crumpled up fleece blanket in the corner behind a chair and he sort of burrows into it and just chills. That seemed to help insomuch as he has a safe little space to retreat to and not just shiver on the floor. He seems to prefer that to his crate.

But yeah, they are little shits. He would bite and bark incessantly the first time I had him when he wasn’t pissing on the floor. Luckily she pays very well and let’s me use her commercial-grade carpet shampoo’er every time we have him. Now we’re good buddies.

Get rid of your door.

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  1. Terriers are bred to kill small things. Any weakness or whining/whistling sound and they attack the source of the whining. Also if not trained they can claim anything that hits the floor.

  2. Terriers are sometimes over-bred/inbred and seriously stupid.

  3. Some of them live a really long time.

I would just go to petsmart or somewhere for obedience classes if I were you. They aren’t expensive and that’s your best chance for training stupid. The one we inherited took a really long time to train.

My wife trains the dogs old fashioned way. Big dogs catch on in 2 days no problem. The west highland terrier took 3 months to figure out pooping in the house was a guaranteed smack and crate time.

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That explains why when she sleeps in my bed and every time I move she starts freaking the fuck out

I dunno. I didn’t know that those dogs were trainable. I thought that they just do stuff and you either accept them and their owner or you don’t.

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Discipline
Walk the beast even if he is just a small dog, like 30 minutes.
Get basic training done (sit, stay, down, go to bed, proper walk/heel, speak, no speak)
Stop the behavior before it start. AKA reward the little shit for not barking (if he sit, sleep…) give a small treat

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A spade and a reasonable degree of force.

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Thats a bit over-the-top… debarking is becoming a more and more acceptable procedure many frustrated yorkie owners are turning to.

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Seems kinda harsh just for barking too much. Maybe if it pooped in your shoe or something.

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Might have to use this advice

I have a Dachshund and they’re the same way. Good luck…

You might also try to take all his energy out. Get on a bike and ride while he runs, or get him on a treadmill. Whatever it works to make him run for a while. That usually helps them to be more relaxed

It’s a 4 pound Yorkie lol. Now I’m picturing somebody riding their bike at 20 mph while the tiny dog flaps in the wind.

I second the discipline and exercise advice. I’ve never had a super small dog, but all dogs that we’ve taken for a weekend or owned using a stern voice, consistent discipline, and exercise have worked wonders.

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220 pound bber walking a 4 pound yorkie. Can’t wait lol

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Every little dog we’ve had has been about the bottom rung of the ladder when it comes to brains. Our small dog now barks at everything and doesn’t listen at all. I’ve found bigger dogs much easier to train.

I kinda like small dogs. We had a pomeranian and a peek-a-poo in a metal shop I worked in. They were great to play with to decompress for a few minutes.

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Please tell me that every time it barks, you follow it up with a “[name of dog] STOP”!

The only thing worse than listening to someones dog barking, is to listen to that plus the owner following it up verbally, but not actually doing anything about it.

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