Spaying and Neutering for Yorkshire Terriers

In most cases, when you acquire a Yorkshire Terrier from a breeder, that puppy will already be spayed or neutered. There are many reasons why breeders spay and neuter the puppies before selling them. Even if your Yorkshire Terrier puppy is not spayed or neutered before coming to live with you, in most cases, the breeder will have a contract with you that require you to have the dog altered by the time that it is a certain age.

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Dog Training - Housebreaking Your Puppy

No training is more basic for pet owners than that first important lesson: Do it outside!

Teaching your pet to eliminate outside the home, not in it, usually starts between six and eight weeks of age. Dogs as young as four weeks have been started on the program, but at that age few have the muscular control to succeed.

Like any dog training regimen, trainer patience is as important as the dog’s temperament. ‘Sit’, ’stay’ and other behaviors can often be learned in a few days. ‘Potty’ training typically takes weeks - sometimes as short as two, often a month or more.

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Which Type of Yorkshire Terrier Should You Adopt?

When you start looking at ads to find a Yorkshire Terrier, it is easy to become quickly confused. You will see ads that offer Toy Yorkshire Terriers, Miniature Yorkshire Terriers, Yorkie-Poos, Morkies, and even Parti-Colored Yorkies. Which one should you adopt?

First, let’s clear up some misconceptions. While there are numerous different types of Terriers, there is only one type of purebred Yorkshire Terrier. If a Yorkie is advertised as a toy or miniature, this does not mean that the breeder is breeding a special kind of Yorkie. This means that the Yorkie in question is smaller than average.

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Dog Training - Specialized Training: Service Dogs

And you thought normal dog training was difficult. Sit, stay, down, come, heel… all require weeks or more of dedicated trainer and dog effort to master. Now, consider the months or years needed to train a police, search and rescue, guide or other service dog.

Training these special animals starts with careful selection. It’s no accident that certain breeds - German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers and others - tend to be selected. Others may be just as loving as pets, but don’t usually have the physical characteristics nor temperament needed to carry out the wide range of complex behavior these working dogs perform.

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Yorkshire Terrier Clubs and Organizations

Whether you are a new Yorkshire Terrier owner, or you are just considering purchasing a Yorkshire Terrier, you need to know about the various Yorkshire Terrier clubs and organizations that exist. These clubs will prove to be very beneficial to you in finding a breeder, finding a trainer, in learning about your Yorkshire Terrier, and eventually in gaining information concerning various shows that you may want to participate in.

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How Important is Your Yorkshire Terriers Pedigree?

When you start your search for a Yorkshire Terrier, you will obviously want one that is registered with the AKC (American Kennel Clubs). But how important is a Yorkshire Terrier with a pedigree? The fact is that all purebred Yorkshire Terriers will have pedigrees, and if they don’t, you won’t want to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on the dog. But how important are the names on that pedigree?

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Dog Training - No, YOU Sit!

Dogs can learn an amazing variety of behaviors, but few so fundamentally important as the ’sit’. Beyond the basic need to establish that the human of the pair is the alpha (leader), it has a number of practical benefits.

When a dog sits he’s more attentive, making it easier to follow further commands. His eyes are on you, the alpha.

As important as what the dog is doing, is what he is not. In a sit, he’s more or less stationary. There are still those wagging tails, after all. That means he’s not chasing the cat, knocking over the furniture, running through the garden or out into the street.

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Dog Training - Training Styles - Part II

Training styles differ, but some traditional techniques have proven their worth.

Training styles are sometimes divided into those that use both positive and negative reinforcement, or rewards and punishment and those that rely solely on rewards. Using the word ‘punishment’ naturally turns off many who want to treat their companion with care. Substitute the word with ‘discouragements’ and you have the more accurate sense.

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Dog Training - The Basics

Though dog-human interaction goes back thousands of years, communication between the two is still sometimes rough. The human half of the pair is usually the smarter party, but watching the usual training sessions one can have legitimate reason to wonder.

Dogs understand and respond at roughly the mental level of a human two-year-old, but there the similarity ends. Their senses operate differently - their color vision has a different response pattern to reds and greens, for example, and obviously their noses are infinitely more sensitive - and their minds process information differently as well. Anyone training dogs has to take this into account in order to avoid human frustration and canine misbehavior.

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Why Do You Want a Yorkshire Terrier?

Yorkshire Terriers are small and cute. They are the second most popular dog in the United States, next to the Labrador Retriever. This essentially means that they are the most popular small dog in the United States. When you get a Yorkie of your own, it won’t take long to figure out why this is so, but why do you really want a Yorkshire Terrier?

It could be that you crave a lap dog. While Yorkshire Terriers are the perfect size to be a lap dog, they actually don’t prefer to be in your lap. They do want to be near you ?but not on you all of the time. If you are looking for a calm lap dog, a Yorkshire Terrier probably isn’t your best option.

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