We get it: you love your Yorkie, but can’t get them to stop barking when something sets them off. You’re not alone, and we’ve gathered some helpful information specific to how to train a Yorkie not to bark that might help you curb the issue.
What Makes Yorkies Unique?
Yorkies are a popular breed among small dog lovers for their cuteness, spunky personality, and loving demeanor. Yorkies can be great with people, kids, and other dogs—with the proper training and socialization.
However, like many smaller breeds, Yorkies can have an issue with excessive barking in certain situations. Since Yorkies know they can’t intimidate a person or another dog with their size, they attempt to do it with their vocal cords.
Whether your Yorkie is barking to protect you from a perceived threat, wants your attention, or simply loves the sound of its own voice, there are several reasons your pup might yap at you a bit more than you’d like.
Why Yorkies Bark
Barking is a form of communication, as obnoxious as it may be. Though it may seem out of the blue, your Yorkie is barking at you to alert you of something, whether it’s a potential threat or something your dog is excited about.
Yorkies are quick to bark at any stimuli, which means even if the threat isn’t serious, your Yorkie may still find it necessary to let you know through excessive barking.
Nobody likes to listen to endless dog barking, and due to the Yorkie’s small size, their barks can be high-pitched and shrill. Plus, excessive barking can indicate your dog is feeling stressed about something, and too much stress over time is just as harmful to your pup’s health as a human.
Let’s look at some of the most effective ways to teach your Yorkie to stop excessive barking to ensure that your pup is happy and healthy and you can get some much-needed peace and quiet.
How to Train a Yorkie Not to Bark
Yorkies can bark for a wide variety of reasons, and it can be difficult to determine whether your pup’s barking is coming from a place of fear, anxiety, happiness, boredom, or something in between. But knowing can help teach you how to train a Yorkie not to bark.
When you’re not sure exactly what your dog is asking for with their barking, but you know it is inappropriate or bothersome, a bark collar is often the best solution.
How a No-Shock Bark Collar Works
No-shock bark collars are a completely safe and humane alternative to shock collars. These collars encourage your dog to be quiet with gentle correction. When the collar senses excessive barking, it sends a warning beep to let your dog know it’s time to quiet down.
If your dog overrides the warning, the collar emits a light vibration just bothersome enough to your dog to encourage them to stop barking.
These collars have adjustable straps that are easy to use with any dog—even a breed as petite as a Yorkie. Full charges last for over ten hours, and the collar is completely weatherproof for all conditions.
Using your bark collar, you can also pair its effective technology with other training tactics to encourage your Yorkie to bark less.
Encourage Good Behavior
Though the bark collar is an effective way to show your dog what not to do, you may see even faster changes in your dog’s behavior when you also reward good behavior.
For example, as soon as your dog responds to the bark collar by stopping their bark, give them treats and plenty of praise to show them they’ll get rewarded when listening to the collar’s prompts.
Ignore Attention Barking
Yorkies can often be guilty of barking for attention. Though this can be a pesky habit, dog owners often accidentally encourage it by verbally reprimanding their dog when they hear excessive barking, which their dog sees as the attention they’re looking for.
If your dog is barking at you when there are no other visible stimuli or threats, ignore them to show them that barking for attention simply doesn’t work.