With that inimitable silky coat and that feisty personality, it’s easy to see why the Yorkshire Terrier is one of the country’s favorite dog breeds.
Making a great guard dog while also being a wonderful lapdog, this pooch is a useful companion. But are Yorkies smart? Is the breed easy to train? Well, in this article, we’ll be answering these questions and more, so read on!
But first, are Yorkies Smart? Yes Yorkies are smart, obedient dogs that can pick up any tricks and commands you wish to teach them in less than one day. However, the breed can be stubborn and difficult.
What kind of dog is the Yorkie?
The Yorkshire Terrier is a small terrier or toy dog. Originally bred in Scotland, weavers later brought the breed to England, where the pooch you see today first began to be used as a trendy, cuddly lapdog.
Of course, as a terrier, not all Yorkies are cuddly lapdogs. In true terrier fashion, plenty of Yorkshire Terriers will try to chase strange callers to your door away, pounce on and play with errant trash, and will bark at anything even a little unusual.
Yorkie dogs also love people and will approach most other people with ease (except the mailman!). But the breed has a tendency to be wary of and even truly aggressive with other dogs and will bark excessively at or even injure other dogs if consistent, regular training has not been carried out.
What was the Yorkie bred for?
These unusual, unique behaviors will start to make more sense when you know what the Yorkie was bred to do.
As we touched upon previously, being a fashionable lapdog to Victorian ladies was a major part of the Yorkshire Terrier’s history. Indeed, you still see plenty of well-groomed, silky, long-haired Yorkies being toted around in the purses of certain famous celebrities to this day.
If you want to do this, there are loads of fashionable carrier options for your Yorkie that are made especially for dogs. Dog carriers are safer and more breathable for Yorkshire Terriers.
However, before this, a larger version of what is now known as the Yorkie breed was used to catch rats for Scottish workers in the textile mills, coal mines, and factories of England. Back then, the breed was known as the Paisley Terrier or the Clydesdale Terrier.
In fact, it’s thought that this early Clydesdale Terrier was likely crossed over with the Skye Terrier, English Black, and Tan Toy Terrier, or even the Waterside Terrier, to create the early blue-gray Yorkshire Terrier.
What’s good about the Yorkie?
Did you know that the Yorkshire Terrier can be considered a hypoallergenic breed? This is because their silky straight single coat does not shed, and so does not produce the dander that aggravates a person’s dog allergies.
Lively and inquisitive, a Yorkie could easily spend all day trotting around the yard and home, sniffing everything and studying things closely.
The Yorkshire Terrier has all the curiosity and alertness of a larger terrier, while the breed’s small size means that your Yorkie will also be happy to snuggle up with you when tired.
What do Yorkies like to do?
With that terrier tendency, the Yorkies of today still love to chase things and investigate. As we mentioned previously, it is common to find a Yorkshire Terrier chasing and pawing at any rubbish or other objects left lying around.
This curious breed also enjoys puzzle toys and can spend all day having fun, nudging sliders around and pawing at buttons to unlock their daily meal, bit by bit.
If you like, you can harness this curiosity by building a home-made interactive obstacle course. Use old newspapers, toilet roll tubes, and other safe, sturdy trash to conceal kibble and toys. Your Yorkshire Terrier will have a blast trying to sniff everything out!
As well as this, with the Yorkie’s past as a lapdog and companion breed, your Yorkshire Terrier will love to do anything possible to please its favorite people. Watch in amazement as your Yorkie learns how to sit, stay, and offer you their paw after less than an hour of training!
Are Yorkies easy to train?
Certain traits make the Yorkshire Terrier easier to train in ways. The breed’s history as a lapdog, for example, makes the Yorkie extremely people-motivated and eager to please.
Whether it’s just sitting and staying, or something as ambitious as spinning and rolling over, you can be sure that your obedient, bright, people-pleasing Yorkshire Terrier will fall over itself in its haste to do anything that will impress its favorite person.
However, this small breed is notorious for having an even smaller bladder – the Yorkie has well-known housebreaking difficulties and takes quite a while to get house-trained properly.
This trait, coupled with the breed’s hatred of cold, wet weather can make training your Yorkshire Terrier to go potty almost impossible at these times of the year! Puppy pads are perfect for these situations.
As well as this, being a lapdog, on top of being a terrier, the Yorkshire Terrier easily becomes highly distrustful and apprehensive around other dogs.
This means that you must put a big effort into training your Yorkie to get along with other dogs from an early age. They will pick this up easily with your help. Why not take them to a few obedience classes or agility for smaller dogs?
How smart are Yorkies?
Did you know that the Yorkshire Terrier has above-average intelligence for a dog? Compared with one hundred other breeds of dog, the Yorkie breed is 34th in terms of its intelligence!
The Yorkshire Terrier can pick up a new command with only 15 to 25 repetitions. This can mean that it only takes one day for your Yorkie to completely understand how to do a new trick and you will have fun teaching it to them!
As well as this, the Yorkshire Terrier is on par with dog breeds like the Bearded Collie, Schnauzer, Newfoundland, and Dalmatian.
How can I train my Yorkie?
As we mentioned previously, certain traits help to make the Yorkshire Terrier equally easier and more difficult to train.
When it comes to toilet training your Yorkshire Terrier, it can help to have a covered area outdoors for them to use. This combats the Yorkie’s dislike of getting damp and helps keep that silky coat in top condition!
To prevent a Yorkshire Terrier from developing aggression or fearfulness around other dogs, a good measure to take is regularly socializing the Yorkie with other dogs from as young an age as possible.
Try contacting friends who own dogs and seeing if they would be happy to walk their dog together with you both or meet up with your dog-owning friends in the park. Get your Yorkie used to as many different breeds of dog as possible, especially larger dogs.
So, are Yorkies smart?
In conclusion, yes – Yorkies are smart, obedient dogs that can pick up any tricks and commands you wish to teach them in less than one day. However, the breed can be stubborn and difficult, too, refusing to go into a damp yard or for walks in the rain.
But, when you are aware of these problems, you can factor them into your training and better deal with them. So, armed with this information, I hope you have lots of fun training your Yorkie to do all sorts of things!
