[Britster]

Originally Posted by QuickSilver

Welcome! You are describing a lot of different behavior problems:

- Chewing
- Jumping on furniture
- Growling at you
- Separation anxiety

I would recommend starting by reading up on training obedience generally and each of these issues separately. Please do NOT spank your yorkie. He is probably very confused about what he is and isn't allowed to do, and spanking is just going to freak him out more.

The trainer's mantra is "It's never the animal's fault." If he is being "bad", you need to figure out how to work with him to get the behavior you want.

Growling and snapping at you could be caused by two different things. First, it is possible that he believes he runs your household and is trying to dominate you. HOWEVER, if a dog doesn't understand why it's being hurt, it will usually first try submission and appeasement, and if that doesn't work, it will feel cornered and fight back.

To get you started:

I'd recommend starting with pennies in a can as a mild negative reinforcer. However, you should try to use as much positive reinforcement as possible. So if you catch him on your coffee table and he jumps off, praise him for getting down.

- Chewing: does he have appropriate chew toys? You can also teach him "Drop It".
- Jumping on furniture: teach him the "Down" or "Off" command. Also if he is going to break something or eat something that makes him sick, clear your tables until he is better trained. It's not forever!
- Growling at you: stop using harsh punishments like spanking.
- Separation anxiety: this can be very tough to fix, but if you search on YorkieTalk, you will find a ton of threads on how to deal with it. You can search by scrolling down to the bottom of the screen, and typing in "separation anxiety". Make sure to choose to search YorkieTalk, and not Google.

Good luck, and please let us know how it goes.

You always make it so much easier for me - don't have to type anything! I agree with everything you said.
You need to become in control!