[alaskayorkie]

Aww, you're trying to do too much too soon. Make it easy on yourself. If you want to shoot action, go out on a sunny day, set it on the "Sports" setting (the running icon) and that's all you have to do. The camera will automatically select the fastest possible shutter speed, which should be enough to stop the action.

If they're still coming out blurry, it may be an auto-focus problem. Try to figure out where the action is going to be, focus on that spot by holding the shutter down halfway, then follow your Yorkie until he/she reaches the spot you've focused on and snap.

These were a little trickier because it wasn't real bright out. I shouldn't confuse you, but you asked:
* I set it on the automatic setting called TV (shutter priority) and manually set my speed to 1/500th
* I changed my ISO (digital equivalent of film speed) to 800