[alaskayorkie]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

First I taught Tibbe to bark on command and treated him for barking. And then I began to give him the "quiet" command and a treat when he stopped barking on his own. Soon, he began stopping when I said "quiet" - and then gets a treat and now he's so good, it only takes a look and he stops.

It sounds to me like your little guy is barking to get attention as Yorkies are attention Hogs! He may be bored and need some more mommie time or he is just needy. It sometimes can be a handful to keep one of these busy, frisky little guys happy and as engaged as they want to be. Tibbe gets some obedience training and running and chasing treats I throw when he acts bored so that he gets nicely worn out and then he climbs on his YHR Boutique Cloud 9 bed and naps with abandon.

That advice is what works best for us too! I started by ringing the doorbell, a sure way to get him barking. When he barked, I said "speak," gave him a hand command (opening my fingers like a mouth) and rewarded. He learned it real fast. Then I closed my fingers and said "No bark" and treated him when he didn't. Eventually, I could say "no bark," ring the doorbell and he wouldn't bark.

It's not perfect. Lately, he barks relentlessly when we approach our meet up ballpark. Since I'm driving, I can't always give the hand command and reward him. We're working on it. But I was delighted just now when I heard some barking outside. I raced to correct Eddie, and he wasn't barking. The neighbor dogs were barking at him and he was just watching them. He always used to join the bark party before we worked on no bark.