[alaskayorkie]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

I just home-schooled my Tibbe but when I got him he had spent 9 mos. in a cage, was wild and almost feral and is now a very well-behaved little feisty toot and loves his obedience training more than just anything. Oh, he loves to work doing his little obedience tricks. It's his favorite thing to do - that and his little jury-rigged agility course we do in the den. Dogs just LOVE training and working. And you love how they get into it and are so proud of them. Just don't let the trainer talk you into using a collar or do anything you feel isn't right for your little Yorkie. Most trainers these days use only positive reinforcement training methods and I imagine a large company wouldn't hire one of the old-fashioned, hard-nosed, aversives-technique kind so there shouldn't be too much to worry about except if the trainer is young. If that is the case, likely they haven't had too much experience around dogfights and breaking them up, etc., so if there is a big dog in the class, keep your little dog away from it just to be on the safe side.

Totally agree. Training is generally always a good thing, but don't do anything you're not comfortable doing. Don't be afraid to ask questions and run anything you're unsure by others.

I started Eddie out in Petco puppy class, and I was reasonably pleased. It was more social training than anything else. When he moved on to another obedience school, some of the volunteer instructors urged me to use a collar -- one even recommended a pronged collar -- and to give him "corrections" instead of luring him with treats.

I blindly followed their advice until I learned of Yorkies' tender tracheas and the value of keeping training positive. I switched schools, and he flourished with gentler techniques from instructors who understood little-dog issues (fear, confidence, etc.).