Intelligence in a yorkie
 

COLOR][COLOR="Blue"]Intelligence
Yorkshire Terriers as a breed are intelligent dogs. According to Dr. Stanley Coren, an expert on animal intelligence, the Yorkshire Terrier is an above average working dog, ranking 27th (32nd including ties) out of the 132 breeds tested.[19] His research found that an average Yorkshire Terrier could understand a new command after approximately 15 repetitions and would obey a command the first time it was given 70% of the time or better.[20] This capacity as working dogs enables Yorkies to excel in sports like obedience and agility, which require the dog to understand communication from the handler and carry out a complex series of commands.[6] Additionally, Yorkies learn to recognize numerous words and can be taught to distinguish and fetch separate toys in a box by their names.[6][/COLOR I thought trixie to do the siting, staying, and bye bye, She did it ofter the first couple of days. Why isn't she doing it aby more, and why, she doesnt seem interested in learning anything? Please share share your stories about training, simple commands. I would love to hear it.:friendsh:

The print was supposed to be blue. Ignore the extra info

I have had Wiz from 8 weeks and from the first day aside from housetraining ( which is still a work in progress ) , I have taught me like I would train any size dog ..sit , sit stay , down , down stay , come .. and dance ( turns in a circle . ) We do all of these things consistently throughout the day . Now why the little brat won't get the pee and poop outside issue is beyond me . Sure hope that gets better . He is about 75% but I want a 100% .

..and that should be taught HIM .. not me ..oh so freudian .

Bernie learned, sit, down, rollover after about 30 minutes of training. But, he can't seem to get anything else down. He's 7 months old.

I believe it! I taught Alfie to sit in a couple of days. He's 14 weeks old. I'm surprised/relieved/happy at how trainable he is. Though, still getting him to come to ME is another story lol. It's getting a little better though :p

But ..are your boys housetrained ? This is a big issue .

training abbi
 

i taught Abbi to sit ,lay down and roll over. I did this with verbal commands and signs. she is really smart. have been working with her on bang your dead , pointing hand at her like a gun and she will lie down but wont close her eyes. i can tell she doesn't like it. bought a hula hoop and want to teach her to jump threw hoop. that will be next trick. I want to take her to the nursing home so the residents can enjoy her too!:D

Ohh, toooo cute!! Dakota is very clever. We took a puppy class and she learned the basics...sit, stay, down, come, ect. Then we took the intermediate class where we learned more advanced versions of the basics (distracted stays, out of site stays, leave it) and we also took (and passed..YEAH :) ) the cgc test. Now we are taking the advanced class and working towards getting our therapy dog certification!! Dakota knows a few "tricks", like dance, what did you do (she lowers her head and puts her paw on her nose :) ) and a really cute trick where she won't take a cookie if you say it is from the vet (or whoever you want), but will eat it after you change who it is from. However, with housetraining....kota is pretty good...she will let me know 99% of the time that she needs to go out, but if she gets mad (if she gets left) she will sometimes tinkle on the rug :(. I have heard yorkies are VERY hard to completely housetrain.

Do not get me wrong. I love Stanley Corren.. he was given me some really useful help with my dog and it's concerns directly but and it is a big but, intelligence in dogs is relative to what they do as a job if they were allowed to do it and what they have experienced in life in the way they are trained.

Example. you are going to have a great deal of difficulty teaching a yorkie to herd sheep but it can be done.... but you take a border collie that been raised with and around sheep and it will herd.

You take that came boarder coolie and ask it to do ground work you can teach it but it going to take time. you teach a yorkie one like mine that loves rodents your off to the races.
You take a pointed and ask it to herd you out of luck. You take that boarder collie and ask it to point good luck.. not saying it can not be done but you are fighting hot wired behavior.


Intelligence is in what the dog is original job the dog did before lap dog was and what motivates it that all. Basic obedience is hot wired , it is taught and if you come at it from the genetic end of what motivates a dog to work you all have smart dogs of all breeds.

Sorry Stan on this one I firmly agree to tell you your off the mark.

JL

Yorkies are very smart, but like people they get bored easily with the same things that they already know. You have to make the training interesting and keep changing things up. Make it fun.

I have to tell you how smart my little puppies are. I had the floor of the expen covered with potty pads then put one of a slightly different thickness and texture in one corner. My plan was to slowly take away one by one the other pads until there was only the one in the corner to go on so they would learn to only use it. Well 90+% of the time this is what they used from the very beginning, I didn't ever get to where I had taken even one of the other pads away.

Then I decided to try a doggie toilet with a grid for them. Just started a few days ago. I put it in the spot where the pad had been. I set it down and each one took a turn and went pee or poo on it right away and they have kept using it since.

Then today when I was cleaning things all the puppies somehow got out of expen (they are six weeks old), so I quickly picked them up and put them back in. I counted to make sure they were all there and one was missing. I looked all around my office and clear over in the other corner of the room from the ex pen behind my desk is the big washable potty pad for the adults. There on the pad was the missing little boy GOING POTTY!!! What a little smartie pants!!!

check out this videos, there are videos about teaching them to sit, roll over and more.
PetVideo.com

What's a doggie toilet? Margaret

The one I am using for my puppies is a Yogi dog toilet. It works very well. I just use washable potty pads that I made to fit it under the grid.

Here's a picture of it.

Attachment 239543

I agree, yorkies are very intelligent. I adopted Harley when he was only 4weeks old because his mommy had milk fever and he wasn't nursing so I took him at this young age to save his life. At only 4 weeks old he was able to learn "sit" and "down" I continued with his training everyday and before he was 3 months old he could "sit","down","stay","roll over","sad","happy","crawl",and"touch". now he is 2 years old and he still does all those tricks plus many more like"find it"(whatever I want him to find) he knows who "mommy","daddy",and"bubba" are,he will go get the other dogs when asked,"sneezes" on command, and now we are working on agility. He is doing really great at it. I make all his training sessions a game. Not only is it fun for him but for me as well. My other dogs are learning a lot just from watching Harley. My advice would be don't give up on your puppy or yourself. You should practice everyday(even after they learn a trick) keep it fun and only 10 minutes a day so not to have your puppy get bored or irritated. As for the potty training, I would take a treat out with us when he had to go potty. I would tell him to go potty and when he did I praised him and give him the treat straight away(I used "special" treats for potty training seperate from the treats I gave him for regular training) It didnt take long before he associated his behavior with that "special" treat and went potty when and where I told him to go. Hope this helps. Have fun:animal-pa
Kimerli
California

"come"????
 

Does anyone have trouble getting your dog to "COME" to you?? Lily will not let you pick her up hardly ever when you try to get her to come to you she runs from you no matter what!! Inside same as outside!! I have tried everything from treats to yelling to "crazy"!!! She is 6 months old now and she will not come to you and let you pick her up at all??? I have worked with her more than any dog I have ever had and she seems the hardest to do anything with?? STUBBORN!!!!lol

Come is one of Gracie's hardest things to do too. I got her when she was 3 months old and she quickly learned what I wanted from her when I said "Come here." It is hysterical to watch her thought process. I'll say "Come here." She'll be like, "Ok, momma." take a step then cock her head to the side, turn and go the other way. Little stinker!! :p I'll call after her, she'll turn around, look at me, bark and squat down on her front legs inviting me to just try and get her. Cheeky little thing! She knows what I want, she absolutely understands the command, but right now it's just not going to happen. She's 7 months old, I figure with her, this is something that is just going to take a little longer to happen. She will come sometimes, I know she understands what I want, it's just not a fight I'm willing to wage at this point. Everything is an adventure with this one and Tag is one of her favorite things to do.

As for the picking up part. Could it be that she doesn't feel secure when you lift her off the ground? Gracie doesn't like for me to bend over and pick up something if I'm holding her. I think it must feel like we are falling to her, even tho I have a firm hold on her. I'd try using both hands firmly to hold her and slowly lift her up. Then securely hold her next to you. It must feel strange to suddenly have the ground rush away. Even tho we understand whats going on, it could be her perception is that she is suddenly not 'safe' any more.

Has Gracie been spayed yet? Lily goes next week for that and we are moving to a different house in 2 weeks!! I am afraid the poor little girl will be so mixed up? She does pretty good with the potty training finally but everything else is getting worse I think!! She barks alot more than ever and she is spoiled rotten!! Everything is a game here too!! She sleeps w/us in bed because she barks constantly in her crate and always has. Friday nights we watch the "Dog Whisperer"!!lol

Gracie sounds like my Moses. he knows the command 'come' because he looks right at me, but he just won't do it. he'll do the head tilt. When we were in training class he came everytime, did every command perfectly for his exam. but at home, he's very "sometimey." Yorkies are very intelligent, but sometimes they do things on their own terms. He'd rather i come chase him because he thinks its fun. the only time i can get him to come is if i go grab a treat. sneaky lil thing! he does something only if he FEELS like it.

I share all your frustrations. I took Lucy to her first puppy party last week (for pups who haven't had all their vaccinations yet) - she was brilliant, doing sits, downs, heeling offleash, etc, despite the distractions of other pups around her. I was SOOOO proud.

However, at home she is less inclined to behave, and will run away or just ignore me - a real prima donna!

When I took her for her second shot at the vet yesterday, she immediately wanted to be down, playing with the other dogs and demonstrating her skills - she thought it was puppy party again, and was most disappointed when all she got was a shot and microchipping

Lesley x

Yorkie Intelligence
 

Harley potty trained completely within 2 months.:) He was already paper trained when I got him at 3 months. I crate trained him and put up a gate in my kitchen, so he only had free run of the kitchen and dining room. We have a pet door and another dog (Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix). Having the other dog that is potty trained helped tremendously. We slowly expanded his run of the house and watched him very closely when he was out. I used Pet Solution anytime he had an accident and took him straight outside.

As for tricks, he knows how to sit, lay down, roll over, and play dead (bang!). He really doesn't like to do them, though.:confused: He would prefer to climb in my lap or roll over on his back. Training him with treats was a challenge too. He seems to do the tricks better with praise and no treats than he does with treats. He loses his focus. But after I finish working with him, he does get a treat.

As far as making her feel better about being picked up: I read that since little dogs are so little, it's scary for them to be hoisted up into the air suddenly, and so it's important to say "Lift up!" every single time before you pick them up. I started doing that with Bella, and now when I say it, I can tell she's readying herself to be picked up. Sometimes when I say it, she even lifts her front paws off the ground for me. That might be something you want to try. It will take a bit, but I bet with a warning like that she'll eventually not mind being picked up so much. (Bella doesn't like me bending over when I'm holding her either....I have her rear end cradled in the curve of my elbow and hold onto her front leg(s) when I hold her, and when I bend over to get something off the floor, she uses all 4 legs to brace herself to make sure if I drop her she'll land on her feet...as if!!)

Here's the way I taught come: if you have a helper, you can let them stand across a room from you with your dog (first you have to be over by them and show the really AMAZING treat you have in your hand and then cross to the other side of the room). Then, the helper sort of puts their hands on the front of her chest to gently restrain her as you start SUPER, SUPER, ULTRA excitedly calling "Lily, come here!!!!" You have to be VERY excited!! The person only gently holds them back a bit, so that they feel the extra urge to want to escape them to get to you. The the person lets go and the dog should run quickly to you. (If you don't have a helper, I can tell you a one person version as well.) You have to do it several times on several different days, but eventually you can do it outside or wherever. The one rule I'm told with "Come", is to NEVER, EVER call your dog to "come" to you for punishment. If she needs punished, go to her. Also, I try to have a treat whenever I use that command if possible. The reason for both of those things is that you want to be sure she'll come when you call her if she's running toward the street or something equally life-threatening. (Note: I've heard that when you teach this, you should use a treat that you wouldn't mind eating as well, so that if she doesn't come when you call, you can walk back over and eat the treat yourself in front of her like it was the best thing you ever tasted. Then, show her another one and walk away and try again.) Now, my boyfriend can be across an outdoor garden (a big touristy one--no one else was there when I tried this though) from me and I can call her and she will run as fast as she can, ears back, to me!!! Such a good girl!! (It doesn't hurt that she loves her mamma! But she runs to my boyfriend--her daddy--when he calls too!)

Trixie plays hard to get. Except, when I am in a playful mood, which she knows, somehow. If I want to play with her, she will come when called. If not, she she will come half way, and stop, sit, and stare. I guess she does come, but would make me wait. She learned fast, when I got her, but the more mature she gets, the more challenged it becomes to make her do the roll over sit, stay, and so on. By the way, check out how smart this little guy is

That is not me, I just liked the video, and desided to share with you

Bella also knows sit, sit stay, lay down, down stay, crawl, roll over, stand up, stand on your tippy-toes, and pirouette (turn in a circle). I read some of the things some of these other dogs know (like sneeze!), and I want to know how to teach those!!! Fun!!

Got it. But my dogs won't use it. They just go outside of it. I put it where the pee pad was, maybe they don't like the grid. Margaret

I believe the reason they don't listen is because they are smart. Too smart to sit and do dumb dog tricks.

They don't come because they don't want to, not because they don't understand what you want. They are like 2 year olds. I do believe they mellow out as they age and are more willing to be cooperative.

I agree with you completely. Mine are going on 4 and they have become alot better about responding to commands and have just became better at listening as they have gotten older

Partly true but also why do anyhthing for you if there is nothing in it for them'Woyuld you go to work if your boss did not give you a pay chque at the end of it all... Sometimes these guys want a raise.

JL

I mess my post up.