Author: najki_admin

The well bred and well handled Yorkshire Terrier is content to be near its owner without being on a lap or underfoot. Yorkies are energetic, but also need much rest and will often prefer to spend downtime in privacy, such as in a kennel or out-of-the-way corner. Early terriers were expected to hunt in the company of handlers and other dogs, but also to have the self-confidence to go out on their own after prey. Very pampered and indulged Yorkies are more likely to be clingy and demanding, and lack the true terrier self-confidence. Yorkshire Terriers tend to be more difficult to train than some breeds, due to their characteristic independent nature. The independent mindedness of Yorkies leads some trainers to consider them to be among the hardest to house-break.

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. 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. 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. Additionally, Yorkies learn to recognize numerous words and can be taught to distinguish and fetch separate toys in a box by their names.