Here is a fairly good article about training Yorkies. I don't agree with everything in it, and added some of my own thoughts in the brackets. But the author starts out saying that Yorkshire Terriers are some of the "smartest dogs in the world", which seemed true in Aspen's case. It's all about how to train them to bring out the best in them.
Written by Cristian Stan
Yorkshire Terriers are one of the smartest dogs alive. They are very cute, and are actually one of the easiest dogs to train.
Yorkies understand you well, but forget things very easily. First of all, you need to remember to find a treat that your dog likes, Yorkies specifically love Steak, and Beef [Our Yorkie really like chicken and turkey. No seasoned or flavored meats, like beef jerky, they may be hard on the small dogs digestive system, even thought the author suggests it. Our experience with Beef Jerky was not good, but all Yorkies are different.]. Beef Jerky treats are the best; however, you can use human food as well.
Depending on what you are teaching your dog, you will need to do it every day until the dog has a grasp of it forever. If your Yorkie is just a puppy, and you need to train it when it needs to go out (waste), then its best that you teach it to bark, and stand beside the door when it needs to go.
You may be thinking this is tough; however, it’s one of the easiest ways to train your puppy well. At first, you need to teach your puppy that it can only waste outside. You can easily do this by calling your puppy once every 1 or 2 hours, and going on a quick 1 minute walk. Of course, accidents will happen, and you will defiantly get a little ‘treat’ on the floor sooner or later.
Here is the part where you absolutely need to get it through the puppy’s head that it is unacceptable to waste indoors. Carry the puppy over to where it left its waste indoors, and point to the waste, talking to the puppy just like to a human. Use a tone that sounds a bit angry, but do not harm the puppy no matter what. [The less words you use the better, just a simple "no" and taking the dog outside where he/she should go should help.]
Yorkies tend to understand it a bit quicker than other dogs, however, this form on training works well on every dog. When you go on your daily walks with the puppy, and he wastes outside, congratulate it, and give it a treat. Whenever you go on walks with the puppy, always have 1 or 2 treats with you, as you need to show the puppy what he did, and that he did it outside, that it’s good. Have a happy voice when talking to the puppy and giving him or her the treat. As time goes on, your puppy will begin to realize that he or she is better off to leave waste outside, and will begin to show you some kind of action when he or she needs to go out to waste.
After your puppy has this mastered, you can start with the necessary things that a dog needs to know around the house, for example, no jumping on the table, no going on the leather couch, etc. These are easy to teach, as you can use a very similar method as the one I used when training my puppy to go and leave waste. Basically, the hardest part with all dogs and especially Yorkies is to teach the dog the very first big thing, which is to leave waste outside.
After that, your puppy understands that they are rewarded when they do something good, and yelled at [I disagree with the author here, a firm word is enough] when they do something bad, which you can apply to the ‘no jumping on the table, no going on the leather couch [and I would just stay "no, down!" pointing to the floor, and "good dog" with maybe a pat on the head when obeyed].
The author's website is no longer available.
Updated 9/23/16
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