As already noted, puppy classes serve as both socialization and an early learning opportunity. They are also a great place for you to bond more closely with your Yorkshire terrier. Positive reinforcement training is rewarding for both dog and handler.

Lure/reward training is commonly used with puppies, and they respond to it very well. It also has the benefit of being easy for most new trainers to master. You use a tiny piece of food as a lure — it's important your treats are small, because you will use quite a few in training and you don't want to make your Yorkie fat. Hold the treat between your fingers and put it right in front of your Yorkie's nose. Now if you move the treat, the dog's head should follow. If you can move the head where you want, you can move or position the dog where or how you want. Instructions on using lure/reward training for some basic good manners behaviors are detailed in Chapter 15.

Clicker training pairs a marker — that is, the clicker, a little plastic box with a metal strip that makes a distinctive sound when you press it and let it go — with treats so that the dog associates the clicker sound with getting a treat. The clicker can then be used to mark behavior that you want to train. Clicker training is particularly useful for more complex behaviors or tricks, such as “Limp,” that have to be trained in increments. In this case, you would click for the dog lifting a front foot off the floor, then lifting it higher, then holding it up, then moving another foot forward while holding the foot up, and so on.

Photograph by Pamela Shelby

Training is not only fun, but it also further socializes your Yorkie.

Beginning trainers often find it hard to deal with the clicker. You can achieve a similar effect by using a specific word, such as “Yes,” as a marker in place of the clicker. It's not quite as precise or unique — after all, the dog hears you talk all day, but he doesn't usually hear a clicker. But it's still useful because you can say your marker faster than you can get a treat out of your pocket or bait bag, once you're not using the treat as a lure anymore. So you stand a better chance of marking something you want — say, a sit — rather than something you don't want — the dog getting up out of the sit. Chapter 15 includes detailed instructions for using a marker to train some behaviors.

Class Size and Makeup

You don't want too many puppies together in one place or they can escalate each others' excitement and get very noisy and hyperactive. Eight is probably enough, and there should certainly not be any more than ten.

In some areas you may find a majority of toy dogs, while in others it may seem to be all hounds and Labs. Trainers can't always put only toy dogs in a puppy class if there aren't enough around. What trainers can do is select appropriate puppies to play with each other during socialization sessions, rather than just having people count off or letting puppies loose depending on where their handlers happen to be sitting. Additionally, there need to be definite age limits. Ten-week-old puppies shouldn't be mixed in with ten-month-old puppies.

Class Curriculum

Classes can vary widely in terms of what puppies actually learn. Some are given over almost entirely to puppies playing with each other. Some are replicas of good manners classes, with a younger canine clientele. Others aim at socialization, not only to other dogs, but to all sorts of environmental possibilities.

The best classes combine a little bit of everything. Puppies have play sessions, and handlers practice calling puppies back to them, only to let them go play again. This is not a formal recall, which should be practiced later, but it's a building of the bond between puppy and human, and a chance for the pup to learn that checking in with her handler doesn't mean an end to the fun. Puppies should also be presented with a wide variety of sights and sounds in a nonthreatening manner. Bicycles, wheelchairs, shopping carts, skateboards, vacuum cleaners, and loud people are among the things that a pup might experience in class to prepare him for the real world. People should learn how to look in puppies' ears and mouths and pick up feet, and puppies should learn to let them. Of course, this training should always be fun and relaxing.