A Yorkshire Terrier puppy can start short, gentle training sessions as soon as she comes home, usually around eight weeks old. Yorkies are terriers in miniature — bold, bright, and convinced of their own significance — and the biggest risk of their puppyhood is not that training starts too early but that it never starts at all, because a puppy who fits in a handbag gets carried past every lesson. Sessions of one to three minutes, on the floor, several times a day, give her the same education any bigger puppy gets.
A terrier mind in a very small body
A Yorkshire Terrier puppy has a full terrier mind: she notices everything, comments on much of it, and will patrol a household like it owes her reports. Early training gives that vigilance manners — she learns her name means look at you, that quiet watching of the window pays, and that barking is not the only tool for announcing news. Her size shapes the method more than the content. Everything happens at floor level, rewards must be genuinely tiny so a session of ten repetitions is not a meal, and she should walk on her own feet through doorways, across floors, and around the garden, because a puppy who is always carried learns the ground is dangerous and strangers' hands are how travel happens. Letting her choose to approach people, with treats for bravery, builds a steadier adult than being passed hand to hand.
First sessions built for a tiny puppy
The first sessions for a Yorkshire Terrier puppy should make her feel capable rather than managed. Crouch or sit on the floor, say her name once, and pay the look with a crumb-sized soft treat. Lure a sit, practise a hand target she can reach without jumping, and build harness comfort in stages — harness on the floor earns a treat, harness draped earns a treat, harness clipped earns a treat and a short wander — since a Yorkie should walk on a harness rather than a collar to protect her delicate windpipe. Add gentle handling in the same tiny doses: a touch to a paw, a glance at her teeth, two strokes of a brush along that fine, growing coat, each followed by food, because grooming and dental checks are lifelong for this breed. Keep sessions warm and unhurried, and finish while she is bright and asking for more.
Yorkie-specific cautions in the early weeks
The cautions for a Yorkshire Terrier puppy start with her fragility: no jumping from sofas or arms, sessions away from boisterous bigger dogs, and children seated on the floor for interactions so a wriggle cannot become a fall. Watch her energy in a different way too — very small puppies can fade quickly if they miss meals, so training treats supplement rather than replace her food, and a puppy who goes wobbly, listless, or off her food needs a veterinarian promptly, not a shorter session tomorrow. Sound sensitivity is the other early project: pair household noises — doorbell, dropped pan, vacuum at a distance — with treats while she is calm, because an unshaped Yorkie can grow into a dog who shrieks at every arrival. If barking is already constant, she startles at ordinary contact, or toilet training stalls despite frequent trips out, mention it at her next veterinary visit. KinsLe Care Teams suits a Yorkie household well, because the floor-level practice, harness stages, and grooming touches can be shared out as small duties and marked done, keeping a very small dog's lessons consistent in every pair of hands.