A Yorkshire Terrier introduction has two risks to manage at once: the other dog's size, and the Yorkie's own conviction that he is the biggest dog present. Run the meeting on the ground with a harness and a loose lead, start with a parallel walk beside a calm adult dog, and let brief, voluntary sniffs replace any held-up, face-to-face greeting.
The terrier bravado problem in a very small dog
A Yorkshire Terrier carries a proper terrier temperament — bold, busy, and quick to announce himself — inside a body that can be injured by one paw swipe or an over-enthusiastic bounce from a large breed. Many Yorkies charge to the end of the lead barking at big dogs, and owners laugh it off, but the behaviour is frequently nerves dressed up as confidence, and it invites exactly the confrontation he cannot afford. A calm introduction therefore protects him from his own opening move: distance first, so he can observe the new dog without performing, and rewards for disengaging, so looking away becomes his habit instead of escalating. Choose the partner for steadiness — a dog who will ignore a small dog's noise rather than answer it.
Ground rules that keep a Yorkie meeting safe
Keep all four of your Yorkie's feet on the ground for the whole introduction. A Yorkshire Terrier held in arms during a greeting is trapped at the other dog's face height, cannot move away, and often barks or snaps from that trapped feeling — while the standing dog jumps up to investigate, which is how scratches and falls happen. Use a well-fitted harness rather than a collar so a sudden lunge does not land on his small neck. Meet on neutral ground with room to curve away, keep leads slack, and let the dogs approach in an arc instead of head-on. If the partner dog is much larger, let the first meetings happen with a fence or gate between them while walking the same route, so your Yorkie banks calm exposure before any shared space.
Running the greeting itself
When your Yorkshire Terrier can walk on the same path as the new dog with a soft body, occasional glances, and a lead that stays slack, allow a greeting of two or three seconds: the dogs curve in, sniff sides and rear rather than faces, and the handlers call them apart cheerfully before either one stiffens. Feed a small treat after the call-away so leaving the new dog pays as well as meeting him did. Repeat that pattern several times in one walk instead of graduating to off-lead play on day one. Watch your Yorkie for the switch from curiosity to over-arousal — spinning, fixating, or barking that rises in pitch — and end the session on the repetition before it, while he is still succeeding.
Building a small dog's social circle safely
A Yorkshire Terrier who meets the same calm dogs regularly becomes far easier than one introduced to a parade of strangers, so turn the successful partner into a standing walking companion and add new dogs one at a time, always with the distance-first pattern. Indoors, give your Yorkie a raised perch or a gated corner he can retreat to, since a small dog with an escape route rarely feels the need to start anything. Tell anyone who walks him which dogs are approved and which are still at the parallel-walk stage, so nobody freelances a greeting at the park. Recording those stages in KinsLe Care Teams means each helper inherits the same partner list and the same few-seconds rule, and your Yorkie's introductions stay as measured as the first one you ran yourself.