Yappy dogs

Hello Rostow and welcome to myLot! I think that people tend to spoil small dogs and, as a result, they think they are on top of the world. Poor socialization as puppies may also be a cause of the barking issue you have. Fortunately you can train your dog to stop barking at everything. You can teach her that barking is not a wanted behavior. She may still barks from time to time, but it will be easier for you to make her stop once you taught her to behave. What's her history? I suppose you adopted her as an adult, am I right?

Hey Rostow, Barking is a very normal dog behavior. Things it can mean are: Greeting, play, attention, threat/defense and pain. Always remember to look at the context to why your dog is barking. You don't want to do training when it's a sign that the dog is in pain. In that situation you want to take the dog to see a vet. I always suggest to see a trainer in any behavior problem. They will have the best advice for you. They study the behavoir of all kinds of dogs everyday. Now for some technique you can try. First try ignoring the bark. Pay no attention to him/her whatsoever, then when they calmn down and stop barking give them attention or a treat or both. If they bark again stop giving the attention immediately. Dogs learn things best within seconds from when they do something. So if you wait too long they will get confused. Remember no matter what technique you decide to use it will take time and patience. Your dog will learn within a few hours or days. Some will take a few weeks but always be consistent.

First of all, let me say...I am totally jealous, and you have brought back such fond memories of my "Mokei", my little Westie that crossed the rainbow bridge! I truly believe, that the trauma from her earlier encounter with the larger dog, has caused her to intensify her verbage when she again feels challenged, and only, I think, time spent around bigger, calm dogs, that do not threaten her will get her passed this...and also, when she is totally secure in your support. Remember, she is young...two is young, she is just a teenager! I, truly, do not believe there is a correlation between little dogs...and yappy! That would be like saying, all short men have a "napoleonic syndrome", little man syndrome! I am sure that you are thankful, she is such a sensitive little "mite", and with your love and compassion, you will find a way to alleviate her fears. Good on, you Rostow...I can tell you love her, dearly!

Rostow how Tender your dog! Smallest dogs are more active dogs. I don´t thing more happy, but they have much more energy than a the taller ones. For first time in my life I adopted a poodle, and there has never been another dog that moves me more his tail, in sign of happiness. But that doesn´t means that Mimi, Dirty, Leon, Bronco, Lic, Poochie, Vainilla, Blacky, Acoqui, Normando, Bretona, hadn´t love me enough. I think they just have much more energy Blessings!... Dainy

this is unfortunately more common in smaller dogs then larger dogs but there reason behind that is training most people with larger dogs spend allot more time on training as a large dog barking is likely to scare people or a large dog jumping on people could hurt them while a small dog barking or jumping on people is not going to scary anyone so this is not focused on with the training I own 3 small breed dogs and none of them bark they bark once if someone comes to the door but that is it. If this is something you want her to get out of the habbit of it will take some training but simple training classes with a perfesional trainer would cut down some of your time