We have a little yorkie, got him at 9 months old and he's now 3 (I think)

He's really lovely, except for barking at the postman and folk that come to the door, sometimes they only have to walk past the house!

I know its territorial but dont know how to tackle it.

He really goes OTT at the postman, only has to see him coming round the corner 50 yards away and he starts.

Any tips?

Are you always in when the postman comes? And is the postman quite regular (in his timing I mean! ;) )

If so, you can tackle this quite easily... unfortunately I'm never prepared for our postman arriving and one of my dallies does the same trick as your yorkie! She also knows his scent now and barks at him if she sees him outside :rolleyes:

Buy a small mat, it doesn't have to be particularly comfortable. Just symbolic. Teach him the word 'mat' by attracting him to it, getting him to sit on it, and as he sits, say 'mat', click (if you clicker train) and reward him.
keep doing it until he realises that 'mat' means he goes and sits on the mat. Then you can play games with the mat and try to get him to it quicker, he only gets a treat if he gets to it in a certain length of time, etc. and try sending him to the mat from a different room.

Move the mat around so that he has to go and find his mat and sit on it, this will make sure he's not learning where the mat is and sitting there rather than actually sitting on the mat.

Now you can move the mat to the hall, or near the door, if you don't have a hallway. Stage visits, asking friends (to start off with, those who know the dog) to knock on the door, and as soon as they knock, send him to the mat. Reward him for staying on the mat while the door is opened. If he moves, shut the door again and put him back, then go and attempt to open the door again. This will teach him the door is only opened, so he can only see who is there, if he is sat on his mat.

Then move onto people the dog doesn't know very well and do the same thing. If you're lucky, he'll eventually associate knocking on the door, with sitting on his mat so will do it without the prompt, if not, you'll still have to tell him.

Then, do the same with the post. When you know the postie is coming tell him to sit on the mat. Stand by him while the post is dropped through the door and reward him for staying on the mat. Then when the postie has left again, tell him to stay and go to pick up the post. Return to the dog, and praise and reward.

If the dog is putting his face upto the letter box, I'd recommend putting a cage over the slot to catch the letters, a yorkie's muzzle can easily fit through that slot and you could be liable for damages if he causes any harm to the postie's hand ;)

Hope this helps, please feel free to contact me if it's at all unclear!

Thanks for all that. Yeah we are in when the postie comes usually so will give it a go. I know for sure its gonna take some time lol

He's such a lovely little thing, if only we can stop this.

Thanks again.

Thanks for all that. Yeah we are in when the postie comes usually so will give it a go. I know for sure its gonna take some time lol

He's such a lovely little thing, if only we can stop this.

Thanks again.

It's one of those things that does take time and dedication, but rather than punishing him for his negative behaviour you need to distract him from it, so that he's behaving in a more suitable manner and he'll just get used to how that's got to be.

By teaching him 'mat' rather than going to a particular spot, you can take that mat with you anywhere if you're going away, or visiting and he'll know where's he's meant to be :thumbsup:

Keep us updated won't you.

My mothers yorkies are the same there the bullies of the dog world.

I think the whole dog vs postman thing is pretty much a universal rule!

I did see on telly on one of the dog training shows that introducing the dog to the postie can be enough to cure it as the dog gets to know that the postie is not evil really. Of course this will only work if your postie is really brave!

Doesn't work...

Our postie sees Takara regularly and throws treats to her because she won't go close enough for him to actually feed them to her and she still barks at him.

I even thought about putting a box of treats outside the door so the postie could post a biscuit through with the post but figured she might end up ripping up the post in an attempt to get to it...

Be carefull, a dog belonging to a friend of mine bit a delivery mans finger off when he pushed a leaflet through the letterbox. Is it worth getting a basket to put over your letterbox to make sure that this doesn't hapen at your house?

Scoop, that's why i suggested it, a yorkies muzzle can easily fit though!

Sorry to Gempud I should have actually said it doesn't always work- I'm sure it does for some, but don't get your hopes up ;)

Want to send him over here? I tried to say goodmorning to the postie and he actually refused to look at me, grunted and turned away.

Another resident came down at the same time and asked if it was still raining, the postie just shrugged and walked away.

I could do with the terror to teach the postie a lesson ;)

No offence taken Lotti - I'm sure you know more than me! :)

This reminded me - Lilly has had run ins with our postie twice. The first time I opened the door to him and she stuck her head out and nicked a load of letters (not ours!) straight from his hand! I had to apolgoise profusely and pick up the scraps of envelopes from people's post. I was so embarassed :blush:

The second time was when he posted some stuff through the letterbox just as my bloke was stood behind the glass front door holding Lilly around the neck as he was trying to get her collar on, so to the postie outside it must have looked like they were both lying in wait for him. She jumped up barking and snarling and snatched them as soon as they started to come through the flap. Then all you could see was him opening the flap and carefuly flicking the last envelope through before speedily shutting the flap.

Funnily enough we didn't receive any post after that for about a week!

Scoop, that's why i suggested it, a yorkies muzzle can easily fit though!


Oops....sorry, missed that bit!

Gempud - I'm only speaking from experience with one dog! It may well work for others!

Takara's stubborn and a little sod... she wouldn't let my uncle in the house for the first 3 times she met him and my other uncle who was doing the drive for us had to feed her bits of his lunch through the letter box before she became friends with him!!

Takara sticks her nose through the letter box when the postie comes and he has to ram the letters into her nose (probably why she doesn't like him) but as her muzzle is too big to fit through and actually bite him, we haven't got a cage for the letters... yet!