Chocolate and Golden Yorkies?

[Leigh22]

I was looking up Parti Yorkies and Biewers today and came across a website for a breeder selling Chocolate Yorkies (had brown/goldish face and dark brown body) and Golden Yorkies (Gold everywhere with silver/brown mixed into the back). I had never seen these before. I've been able to find limited information on them, but the few sites I saw said that the Yorkies were had "mutated genes".

I promise I've been looking through the threads and from what I understand: It depends on who you ask as to why parti and biewers are different. Parti Yorkies have American roots and Biewers have German roots. I think, it was very confusing. But, are they like that? Just funny genes?

So my questions: What are Chocolate and Golden Yorkies? Are they bad? Does anyone have one on here?

VERY VERY CONFUSED!!!

[FlDebra]

They are breed faults, anomalies that you don't try to produce. The puppies that come out this way should be spayed/neutered and then loved,pampered, and treasured just as any other.

[tammy8833]

here is what i find on the history of biewers, many sites say the exact same thing.
but there are biewer breeders on this site that may have better replies

Biewer History

[FlDebra]

Thought I had better clarify my previous post in this thread. The Chocolate and golden colors are anomalies..... I was not speaking to the Biewers or Parti's.

[tammy8833]

this sounded like good information on the golden and chocolates

Red River's Chocolate yorkshire Terrier

[tammy8833]

this is some info on the partis

Parti Yorkie History,How Parti Yorkies came to be,Parti Yorkies

[tammy8833]

Originally Posted by tammy8833

this is some info on the partis

Parti Yorkie History,How Parti Yorkies came to be,Parti Yorkies

the information listed sounds right, but they also have a few red flags

such as breeding 4lbs
and using the term teacup

[Haleys_mom]

partis are still yorkies, just tri colored. The biewers have 3-4 different dogs in them to make them a biewer(one being a papillon, can't remember the others) and they are now considered a breed of their own. Pruett on here is very educated on the biewer, more so than most people, and I'm sure she would be happy to answer any question you have on the partis/biewers

[FlDebra]

[QUOTE=Leigh22;2660377]...So my questions: What are Chocolate and Golden Yorkies? Are they bad? Does anyone have one on here?...QUOTE]

There are different opinions. But you can hardly take a reference from a breeder that is selling them and trying to capitalize on them being "rare" instead of a fault. Previous poster already listed some other "red flags" that makes a source suspect. Our breed parent club is the Yorkshire Terrier Club of America. They set the standard that all breeders should be striving for. The YTCA put out a Disqualification Directive in 2007 to ensure Yorkies of colors out of standard would not be qualified to compete in confirmation. There is also a very definate YTCA opinion on solid colors and colors other than black/blue/tan/gold on yorkies, you can read here: Yorkshire Terrier Club of America (Awards)

I know it is controversial, but I think the highest reference source has to be the very Club that is setting the standard for the breed. If I were to ever get a chocolate or solid gold yorkie from a litter, I would spay/neuter and love it for the rest of its life. I would also ensure not to breed that male and female together again, and if it repeated, probably remove them from breeding altogether. The reason is not to dilute the Yorkie gene pool. I would want future generations to all be able to enjoy the yorkie as it is meant to be -- in all its splendor!

I have mixed feeling on the Parti's -- I know the YTCA is not supportive at the moment, but some are working very hard to have them recognized just as the Biewers. Other unscrupulous breeders, however, are just capitalizing on the "new fad" and producing any Yorkie with 3 color combinations. You can see some beautiful quality Parti's on this site. But I have seen some online that are horrible representatives of the breed (just as we sometimes see in standard colors). Color aside, they looked nothing like a Yorkie should. Don't get me wrong -- I believe once these dogs are birthed, they are just as worthy of love and attention as any, no matter what color or standard they have.

[Ladymom]

Chocolates, Goldens and partis are all color faults according to the YTCA and should not be intentionally bred:

An Important Note About Color in Yorkshire Terriers
By Gale Thompson

The most distinctive characteristic of an adult Yorkshire Terrier is its long blue
and tan silk coat. A puppy is born black and tan, but the only recognized colors for
adults when registering with AKC are blue and gold, blue and tan, black and gold,
or black and tan.

The AKC Breed Standard and YTCA Code of Ethics do not recognize any
other color dogs than noted above. This includes all gold, born blue, liver
(also known as red or chocolate), and parti-colors. One of the reasons for
avoiding breeding "off-colored" Yorkies is because it could be a genetic defect
that may affect the dog's health. Some health problems can include, but aren't
limited to, severe skin problems, allergies, total hair loss and in some cases
long-term illness and/or death.

A responsible breeder will not intentionally breed for undesirable traits.
On very rare occasions, a breeder will have a puppy born with a color anomaly.
That puppy should undergo careful health screenings before being placed in a
spay/neuter (non breeding) home. A breeder should certainly never
promote these deviations as being desirable or rare.

There are many issues that potential Yorkie owners need to study before
purchasing their dog. We hope you will read the helpful information at this
web site and make an informed decision. It could very possibly save you
aggravation, disappointment and expense. We wish you the best of luck
in your pursuit of a happy, healthy Yorkshire Terrier.

Back to Top


Parti-Color Yorkshire Terriers?

Do not be fooled into buying one of these dogs.
Now that Designer Dogs are the rage, the “new” Parti-Color Yorkie is certain to draw attention. While we have had problems in the past with “rare gold” Yorkshire Terriers being advertised, the parti-color is a new one! While some breeds have an occasional mismark and some breeds do have a gene for a white dog, we do not. Had there been a problem with white markings, piebald dogs, or white dogs, it would have been addressed in our Standard. Due to unscrupulous breeders advertising parti-colored Yorkshire Terriers at premium prices, our members voted unanimously at our annual meeting to add a disqualification for these and other off colored dogs.

The Yorkshire Terrier is a tan dog with a blue saddle. The “rare gold” Yorkie is actually a dog that appears as such due to an improper saddle pattern. Show breeders have seen this and commonly call it running gold. When the dog is cut down, you can see that the blue saddle does not come down far enough. The Yorkshire Terrier blue saddle extends lower than some of the other black and tan terriers extending to the elbow and also to the hock on the rear leg. Gold hairs can occur in the blue and black or blue hairs can appear in the gold. These faults are addressed in the Yorkshire Terrier Standard. These dogs have serious faults and they too should not be sold as "rare" but placed in loving homes as they are very incorrect. Yorkies do not have white markings…never have. A small white strip is sometimes seen on the chest of newborns but this always turns to tan within a few weeks. The AKC registration form for Yorkshire Terriers allows for four choices: blue and tan, blue and gold, black and tan, black and gold. There is no provision for markings.

A brief history of the development of the Yorkshire Terrier will show that the dog was developed in the 1800’s. In England, the Waterside Terrier was often crossed with the old English terrier, a silky coated black and tan or blue and tan terrier weighing around five pounds. When crafters from Scotland came into England, they brought several “Scotch“terriers, among them the Paisley and the Clydesdale. The Paisley was a small silky coated dog in various shades of blue. The Clydesdale was a blue and tan dog with the exact color pattern as the Yorkie of today. All of these original breeds were grizzle, tan, blue, blue and tan, or black and tan. No white dog or dogs with white markings were involved in the process of developing the breed. The first Yorkshire Terriers were entered at shows as Broken Haired Scotch and Yorkshire Terriers. In the early days, dog classes were often divided by size, under five pounds and over five pounds; however, there was never a class for colors other than the blue and tan we see today. The color pattern and coat texture has bred true and has been dominate enough that the Silky Terrier evolved by crossing the Yorkshire Terrier and the Australian Terrier with basically the same coat of the of the Yorkie.


Yorkshire Terrier Club of America

[FlDebra]

Originally Posted by Haleys_mom

... The biewers have 3-4 different dogs in them to make them a biewer(one being a papillon, can't remember the others) .....

Do you have a reference on that? Please list it! I thought the whole premise of the Biewer was that no other breeds had been used, only yorkies with recessive genes were responsible for the color pattern.

Lady mom -- That is the opinion from the FAQ I linked in my post. Great minds think alike! JK!

[oopsmyhalofello]

Originally Posted by Leigh22

I was looking up Parti Yorkies and Biewers today and came across a website for a breeder selling Chocolate Yorkies (had brown/goldish face and dark brown body) and Golden Yorkies (Gold everywhere with silver/brown mixed into the back). I had never seen these before. I've been able to find limited information on them, but the few sites I saw said that the Yorkies were had "mutated genes".

I promise I've been looking through the threads and from what I understand: It depends on who you ask as to why parti and biewers are different. Parti Yorkies have American roots and Biewers have German roots. I think, it was very confusing. But, are they like that? Just funny genes?

So my questions: What are Chocolate and Golden Yorkies? Are they bad? Does anyone have one on here?
VERY VERY CONFUSED!!!

The Chocolates and Goldens are yorkies, I honestly don't have enough knowledge on genes to get into exactly how they come about but if they are born from 2 standard color yorkies then that means both the parents carry that color gene, same with the parti. The Parti is no different then the chocolate or golden at this point as far as being a non-standard representation of the yorkshire terrier breed as dictacted by the YTCA.

There are breeders working to have the chocolate a recognized color as well. I do have a chocolate one, she is spayed of course as i'm not a breeder and her picture is in my avatar

[Haleys_mom]

Originally Posted by FlDebra

Do you have a reference on that? Please list it! I thought the whole premise of the Biewer was that no other breeds had been used, only yorkies with recessive genes were responsible for the color pattern.

Lady mom -- That is the opinion from the FAQ I linked in my post. Great minds think alike! JK!

DNA testing.

[bchgirl]

Originally Posted by Haleys_mom

DNA testing.

The Mars company...manufacturer of that test has stated they are unable to determine the genetic make up for biewers and also state it is unable to accurately determine the make up of breeds from European lines.

Copied and cross posted with permission.

We have received your inquiry about Biewer Terriers.

For the detection of mixed-breed dogs, we are currently able to detect signatures of 153 American Kennel Club (AKC) defined breeds and 4 non-AKC breeds. We are working towards expanding this to the full list of AKC registered breeds and more of the popular non-AKC breeds over the next year. Unfortunately, since the Biewer Terrier is not a breed we currently recognize, it will not be included in this expansion of our test.

The analysis is designed to find matches to the breeds in our database, so if the computer can find matches between your dog's DNA and our designated breeds with enough confidence, it will identify them. If your dog does contain a portion of Biewer Terrier, the analysis may identify Minors of breeds that are genetically closely related to it.

However, if the computer cannot find breeds that match with enough confidence, the Biewer Terrier portion will be left blank or it will be considered "too mixed" to call. For the other breeds in your dog, if there is a significant component from a breed that is covered in the test (e.g., a purebred dog in last three generations) then Wisdom Panel MX should be able to detect these other breeds. Overall, it is important to note that the presence of a breed signature that the test does not detect at present may cause inaccuracies in the analysis.

In regards to your purebreed inquiry; Wisdom Panel MX test analyzes over 300 genetic markers to determine the ancestral breed composition of a mixed-breed dog. Within this panel, there are almost no markers which are absolutely specific to one breed. Each breed will have a combination of markers within the panel that represent the breed. Within a mixed-breed dog, depending on the heritage of the breeds, not all of those markers may be passed down through the generations to appear in the genetic make-up of the dog that is tested. For example, on average, you would only expect 25% of the breed markers from a Grandparent to be passed down to the current dog. Thus, the way the test works is to use a best-fit model that is selected on the basis of the highest probability for each breed depending upon the analysis of markers that are found in the current dog. The final report is generated depending on the highest probability breeds found with a lower limit cut-off to ensure that the false positive reports are reduced to a minimum.

The relationship between the markers and breeds is unfortunately proprietary information as it forms the basis of the test and is therefore not publicized. Where pure breed dogs are concerned, most often the report generated by the test will simply indicate the pure strain of the breed in question as no other markers will be found at a high enough confidence level to generate a result. However, although our sample base covers 157 breeds and comprises more than 8,700 samples in total, there are several cases in which pure breed dogs may not be detected as purebred by Wisdom Panel MX test.

First, if the dog in question is not or was not bred within the continental US, even if it is an example of an AKC recognized breed, then we may not pick up the breed signature as the distinctive markers that identify the breed may vary greatly in foreign lines. Secondly, if there has been a very isolated breeding line for the pure breed, then we may not have enough coverage of that breed's gene pool to identify the dog as purebred. For these reasons, we do not advertise or recommend the use of Wisdom Panel MX as a test for confirming the purity of a purebred dog. This is due to the fact that Wisdom Panel MX is designed to find multiple breeds in an analysis, under the assumption that the dog it is testing has more than one breed in its mix. A test to determine breed purity would need to be designed for that purpose and its accuracy validated.


We hope this answers your inquiry. If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at customercare@marsveterinary.com or 888-K9 PET TEST (1-888-597-3883).

[TammyJM]

I don't know a whole about the chocolates and goldens other than the obvious....their coloring. I do own a parti colored Yorkie, though....if you have questions, feel free to send me a PM.

Tammy