too small to show?

[uabutterfly]

Hello everyone,
I am just starting out with the yorkie breed and with showing. My mother used to show Britneys. My pup is too young to tell if she will turn out for showing, but is only 2 pounds at 3 months, so I am estimating her weight will be around 4 as an adult. Is that too far away from the breed standard of 7 or will she still have potential as a smaller dog?
Thank you all,
Sarah

[txshopper73]

Your pup still has a chance of getting bigger. If I'm not mistaken, around 5 lbs is a good weight but that's if everything else is perfect or of excellent representation of the standard. I have heard of 4 1/2 lb yorkies showing and winning.

[goldenray]

Originally Posted by uabutterfly

Hello everyone,
I am just starting out with the yorkie breed and with showing. My mother used to show Britneys. My pup is too young to tell if she will turn out for showing, but is only 2 pounds at 3 months, so I am estimating her weight will be around 4 as an adult. Is that too far away from the breed standard of 7 or will she still have potential as a smaller dog?
Thank you all,
Sarah

Weight indicates she will probably be around 4 lbs. That can be a tough size to finish, but not impossible. You don't see them in the ring often as the girls are too small for breeding. You have numerous good show exhibitors in your area that I know would be happy to help you though. Good luck.

[topknot]

I had a beutiful female I was showing and would have beat others hands down - if she was bigger than her compact 4 pounds frame. I finally asked a judge, after the show (of course) why she did't get the points. The judge stated that if she had given her the points - they would only have been wasted on her, since she was too small to breed. The judge said that she would have put her up, because she was a beautiful example of the standard, but she was too small. We kept hoping she would grow, but no luck so we sold her to a wonderful lady in Tallahassee Florida, where she could be totally spoiled. She actually ended up with more diamond necklaces than I had.
T.

[annaschaben]

You said that your dog was under the standard weight of 7 lb; however the standard is not 7 lb it is under 7 lb. Sorry to hear about topknots dog not doing as well in a show bc of her size. Hopefully not all judges feel that way.

I just showed our Yorkie girl who is 4.5 lb. She is regisstared APR so we showed her at an APR show. She did well there. The way their shows work is that you have to compete in 3 qualifying shows to get your champion. and a qualifying show is one in which you score 81 or more points out of a possible 90. There are 6 catigories worth 15 pts each. If you have never showed before you could start with APR shows because they are just a little bit more laid back. Also at some of their shows the hosting assosiations will have a compotition for junior showmanship where they judge how well the kids show the dog. At the show we just went to my kids took place in this and my son won his age group and my daughter got third in hers. Heres a pic of them. This isn't the best picture of the dog though. she is worn out and is standing kind of funny.

[YorkieRose]

The standard states.."Not to exceed 7 pounds"..Yorkie judges do not ask for the scale, so bigger then 7 can be shown and are quite often. The frame is more important IMO when it comes to weight IMO.
A four pound female would do quite well here in FLorida..they like them smaller.

[topknot]

I think they are showing dogs larger than 7 pounds too - just from observations. Not as much as a few years ago, but I still see them in the ring.

When I was showing Camille and finally asked the judge, after a show, what we were doing wrong and she simply replied that my dog was a beauty and she really wanted to put her up, but just couldn't waste the points on a dog that could not be bred - We were living in Florida then and it was at the Tampa show when I finally got some backboned and respectfully asked. After I thought about it - it really made sense.
This was in the early 90's.

T.

[YorkieRose]

I do agree..there are fewer oversized ones being shown now as in past years. I am way down in south FLorida and some of us transplants were really surprised to see the small bitches winning...and the owners said they had no qualms about breeding them..I have bred 4 pounders, but prefer 5 and over.

[topknot]

Pat, I use to live in West Palm Beach. You have a lot more show people down there than in Georgia - but the few we have are really good! It is tough showing here.

At the last Atlanta show - more were smaller than I have seen in a long time 4 - 5 pounds.
I actually prefer smaller size (5 pounds) than the really large dogs. I think for felmales I prefer the 5-6 pounds and males 4-5 pounds. But I have seen some spectacular 6-7 pound males in the ring - Westminster to name one.
T.

[michiko]

How about a yorkie under 4 lb?

[topknot]

For a male under 4? Fine, but they are harder to show and be seen. It has been done, but just need to be that special yorkie. For breeding - yes fine. I had one once that was only 2.25 pounds, but hard to breed - they sometimes need help to reach - if you know what I mean.
T.

[YorkieRose]

There's nothing like a solid 6 /7 pounder to turn your head. That sounds so small, but compared to 3 or 4 pounds it is huge!! LOL The little ones are totally lost in the line-up....and showing can be stressful for a tiny or any size...my show boys were over 5 pounds and they always lost weight in the ring.
BUt I agree...a nice 4 to 5 pound male and 5 to 6 pound female...perfect!! LOL
If you already have a small pup, you can give it a try and see...but if you are setting out to buy one...try for at least 5 pounds. Remember what you learn will never be wasted.

[michiko]

If the female yorkie is too small to breed, but you just want to show without not really aiming for champion, is that possible? For example, if the yorkie is under 4 lb, and you definitely don't want to breed that, but to just show.. kinda thing...

[topknot]

Yes, you can show or enter as per the requirements, example AKC - dogs must be AKC registered. You can enter, but no guarantee they will win. It cost to show: entry fees, time, travel, etc... But if you just want to for fun - have at it. Best of luck. And try some Fun Matches too - for practice. Let us know what you end up doing.
T.

[michiko]

I just wanted to ask ... so I don't know if I would do that.

She just turned to be much smaller... and she might not be perfect (structure wise...) but I know she is a good looking girl!!! So I just wanted to see if it would be possible to just enter her... if I am interested...

My impression I got was that you want to be able to breed after winning etc. But if it was not a good idea because of the size and it would be cruel, then it is kinda sad to loose the chance to even show without thinking about winning. I wish dog shows were the places that all purebred dogs were welcome to enter even they might not be a show quality or a champion quality. I think it would be wonderful thing to show your dogs in rings.. That is my thought.

Winning and Loosing are not really.. important to me at this time anyway.. and I think I would do it only for local one... if it were possible.

Thanks for the response!!!!