[MyFairLacy]

Originally Posted by For My Coby

I am learning so much! To be honest, I've sort of been "stuck" on the physical attributes that many of your refer to so often. In referring to "betterment of the breed", some of you have referred to all dogs looking alike in the future if we aren't careful. I wasn't really getting that. I didn't see how by breeding two less-than-show-quality yorkies for a few generations, we'd suddenly have poodles and yorkies that look the same.

It would take a lot more than a few generations for all breeds to start looking the same. However, there are some breeds that are so closely related in appearance that minor things such as erect ears, tail or no tail, etc. is what sets them apart. I read an article a 2006 issue of the Yorkshire Terrier magazine that discussed why we have a standard and how it sets one breed apart from other breed and it discussed defining traits in distinguishing closely related breeds. But for instance...say we continue to breed yorkies with large ears instead of of the smaller ears...eventually yorkies will have the ears of a papillon. Say we start breeding extreme "baby doll" faces with the apple-heads - yorkie heads would start to resemble a chihuahua. Say we start breeding an oversized yorkie with a longer terrier muzzles - they more so resemble a silky terrier. Say we breed incorrect coats such as a soft curly coat..eventually the yorkie will look like it has poodle in it. Do you see what I'm saying now? If we start to breed for things that are off-standard, we start getting a dog that resembles another breed instead of the breed it is supposed to be. We can't preserve this breed and continue it if we aren't breeding for the traits that make it unique