[gemy]

I have read this thread with interest. As just a fancier of Yorkies and not a breeder I have a few comments.

First there is a lot of passion on this thread which I feel is very very good. Passion is indicative of strongly held beliefs, and for many posts, that was articulated in a reasoned and critical way.

I would hope that the ethical breeders of Standard Yorkies, work very closely to promote a harmonious relationship with the ethical breeders of Parti=Yorkies. You would want to promote the testing of parti's for all the tests that the ethical breeders of standard yorkies do. Why? quite simply it may lead the way into more understanding of the health problems of standard Yorkies. What if all BATS results were collected and delineated between Yorkie standard color and Parti color. And there was a statistically relevant deviation between the two? What if LP was again statistically less in Standard vs Parti?
the fact remains there seems to be dedicated and passionate folks breeding Parti's they are here to stay! So maybe one day the standard will be changed .... After all in many breeds of dogs there are different colours they compete under.

To me while I love the standard color of Yorkies ( I do own a standard Yorkie) if Partis show all the same characteristics of Yorky standards with no greater health concerns, then one day maybe the US Club will need to acknowledge and recognize this.

IMHO change will always happen and should... Colour is Just colour unless colour also is indicative of other health concerns... ie some breeds white = higher propensity to deafness. In fact on the subject of light blue .. the YCTA's illustrated standard mentions that light blue is important in the breed... and the breeders know why... Unfortunately the authors decided not to publish why this is important, this deliberate omission is I very interesting.