I am always reading posts that the Yorkshire Terrier used to be so much bigger. That is a little misleading. Here is an excerpt from Joan Gordon's History of the Yorkshire Terrier on the YTCA site:
"Yorkshire Terriers were given their breed name by 1874, although it had been around since 1870. Originally they were known and shown as Broken Haired Scotch Terriers or Toy Terrier (rough and broken haired).
Almost all of the classes were divided by weight. The classes were for Broken Haired or Rough Scotch Terriers less than 5 lbs. or 6 lbs. and under; Toy Terriers 4 lbs. and under, or 5 lbs. not exceeding 7 lbs., or 6 lbs. and over; or Blue Scotch Terriers under 7 lbs. or 7 lbs. not
exceeding 9 lbs. The largest weight class in which they were reported
to have been shown was for Broken Haired Scotch Terrier 9 lbs. not exceeding 12 lbs. This record should prove that although there were larger Yorkshires they were not being shown at the dog shows. The record proves that the small size was available for breeding from early days. "
So, except for the one large Broken Haired Scotch Terrier (if 9-12 lbs can be considered large) all clases were as small or smaller than our modern day "not to exceed 7 pounds" standard.
I could love a cross-breed just as much as my Yorkie but I still believe they should not be bred. We have plenty of variety in the breeds currently within AKC. Their standards are written, reviewed and backed up by science and history. The problem with indescriminate cross-breeding, is that no one is really looking to see what undesireable traits may be accented by the cross.
Another problem is that no one ever really knows what the future of the line is going to look like. One person winds up with a puppy looking like all yorkie, it winds up being registered in one of the penny-ante registries as a pure bred Yorkie because it looks like one, and pretty soon someone is breeding it. Then you get puppies this generation or the next that are NOT close to standard. It dilutes the Yorkie gene pool! That is how some of the Yorkies with pure-bred papers wind up having tiny, pointy noses, curly hair, poor color placements, over size, etc.....
If someone is cross-breeding, they really cannot develop a line of dogs which as a breeder should be their goal -- to improve their line over time. The only true cross breed is going to be from two pure-bred dogs of different breeds. After that, any puppies are now a cross themself and cannot be bred to produce a true cross-breed. Even from one litter, puppies can look entirely different -- so there is no way to get a standard going at all. You are basically just taking a crap shot everytime you breed and hoping puppies are cute enough to be profitable. Can't think that can be right. |