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Originally Posted by Rhetts_mama  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 (Awards)
What exactly is the lie? You obviously have a very different take on the history of the Yorkshire Terrier than they do. You firmly believe that there were white dogs involved in the breed development. They just as firmly believe there was not. Calling them liars doesn't seem to be the best way of proving your point. I've got no clue who's right or who's wrong. I wasn't there. It just seems that if the white was more prevalent early on, wouldn't there have been some mention of it in the early breed standards?
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With more people doing research into the history about the founding dogs and those behind them.
I would say not all agree with YTCA statement of fact.
YORKY CLUB MAGAZINE #11 -- December 2008
"More about Color and Texture" by Hugo Ibanez
Richard Haynes (Eburacum,UK) - a nut as I am about Yorkie history - says “You judge the whole dog – I want the whole package. I will forgive some unevenness of color, whether light or dark, but I want it natural not artificially enhanced (Richard is a breeder/judge).”
Talking about being nuts about history, it seems appropriate to inject a bit of history here. Richard just found out details of the original Standard (1886) not known before that states “A bright steel blue” was required for the first 25 years by the Kennel Club in England. This was written by the first Yorkshire Terrier Club, The Halifax Yorkshire Terrier Club.
According to Richard’s research, Mary Ann Foster showed Ch. Ted year after year until he probably was nearly white (Ch. Ted was one of our founder fathers). The Yorkshire Terrier Club was formed in 1898 – still the bright blue was in effect. But by 1911 (Richard’s research) the standard required “a dark steel blue”. This was a reaction to the light colored dogs that were being shown in the North of England. The implication here, as I understand it, is that “bright” in those days was equivalent or similar to “light”.
Finally, you must understand why we have so much trouble and tribulations with color and texture as well as other elememts of type. As I indicated before, I was coming back to touch a bit of history. Learning a bit about Yorkie ancestors will give you a better understanding of our breed and the Yorkie founding fathers, the consequences and difficulties with which we are confronted today.
In 1845, one of them was described “resembling a Scotch (not Scottish) terrier, weight about 8 or 9 lbs., with good terrier head and eye but with a long body. The legs and muzzle only were tanned and hair on the body would be about 3 or 4 inches.” His mate was described as “a drop-eared Sky under 12 lbs with plenty of coat of blue shade but destitute of tan on any part of the body.” The third dog to play his part in the breed’s foundation was “a bitch, an old English Terrier with tanned head, ears, legs and sort of grizzle back.”
Most of these English Terriers also had white markings.
These genes from these dogs are the beginning of our breed. It seems that after 163 years, those initial genes would have disappeared or have been diluted; apparently, they did no disappear, they just laid dormant, in sleep mode.
Some canine experts believe our purebred dogs are locked in a genetic trap due to the evolutionary and hereditary process. What does it all mean? It means that after so many years it is difficult to eliminate influences of breeds used in early foundation stock. Why? Well, it could be argued that at the beginning all were somewhat inbred, as any given breed would have a relatively small member of founding sire.
What are the consequences?
Well, as you can see we are attempting to breed the perfect dog from imperfect ancestors. 163 years seem legendary, but, genetically, Yorkies are newbies (babies)
As you can see our ancestors were “tutti frutti” which makes our breeding more complicated. Nevertheless, considering all the odds, we have succeeded in most of the elements of type. All we have to do to reassure our success just take a pick of pictures of Yorkies appearing in books and magazines from the last century, it would seem – to our reality now – that many were just pets.
No one knows better than you that as much we have progressed, we can not get complacent, still the hill that we must climbed is too steep.