Quote:
Originally Posted by Britster  I think a lot of people think this, because Huddersfield Ben, known as the 'father of the Yorkie' in a way was between 9-12lbs himself. He was a larger dog who produced smaller pups. And a lot of the terriers that were used to create the Yorkshire were also bigger terriers. In the early days of the breed, "almost anything in the shape of a Terrier having a long coat with blue on the body and fawn or silver coloured head and legs, with tail docked and ears trimmed, was received and admired as a Yorkshire terrier" (P. H. Coombs in The American Book of the Dog, pg 443). So, it seems before there was a proper standard put forth, Yorkies were considered lots of different things and there probably were some terriers in the 20lb range called Yorkies back then. |
I want to make sure that although I am disagreeing about the early weight of the Yorkshire Terrier, I am in no way downing ANY yorkie of any weight. They are all lovable to me and you know I think Jackson is one of Yorkietalk's STARS! I love him! He is a beautiful dog and full of personality!
Yorkies were always meant to be tiny dogs. Just as there are yorkies over standard now, I am sure there were
some back then too, but I wanted to dispell the myth that they were supposed to have been 30 pound dogs -- not so. The statement I was in disagreement with was where the poster said "original yorkies were around 30 pounds or so." If she had said there were some dogs called yorkies in the 20 pound range, I would not have held exception, but to intimate that the standard was anything like 30 pounds is incorrect.
Where did you find Huddersfield Ben's weight? I have looked over the years. I found where his daughter won 1st place and his son won 3rd place in the
5 pound and under category in 1867. I saw that his grandson Ted weighted
4.5 pounds. Ben won in 1869, 1870, and 1871... the YT History also includes this excerpt "At the Crystal Palace show in 1871 held in London, Mrs. Jonas (Mary) Foster (who was acknowledged as having brought the breed to its prominence, as well as being the first woman to judge dogs in England) showed in two classes. In Broken Haired Scotch or Yorkshire Terrier, her Huddersfield Ben (KC no. 3612) was second being beaten
by his son, Mrs. Foster’s Bruce (KC no. 3595).
Third place was won by her Emperor (KC no. 3609) also Ben’s son. She also showed dogs in Toy Terrier Broken Haired
under 5 lbs. winning 1st with her Little Kate (KC no. 4001), later owned by Lady Giffard. Kate was also a daughter of Huddersfield Ben. Third in the class was Ben’s son, Foster’s Sandy (KC no. 4016). In 1873 Mrs. Foster won a 3rd place in Broken Haired Scotch and won all 3 placings with her dogs in the Broken Haired Toy Terrier
under 5 lbs." -- still no firm mention of Ben's weight, although it seems to put him more in the lower weight category. I think some have seen the painting of him and his daughter Katie and thought since he was larger, then he must be over 5 pounds, but we don't know how old she was or her exact weight either, and of course it is just a painting, not a photo. Here is another site about weight of the Yorkshire Terriers:
Weight History Of the Yorkshire Terrier confirming the smaller weight categories of early yorkshire terriers as well as the broken scotch that were forefathers.