Quote:
Originally Posted by sashajade   Your not the only one confused 
I would say most yorkies here in the uk are of the larger size as we dont very often see the under 4 pound ones here but do see a lot of yorkies lets say the size of a westie.
As far as i know kennel club breed standard is the same in the uk and usa being must not be over 7 pounds to be able to show.
Yorkies were first bred to kill rats so had to be small enough to get in to small places but big enough to kill a rat as far as i can remember up to 30 pounds when they first started breeding them, they were dogs of farmers and property owners but when the wives of the property owners saw they were cute they wanted them as cute pretty pets so the fashion changed and they were bred down in size and no longer used as ratters.
There is no proven history of where the yorkie came from but most agree they came from Huddersfield Ben who was born 1865 and died in 1871.
Some records show that yorkies were given different names back then and showing had different weight classes but none were over 12 pounds but if you ever see a painting of ben you can see he is well over 12 pounds in weight yet he was shown so its hard to know what is the truth. 
Some links both with different ideas History of the Yorkshire Terrier by Joan Gordon Yorkshire Terriers Dog Breed History: The Yorkshire Terrier by Susan Bailey |
What a great post... I love researching the history of the different breeds -- at least the ones I have
I also did research the Yorkies when I was looking into getting one. The breed has changed so much that I think the backbiting about size is misplaced! The concerns I have are the health issues.. which I agree is often linked to size and in that case I have anger too.
I had a "discussion" with dh just this morning about the term teacup. My sister in law visited someone who had a yorkie.. of course she raved about how cute and small -- teacup--now I got my feathers up and started in with "teacup is a marking term not true not healthy" and my husband made the statement.. People who have done the research don't know that, you can't put them down just explain. Also why are you amazed that breeders are doing it for the money? .. hmmm dh good point!!