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Originally Posted by dezertblu  In another land and time the Yorkshire terrier was not a small longhaired show dog and pet. Rather, he was a larger rat killing dynamo. Tracing back to the 1600's the breed was valued in textile mills, mines and farms where pest control was important. In the 1860s era the breed was quite popular in rat killing contests - with the dog credited with being the foundation of the breed showing as well as winning many contests. Huddersfield Ben helped establish the Yorkshire Terrier.As late as the 1930's the Yorkshire terrier was said to look as they do today but were closer to 30 pounds, not the 3-7 pounds of today. They were for some time in their history a 12-14 pound wire haired dog known as the "broken-haired Scotch terrier." Today the Yorkshire terrier is in the toy, not the terrier, group. Their longer show coat is not a practical point on many farms. With their jobs reduced, they were bred down as pets, a role that they have taken on with overwhelming success.....
I'm guessing that folks with larger sized Yorkies have babies with throw back genes to what the ORIGINAL Yorkie was meant to be in size and stature. |
I agree with much of this account except I think the original were closer to 15 pounds not 30 pounds. Huddersfield Ben is considered the foundation stock for the breed, because even though he weight between 9-12 pounds he sired stock that competed in the less than 7 pound limit, which enabled Yorkies to compete in the toy breed.
The Yorkshire standard of 1890 says "Weight divided into two classes, under five pounds and over five pounds, but not to exceed twelve pounds." There have been plenty of tiny yorkies under 5 pounds in the 1800, it's probably more recently that many breeders have learned it's not a good idea to breed Yorkies under 5 pounds. Too many complications.
History of the Yorkshire Terrier by Joan Gordon