The reason we can't MAKE it a new breed is because it ISN'T a new breed, the color variations simply don't meet the standard that is presently written!! Heavens sakes.. the basic genetics of the dog is still the same.. logically.. if a puppy is born from two yorkshire terriers, would not that puppy be a yorkshire terrier.. what would you have us call that dog?? It is a yorkshire terrier pure and simple, it can not be anything else. Just because a dog doesn't fit a standard does not make it a different breed.
Take for example Cocker Spaniels, There are a variety of colors, they show separately BUT they are all called Cockers. You would never say the black and tan cocker is a cocker and the Buff is not. If you bred a Black/tan cocker and a Buff together, their offspring would STILL be a cocker, not a NEW BREED.
The AKC already has proven Parti's, and Chocolates and Goldens as Yorkies and they are fully registered AKC yorkies. It would be so much simpler if we COULD just make it a new breed.. wish we could!
We show them in Rare Breed Shows, IABCA and ICKC, some show with ARBA but I have personally never shown with that venue. (IABCA is just recently accepted the PARTI although the Biewer has shown with them for years.)
I believe it is FAR worse to breed the HUGE, (or small) big nosed, drop eared, wooley, poor coated, poor excuse for a yorkie mutt looking dog that many people breed as a black/tan yorkie than it is to strive to breed the best possible, healthy, structurally sound, beautifully coated, gorgeous representation of a yorkie we can with a different color to it's coat. I do understand the uniqueness of the texture of the coat.. difficult to achieve and a lofty goal we all strive for.
Parti breeders are not breeding Parti's to Golds and chocolates to create new "fashion" colors.. the "Parti" gene is a spotting gene, not a color gene..The Parti gene has nothing to do with the COLORS.. we are not "creating" colors. There are only so many naturally occurring colors in the yorkshire terrier and those are the ones the AKC recognizes and the ones we work with.
You can have Chocolate Parti's and you can have Gold Parti's or you can have traditional Parti's. The traditional Parti's are from the Black/Tan Yorkies. This is just a point of clarification.
Diana
PS. I have had many "carriers" that had no white "spots" anywhere on their bodies and I have had black/tans that had white spots that were not carriers.. the only way to tell is through testing. (or of coarse breeding to know carriers)