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airplane · 10-27-2018, 10:56 PM

I just wanted to ask for opinions about something that popped up in my mind when I read the November issue of The Global Yorkshire Terrier Magazine. Oscar Martinez was interviewed and he talked about liking yorkies from the older times. And he also made comments about the breed looking more like a Shih Tzu nowadays instead of our own breed. He goes on explaining movement, low heads, and he clearly doesn’t like oversized topknots. He thinks a yorkie with a nice head doesn’t need that kind of topknot, but rather just a simple bow and lead. Anyways when I read the interview and saw him mention Shih Tzus, and although he didn’t specifically mention it, it made me think a lot about the stop on the face of a yorkie. The stop to me is basically the bridge of the nose, that’s how I think of it. It’s the bridge and the angling of the bridge that is between the muzzle and the skull. Just so everyone can understand what I’m referring to, here’s a link to a site that shows it:

https://janedogs.com/dog-head-components/

Obviously Shih Tzus have a stop that is angled very sharply. Right in the Shih Tzu standard it says they are supposed to have a definite stop, and I’m kinda thinking that a sharp angled stop is one of the things that contributes a lot to them having a flat looking face.

With yorkies the CKC standard says “Muzzle not too long in proportion to skull, set on a 90 degree angle to the head forming the stop”. What exactly does the 90 degree angle refer to, because there’s multiple components to the head and the stop for example might be on different angles in relation to the skull. I guess what I’m saying is the muzzle might be set on 90 degrees in relation to the head but the stop itself might be a slight stop (which I’ve seen the yorkie diagrams ask for a slight stop) or the stop could be angled sharply and you get more of that flat face shih tzu type of look. What is the proper interpretation of that sentence in the standard as it relates to the angling of the stop itself? Does it mean that the stop itself is supposed to be on a 90 degree angle in relation to the muzzle? Or is it breeder preference where it could be either a slight stop, or a bit sharper, or a really sharp angle to the stop? It just seems like that part of the standard is written in a sort of ambiguous way without really clarifying the forming of the stop being on any which angle.

I do look at a lot of pictures and I’ve been to a few dog shows, and to my eye I do see a lot of variance to the look of yorkies. Obviously I’m only discussing one aspect of a look, but it’s definitely something where I see a lot of differences between some of the yorkies in the ring. It can sometimes be hard to really see the stop well because there might be a really poofy topknot, but in general when I’m looking at the face and taking it all in, it seems some have a much more flatter looking face than others and the stop is angled more sharply and in others not so much. There’s variance and I don’t know what’s correct.

10-27-2018, 10:56 PM	#1
airplane Senior Yorkie Talker Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Canada Posts: 212	Help to interpret the yorkie standard I just wanted to ask for opinions about something that popped up in my mind when I read the November issue of The Global Yorkshire Terrier Magazine. Oscar Martinez was interviewed and he talked about liking yorkies from the older times. And he also made comments about the breed looking more like a Shih Tzu nowadays instead of our own breed. He goes on explaining movement, low heads, and he clearly doesn’t like oversized topknots. He thinks a yorkie with a nice head doesn’t need that kind of topknot, but rather just a simple bow and lead. Anyways when I read the interview and saw him mention Shih Tzus, and although he didn’t specifically mention it, it made me think a lot about the stop on the face of a yorkie. The stop to me is basically the bridge of the nose, that’s how I think of it. It’s the bridge and the angling of the bridge that is between the muzzle and the skull. Just so everyone can understand what I’m referring to, here’s a link to a site that shows it: https://janedogs.com/dog-head-components/ Obviously Shih Tzus have a stop that is angled very sharply. Right in the Shih Tzu standard it says they are supposed to have a definite stop, and I’m kinda thinking that a sharp angled stop is one of the things that contributes a lot to them having a flat looking face. With yorkies the CKC standard says “Muzzle not too long in proportion to skull, set on a 90 degree angle to the head forming the stop”. What exactly does the 90 degree angle refer to, because there’s multiple components to the head and the stop for example might be on different angles in relation to the skull. I guess what I’m saying is the muzzle might be set on 90 degrees in relation to the head but the stop itself might be a slight stop (which I’ve seen the yorkie diagrams ask for a slight stop) or the stop could be angled sharply and you get more of that flat face shih tzu type of look. What is the proper interpretation of that sentence in the standard as it relates to the angling of the stop itself? Does it mean that the stop itself is supposed to be on a 90 degree angle in relation to the muzzle? Or is it breeder preference where it could be either a slight stop, or a bit sharper, or a really sharp angle to the stop? It just seems like that part of the standard is written in a sort of ambiguous way without really clarifying the forming of the stop being on any which angle. I do look at a lot of pictures and I’ve been to a few dog shows, and to my eye I do see a lot of variance to the look of yorkies. Obviously I’m only discussing one aspect of a look, but it’s definitely something where I see a lot of differences between some of the yorkies in the ring. It can sometimes be hard to really see the stop well because there might be a really poofy topknot, but in general when I’m looking at the face and taking it all in, it seems some have a much more flatter looking face than others and the stop is angled more sharply and in others not so much. There’s variance and I don’t know what’s correct.