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Originally Posted by Marna1957  I disagree. Yorkies were bred to be a tiny breed from the beginning of when they became a breed. When the Standard was first set, it was for small to tiny dogs.
Smokey the WWII Yorkie Hero was bathed inside an Army Helmet.
FROM: The Complete Yorkshire Terrier / Gordon & Bennet; "The Weaving of the Breed".....page 29, "....a few years of it's introduction was producing dogs under five pounds....."
In the early 1900s Ch Yankee Kitty weighed in at 1 3/4 pounds. Said to be the smallest known at the time. That, is adult weight.
I get you on "throw backs'. I do. But I think most of the problems of the larger Yorkies, is breeders who are NOT breeding by the Standard. They just 'rub two dogs together' and sell their puppies for a lot of money.
I ran into a LOT of this when I was searching for my puppy. I said before and I will say again, know what you are looking for BEFORE you visit puppies listed for sale. Ask to see BOTH parents. Read the OLD Books on the Breed, not the new PC crap.
Yes. Throw Backs can and DO happen. But I think people not breeding for the Standard is the Root of the Problem. Too many people that are 'rubbing dogs together' have no idea that there even IS a Standard for Dogs written! |
I have to disagree with you on yorkies were bred to be a tiny dog. I have had yorkies since early 1980's, no computers back then, I bought every book I could lay my hands on to read up on the breed. They were a bit bigger in the 1800's then our now 7 Lbs standard. Yorkies were bred down in size around the mid 1800's so they could fit into dens and burrows to flush out badgers and fox, they were then used as hunting dogs. Early 1800's when they were originally bigger they were used in mills to kill mice and rats. Appox. 1870 / 1872 they were accepted by the AKC as a breed, with standard size not to exceed 7 pounds for show dogs.
I recently read about Smoky and WWII. They used her to carry telegraph wire needed to run a through a long pipe, but you're now talking about the 1940's. By this time they were bred down to what we have now, standard 7 pound size. Smoky was 4 Lbs.
Because most yorkies bred today are not by reputable breeders that do not do the homework of grandparents, great and great great grandparents of the breeding pair to see what size puppies they throw, the cost is to great, the research is time consuming, all these breeders want is puppies, puppies, puppies, thus the bigger yorkie is born, a throw back from genes of when they were bigger dogs.
A reputable breeder puts the time and money into their breeding pair to make sure generations back, they had small puppy liters.