What are Chocolate Yorkies?
 

I was wondering if someone could explain to me how choclate yorkies happen? Are they a fluke color? And what do the adults look like? I see some chocolate baby pix in YT nursery and I was curious.

Teresa

They are a fault according to the YTCA and AKC and are disqualified from being shown.

you could do a search in the search tool there are quite a few Chocolate Yorkie owners here. ANy many informative threads about them.

I think any yorkie is really cute :)

They are light brown Yorkies, with a light pink nose and usually hazel eyes.

I gave one to my mom, 3 years ago..His name was Bacon, some one stole him :mad:

Its a double recessive gene in them, a overload of red gold and is a mutation so people SAY.. But I find them PRETTY..

Some people out there will say they are RARE to get extra money but before I had my dog Pepper fixed every litter she had 1. So how rare is that??? I wouldnt buy from a person who says the dog is rare...

I did try doing a search for both "chocolate" and "chocolate yorkie" in the search field, and found the puppy pix I mentioned as well as tons of off topic stuff... a recipe for hot chocolate, the suggestion that chocolate calms anger, etc. How much searching did you have to go through to find the relative threads?

T

Chocolate Yorkies are a definate fault. The Yorkie is a shaded tan toy terrier with a blue saddle. YTCA and AKC agree that they are a fault, shouldnt be bred and cant be shown. There are many opinions on how this color came to be. Some say its a double recessive that results in this color. Some believe that is due to mixed litters many, many years ago.(way before DNA or AKC inspections) The same goes for the other designer color Yorkies. YTCA is diligent about keeping them out of the show ring. As for cute or pretty? That is an individual preference.

There are a few people that breed then here on YT. They may have more info for you.

I suggest you pm Pat at yorkyshop,com.She is an expert.

Actually, the "Chocolate Yorkie" is an overload of red gold and is a mutation of our breed and should not be bred as it is a complete loss of pigment.

What would you like to know LucyNTuckersMom?
You can look on the first page in the Nursery and see my thread "Chocolates" and see the Puppies from birth to 9 weeks. Many people, Just like yourself are interested in the Chocolate Yorkie as you can see by the number of views.
I am not trying to change the Yorkie universe, just put a bit of variety into the picture.

[QUOTE=YorkyDiva;1536228]What would you like to know LucyNTuckersMom?

I was really just interested in what causes the coloring, if they are an accepted color, or a fault, and how they got started. And do 2 chocolate yorkies always make more chocolate yorkies. And are they yorkie personalities in most other ways? Are they a separate breed? Are there any medical considerations to take into account especially? Are they shown competing with regular Yorkies? If the coloration is considered a flaw, are there special chocolate Yorkie shows?

They seem to have an underground following among Yorkie enthusiasts! (But I can see they might also be a little controversial, lol). I think they are a pretty alternative, but lean a little more toward the traditional colors myself. I would never want the standard colors to go away.

I was also interested in seeing photos of the adults, and your beautiful website shows many of these, thanks for posting the link.

T

They are 100% AKC Yorkshire Terriers, In the case of the pair of adults that I have. Yorkie attitude and all.
The color comes from their genes and in the case of the pair I have when bred together all Puppies are Chocolate Yorkies.

They are NOT a separate breed, they are just a color variety. AKC will register them will full registration as Chocolate/tan or liver/tan. They are
not an acceptable show color and are not shown in AKC shows.
There are no health issues related to the coloring that I am aware of.

What do you mean by "underground following"?

I would never want the Standards to go away either. We have a nice set of standards as far as weight and so on. Maybe the color issue, whether it be Parti, Chocolate or others may be reconsidered, who knows.
Hope I answered a few questions, I am by no means an "expert", just have 1 pair of Chocolates. Pat

Chocolate Yorkies are a fault in the show ring, as are black and gold/black and tan. They are the result of mom and dad both carrying a recessive Chocolate gene. If a dog carries one recessive chocolate gene, it looks like a normal yorkie color, but if it has 2 recessive chocolate genes, the black in his coat and skin are diluted to a brown or liver color.

A carrier will pass the chocolate gene onto 50% of his offspring, so if you have a prolific and popular line that's been breeding, there's a lot of pups who are receiving that recessive gene. Remember, you won't know they are carriers, unless they breed to another carrier and produce a "double diluted" chocolate puppy.

To get an idea of how theses recessive came into the gene pool prior to the Yorkie becoming an official breed, please see the attachment. The illustration was drawn in the 1800's showing terrier type dogs at play and depicts the Skye Terrier. the Scotch Terrier, the English Smooth Terrier, the Crossed Scotch Terrier, the Dandie Dinmont and the Bull Terrier. The Bull terrier and the crossed Scotch terrier are Parti colored. One of the early foundation dogs of our breed "Swift's Old Crab" was a crossed scotch terrier. He showed the correct blue and tan coloring but who knows what recessive genes he harbored (maybe he was a descendant of the parti colored crossed scotch terrier in the drawing?)

Just some things to ponder.

Complete loss of pigment would be albino not chocolate. Chocolate has pigmented skin (brown/liver colored).

It is not a mutation, it's simple genetics caused by a double dose of recessive genes.

If you have one, love it but don't breed it.

Wow!! all this is very interesting. I had no clue that there were such a thing as Chocolate yorkies. I learned something new today.:)
Happy thanksgiving everyone!

[quote=LucyNTuckersMom;1536440]Please see the previous post on how this color came to be.

Chocolate, parti, and golden yorkies have been in the breed and culled since the early days of the breed. They've been kept secret, given away, spayed and destroyed. Until a few years ago, they were not allowed to be registered with AKC but now they are .... this is a breed registry, not a coat color registry. Though the off colored (according to YTCA's standards) black and tan/black and gold/and blue and gold were until October 1, 2007, allowed to show and win championships in AKC classes, they are no longer allowed to show in conformation classes. Parti's, chocolates and golds have never been allowed to show in conformation and now black coated yorkies fall into the same "off color" category.

The off colored dogs can show in other AKC sponsored classes though.

Chocolates have the same personality as your traditional colored yorkies, they just have a double dose of the recessive chocolate gene. They have no more health issues than our traditional colored yorkies do.

Chocolate colored yorkies are homozygous for the gene and 100% of it's offspring will get 1 copy of the gene (they will be carriers). Chocolate bred to chocolate will produce all chocolate pups and chocolate bred to chocolate carrier will produce 50% chocolate and 50% carrier pups.

I don't know about "Underground following" but since this color is eligible for registration with AKC (finally) many people/breeders are choosing to NOT cull the off colors any more.

Other than the dog being off color according to the YTCA's show standards, why should the dog be culled for breeding?

If this dog came out of 2 AKC registered traditional colored yorkies, why should it be culled but it's entire line of previous and future descendants not be culled? The gene came from somewhere, and both mom and dad had to be carriers despite their blue and tan coat coloring.

Just because a yorkie is blue and tan, does not mean it's any more pure than a chocolate yorkie ... it just means that any unknown recessive genes haven't surfaced yet.

Sue the akc is all about keeping records. If the choc. yorkie came from a breeding of two akc reg. dogs it can be registered. They consider it a fault and that is why it cannot be shown and does not mean it meets the standard and you will not find that color as a choice but will have to send a picture etc. to get registered as a record of that breeding, only. Pure bred dogs are exactly that and we should not want to change the standard but in more cases try to breed closer to it. JMHO Happy Thanksgiving

YTCA considers "off colors" as a fault, they are the ones who set the standards and considers anything but blue and tan as off colored. AKC lists YTCA's standard colors, in their written choices on the registration applications (black and tan and black and gold are listed as color choices for registering puppies - YTCA clearly states that these colors as adults is NOT the standard for adults). AKC abides by YTCA's standards for showing. Since this is a breed registry, AKC allows colors other than blue and tan to be registered as you noted.

Personally, I feel that in order for a "surprise off colored" pup to be registered from a line that is not known to produce color - I think in addition to photos, AKC should also require pup, mom and dad be DNA'd - just to keep everyone on the up and up.

Standards for size have changed over the years and I'm sure we'll see more changes in the future, according to the majorities preferences. :-)

Chocolate yorkies come from the early ancestors of the yorkies back when they orginated in scotland and were called Broken Haired Scottish Terriers. YTCA did ban them from being shown as yorkshire terriers but only so they would have to be sent through the rare breed application in January as their own breed. The American Canine Registry already recgonizes them and they have a standard on there for them. They are NOT mutations, they are NOT a fluke, they ARE VERY healthy. They are slightly bigger than standards because they have not been bred down like the standards and will not be.
This is a very touchy subject on YT so be careful what you say on here.
I have sent you a PM.

I have a friend who has a chocolate male he's 3 3/4 lbs as an adult, so I guess there are certain lines that are larger and some that are smaller?

Just like with any breed there can be some smaller ones. Plus you have some people who are breeding them down to be the size of the standards. If you look at the ACR website, the standards for chocolates says that they cannot be smaller than 4 pounds and up to 12 pounds.

Thanks when I said 'they' I did mean ytca. I'm sure it's helpful to everyone to know when this happens in a line. DNA might not be a bad idea. The yorkie is a dog that is born black and then at different stages of it's life changes to a combination of colors at the exact same parts of the body each time and to want to throw in a solid ?? Also the pigment being brown/liver on the nose and around the eyes changes the entire look. We do have to be careful. There was quite a heated discussion on here once and I stayed out of it but I love this breed so much I just had to say my piece. That's it for me.

Here's a picture of Markhus . He belong to one of my friends . The mom had just one .

My male is 3/3/4lbs and female 5-1/2lbs, and these CHOCOLATE puppies usually range from 3-6lbs when grown. If someone has a dog that is double the normal weight standard for Yorkshire Terrier then they do have more than one issue with the YTCA Yorkshire Terrier standards and probably price their larger puppies less accordingly.
Whats this about AKC and YTCA wanting the Chocolates and Parti Yorkies to get their own rare breed classification? Can you show me on either one of their websites where this is stated by either? I am not aware of it.
As far as pictures, It is already required with AKC if you register a chocolate or liver you have to send in 2 pictures with the Puppy Application.

ACR Who ever heard of them? Guess there are a lot of new registries out there. LOL........ maybe someone who raises chocolates will think up some registry they want to name their Chocolates with and put whatever weight their dog reaches whether it be 15 or 50lbs as the weight standard. LOL
Oh wait, LOL, lets all start our own new name registry of what we want to call our dogs.LMAO
My CHOCOLATE YORKSHIRE TERRIERS are AKC registered and I intend for them to stay that way. It is just a variation of color, nothing more.

Could you please post this Standard for the chocolates on here?
Thanks.

I agree with you 100%!

Maybe kelleykrack can direct us to the ACR website and tell us a bit more about the rare breed application that was sent in jan? Was it sent to ACR or AKC?

ACR is the canine registry that UKC and AKC states has to approve any new breed and set standards for before they will consider any rare breed application. We are sending it in to the UKC in January hopefully. If you look up the American Canine Registry, they are acctually way more strict than the AKC ever thought about being. All dogs have to be microchiped and DNA'd before being allowed to show. All dogs showing have to have their microchip scanned at every show to prove that they are that dog. Along with many other rules you can read on the website.