Pinehaven | 08-20-2008 03:39 AM | Quote:
Originally Posted by yorkiekist
(Post 2192198)
We can go round and round with this subject for years. So what you are saying is that the parent club of the breed should not have a responsibility to protect the standard as it was written, as the founders of the breed had it written. All of their hard work and research gets thrown out the window. So does that mean that the standard should be changed everytime something off standard comes into the picture? Pretty soon, we would have a dog that doesnt even resemble a Yorkie. Might as well call it another breed. The Yorkie becomes extinct. Just as a chocolate or a no masked Rottweiler(yes, that does happen infrequently) should not be bred or shown, neither should the off colored Yorkies. Why? Because they are not within the written standard of the breed. Its not something the founders of the breed would want to be passed on or bred for. Not only are we showing against each other, we are showing against the written standard. We want our Yorkies, Skyes, Pugs, Rotts, etc to be as close to perfect to the written standard as possible. What happens to the breed if we keep adding and changing standards? It makes everything that you have worked and bred for over the years baseless and obsolete. Might as well start over with new dogs that conform to the "new" written standard and have to change breeding practices everytime something is added or taken away. Kinda pointless isnt it? | While I do believe that breeding for breed type, conformation, temperament and health are a goal that all should strive for, this is a breed registry and not coat color registry. Many breed registries have multiple coat colors and color combinations in their breeds. Coat color doesn't make their breed any less true to the physical and structural standard just because the dogs are not all the exact same color.
While I applaud those who have extensively researched the early history of the Yorkshire Terrier, much of what their conclusions are based on, are their own opinions and theories because there was little information on the unregistered, non pedigreed founding dogs who were used to begin this breed. Some theories are that the Maltese was used in the breed, others feel they were not. I think what is correct in both thoughts is that terrier type dogs were used to begin this breed. I don't think that anyone can guarantee, that they know what visible or hidden genes were in those terrier type dogs because pedigrees on most were not kept.
The standards were written over 100 years ago, back in the days when an off colored pup in the litter, would be drowned because they were thought to be inferior and unhealthy. We know today, this type of thinking is obsolete and very incorrect; these colors should have a rightful place in the breed, we may not see them in the show ring any time soon but maybe one day we will. |