black yorkies?
 

Hi guys

I'm not sure if this is a US based forum or any UK folks here too?

I am in Yorkshire, UK and would like to know if there are any breeders in UK that get puppies that stay mostly black?

When I googled I have seen photo's of some Yorkies black with bit of white on chest or just black all over but it wasn't clear whether all of them were crossbreeds or some were pure bred yorkies where the breeder had bred dogs that stayed very black in adulthood together?

Been born and bred in Yorkshire I'd love a little dog that came from my home county but tend to favour darker dogs so just thought I'd enquire whether it was possible that some puppies stayed very dark if I chose a predominantly black puppy?

Also are males or females more likely to be black and stay dark?.. as if possible would prefer female. Thinking of calling her Heidi! :D

Thanks

Mimi

My baby was black and gold until his first hair cut when we discovered his silver coat underneath. That was about when he was 4 month old. He's been silver and gold ever since.

I'm sure they are out there, but I don't think I've ever seen an adult Yorkie that was black.

Is it cos you cut his coat then? If only trim ends.. will the new growth of the black hairs stay black?

Hello and welcome to Yorkie Talk. I live in the USA so I don't know any breeders in the UK. I just want to point out some things that might be helpful.

Most all yorkies are born black and tan except for the other colors such as parti, golden and chocolate. It is impossible to tell what color the puppy will be until it reaches adulthood.

Most all yorkies that stay black are cottony coated or soft coated. The body hair will stay black and the head will sometimes clear to gold or it could stay a suety color (black and gold mixed in).

You can look at the parents to get a good idea about how the pup will look but that still is not a guarantee the pup will take after the parents. Silky coated dogs can still produce cottony coated pups and vice versa.

Don't just focus on color. Finding a sound healthy pup should be your first priority. Check out some breeder websites in your area. Preferably look for a reputable breeder. I have seen many pictures of the darker yorkies in the UK. I have seen pictures of completely black yorkies but I really doubt they were purebred.

Best of luck on your search and please keep us posted when you find your new baby. We will looking forward to see pictures.

:) Good morning, and welcome from a fellow UK-er! :) :wavey:

Well, Harry was quite dark when we got him at 12 weeks, but got paler and paler over time....(+ bigger and bigger....!!!:eek:)

One of our members here, Oddsock, also lives in Yorkshire with her 2 adorable pups - it might be worth messaging her to see if she could help at all?

But if you definitely want a small, dark dog - I personally would look into other options just to be absolutely sure :) Good luck!

Hi, in the past I had 2 females, their body remained pure black, my last girl had a tuft of white hair on her chest, a very very small amount. Their face and legs color was auburn, hair texture was beautiful. Their AKC paper stated color as BLUE. I LOVE the black body and auburn face, and would prefer those colors, but a yorkie is a yorkie, charm, personality silliness, is the same regardless of color. Every one I knew that had yorkies insisted their color would change to the silver grey, but that never happened. My other girls were the blond / tan face and silver grey bodies, my adopted boy is blond face & legs and 2 tone grey body. All black bodies are out there, I have not seen a lot, I use to work in NYC and saw thousands of dogs daily, all black body yorkies were far and few between. Good luck on your quest to find that pure black body pup, I will say, the body will be black, but face and legs will be blond, tan or auburn.

Thanks for answering guys.

The pup doesn't have to be completely black, but I just wondered if I had chose the pup in the litter with the most black on, whether it would stay the darkest puppy as an adult (compared to its siblings and the shades it COULD potentially fade to)

Black and auburn sounds nice! I know their faces do tend to change to the brown colour and the back lightens to a silvery grey. I was just wondering if the back would stay darker in a puppy that was very dark to start with?

As it would be a pet rather than showing it, it would probably be kept trimmed in a puppy cut. I'd learn to do it myself and just trim it as it grows to save having to cut huge amounts off at once.

Does whether the coat is trimmed and how it's cut make a difference to the colour? ..For example if you grew the puppies coat right out as if for showing with the long silky hair do they tend to go lighter? As I don't believe I've ever seen a darker coat in the dogs with really long coats. All the pics I've found of yorkies with a darker coat seem to be in a 'puppy cut'. I wasn't sure how much of that was the dogs age at the time of the photo? ..or keeping it short keeps the darker hair in for longer?

Does anyone have a photo of their adult dog that has stayed 'darker than average' ..the black/auburn one sounded really nice too?

Thanks very much for your advice.

Mimi

It is not easy to tell on a young puppy how light or dark it will be. You best bet with be to get with a breeder that does not sell their pups to young. If a puppy starts breaking to a light color on their head at a early age, say around 8 to 12 weeks then that is a sign that they may go light. Also, on older pups, say around 12 weeks, if they are showing signs of turning grey on their shoulder hair at the roots or on the belly hair then you know they won't stay black.

Some yorkies do stay black, even into adulthood. Over the years I have had very few yorkies that stayed black. I have one female that stayed black and I have posted a picture of her. She was around a year old when that picture was taken. She ended up with a cottony coat. She is now 8 years old and she is still black. Her head did clear more. When I shave her, her coat is still black. Most of your silky coated yorkies that change from black to steel blue will look a lot lighter when they are cut down.

I don't think their sex really has anything to do with if they go light or stay dark. It is all in their genetics.

You most likely won't see any black yorkies in the show ring because it is considered a fault here in the USA. In Europe some of the dogs do tend to be darker.

My Hugo had a black coat until he around a year old. Now he is dark grey/grey blue colour. His fur on his head turned grey first then the rest of him. His sister has a black coat but is just a pup so she will turn grey later on. I've never seen an adult with a black coat, very dark grey but not the black that they are when they are puppies. I have a question, my baby girl has a white patch of fur on her chest, is this normal? :aimeeyork:animal36

A small white patch on the chest is normal. According to the YTCA yorkie standard, the white patch on the chest cannot be more than a inch in size or it would be considered a disqualification. I don't know what the UKC standard calls for.

Here is a copy of the UKC standard for the yorkshire terrier. It also states that a very small white patch on the chest is allowable.

Keep in mind that the standard is written as a guideline for breeders who wish to breed dogs for the betterment of the breed. Unfortunately there will always be breeders that breed for other reasons and they do not show their dogs or care what the standard calls for.

United Kennel Club: Yorkshire Terrier

yes the pic in your attached thumbnail is more what I looking for and the one below (I hope) if possible where you can see the dog still has the brown but is over all a darker shade than some with very light caramel coloured faces and silvery-grey backs.

I have looked at some other similar breeds as someone mentioned I did originally look at Border Terriers that can also be very black as puppies but always tend to go a lighter brown in age.

I looked at Lancashire Heelers also a (black/tan combo) ..I think they tend to keep their colour however they are a native endangered breed and so not as many breeders. I think I'd have difficulty securing a female particuarly if I was not intending to breed to boost the popularity of the breed in the UK.

I did also see a photo of a very cute yorkie x pom that was all black. (see pic below).

I've had a couple of mostly black dogs with either just white or tri. I do like the black-tan after my inlaws had a rottie, however they are way too big for me. I'm looking for a much smaller sized companion for my later years!.. so starting looking at black-tan small breeds!

I'd like to support a British breed so been from Yorkshire I had to check out Yorkshire Terriers!!! :D

Also can someone tell me what is the size difference in these I see advertised as 'teacup' Yorkies and how big I'd expect a 'regular' Yorkie to be?

Thanks

Mimi

Thanks for your reply! It is a very small patch, I've never seen one with it before until I got her but it must be quite common then if it's mentioned in the standard.

It is fairly common in newborn puppies. Sometimes I will have a litter where they all have a little white on the chest and sometimes I have litters with no white on the chest. Most of the time it is just a mixture, some with white and some without white. Most of the time the white not even noticeable once the yorkie is grown.

If you go to my album there is a photo of my Matese, thing is, the auburn color doesn't show up well in the photo, I am on my lap top, my photos are kept on my desk top computer. She is now past, I have a favorite one of her hunting and stalking, that shows her beautiful black body, I will find it and send to you.

This pic looks so much like my 2nd baby, Kajon, the first black one with beautiful auburn face, yours is a lil beauty.

The pic of her stalking she is 9 y/o...the pic of her hiding a toy in my planter she is 12 y//o....the pic of her with a nasty toy in her mouth, she was told "not in the house" she is 15 y/o she had indoor and out door toys.

Bella is 19 months and still black with brown legs and a mixed face. She is a cotton coat.

When I google black yorkies it always come up as a mix. Poodle and yorkie (Morkie)
Unless you just meant black on the body

Bella is cute. She reminds me a little of my Gigi.

She was a pretty girl. It sounds like she had a good life.

Bella is beautiful, I love the face color. On my Matese's AKC papers, the color stated was blue, what does your AKC papers have as for the color.

Thank you, she was a beautiful girl, she weighed in at 17 lbs lol, she had a gorgeous sleek body, I try to give all my babies the best life I can. She had to be put down at age 17 y/o.

I have seen lately alot of pictures online of pups that look like yorkies but are mainly white or white and black. I keep wondering if they are true yorkies. Owners claim they are.

I have a male and female, full siblings. Elvis is 7 and Izzy is 6. Both have black bodies and golden/tan heads. Their coats aren't quite silky but not cottony. Both far fraom the standard,lol but loved anyway. I've only had them about 2 1/2 years so don't know what to look for in a puppy to maintain the dark colors. I'm assuming that since they both have similar colors that it must be genetic and would look at what the parents look like then decide.

Thank you to everyone who has replied. Sorry for the delay in my replies but the forum does not let my reply go straight on and several others have answered by the time my reply is showing. It's very frustrating as I can't acknowleged each reply individally.

I'm not sure how to check out people's abums and whether I can message them privately yet as I'm new?. I have enjoyed seeing the little pictures people attach to the bottom of their messages.

One last question as they'll probably be another page by the time my reply goes up!

If I decided to look for adult dog (rescue) at what age would the dog stay dark from? eg if it was still dark black on back/ darker brown at 1 yr old would it be likely to stay that dark? ...or after 2 yr old?

I know most dogs have mainly matured by 2 yr old (medium breeds) but thought I'd read that toy breeds matured quicker and are considered adult around 9 months? ..so would they coat change colour after they had reached the age they are recognised as 'adult'?

Sorry if I've missed any questions to me, it's very frustrating that my replies are so far behind I seem to have to keep waiting for all my posts to be approved so they aren't going up in the correct sequence to show when I actually answered!..I'll check back later!



Thanks

Mimi

Have you ever owned a yorkie? They are wonderful little dogs but they do have all kinds of different personalities. Again I stress that you should not just focus on color. You could find a dark yorkie but it might have all kinds of health issues or it might not have the kind of personality you like. Some yorkies are very active and busy all the time while others are very laid back and just want to lay in your lap. You need to consider your life style and what you really want in a yorkie. It is hard to know what kind of personality a puppy will have. Sometimes by the time they are 12 weeks old you can have a fairly good idea.

As for color, some yorkies change color early and others might take a couple of years. I would think you would have a good idea of the color by the time the pup is 6 months old.

One other trick that you might find helpful is to have a breeder take a picture of the pup with a flash so you can actually see the eye shine of the puppy. Usually by the time the puppy is 12 weeks old you can see the color of their eye shine. Every dark coated dog I have ever had has a eye shine that is red or orange. Keep in mind that the coat will be cottony or soft coated. Cottony coats are not that easy to take care of. Most people will keep them cut short.

Now if you want a yorkie with a beautiful dark steel blue silky coat the eye shine would be green or blue. A eye shine that is gold usually indicates the coat will go light.

I have had 4 yorkies as puppies, all 8 weeks old when I got them 2 were the standard color, 2 were black body with auburn face and legs my last black body girl had a tuft of white hair on her chest, she was 17 lbs as an adult, she lived to be 17 y/o, all were energetic babies, all were full of charm and all had their own personalities, all were extremely playful and active until they were 9 y/o when they started to slow down. All were very healthy as young pups, health issues started as they got older 9 and 10 y/o. I really do not think the color of a yorkie indicates health issues,but that's just MO. I am by no means a yorkie expert, just what I have experienced in owning 4 yorkies that I raised from 8 weeks old.

I agree. I was not trying to suggest that a darker color would indicate health problems. I meant that when looking for a yorkie it is important to also consider health and personality.