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Biewers: Origin and Diversity.

Three years ago, I wrote a thought piece on the origins of the Biewer Terrier breed that was compiled from some of my Yorkietalk posts and published online in various venues. The piece was titled "SCIENTIFIC PROOF THAT THE BIEWER TERRIER IS A SEPARATE BREED AND THE PARTI YORKIE CAME ABOUT VIA INTENTIONAL OR “OOPS” CROSS BREEDING, By PHIL STINARD, GENETICIST" and a copy of it can be found at the following link: BTCSA - Biewer Terrier Club Of South Africa - (Scroll about halfway down the page to find the article.) Fortunately, I hedged my bets at the beginning of the article and stated "I've formed my opinion on whether Biewers are a separate breed from Yorkshire Terriers based on the information I currently have. It could change based on new research, so it isn't set in stone." I wish to retract the parts of the article that state that Biewers and Partis arose from intentional "oops" or crossbreeding with other breeds of dogs, because old and new evidence suggests that this is unlikely, and that the piebald gene was present in Yorkshire Terrier lineages since the beginning of the breed.

Old evidence. Old evidence that I should have been aware of but was not at the time I wrote my article is a series of historical accounts which note that tricolor, white, or piebald Yorkshire Terriers have cropped up in breeding lines over the years preceding the development of Biewer Terrier lines. I've had a chance to independently confirm several of the accounts, including the story of the Hemmingway dog Tassel, and the information in Joan Gordon's book "The Complete Yorkshire Terrier." These accounts are sufficient to convince me that the piebald gene has always been present at a low frequency since the founding of the Yorkshire Terrier breed:

Examples of White Markings occurring in Yorkshire Terrier lineages (compiled by Debbie Mullins, Snow Blue Yorkies Parti Yorkies and Yorkshire Terriers . Quality Parti yorkies. - Quality Traditional and Parti Yorkshire Terriers ):

The appearance of white markings in the Yorkshire terrier was evident as early as the late 1800’s. Below are a few examples.

1895 The Dog-- The Dog by Stonehenge stating “sometimes the Broken Haired dog is White, more or less marked with blue or some other color . . . .”

Early 1900 Hemmingway-- Ernest Hemingway wrote that his grandfather, Ernest (Abba) Hall, owned a white Yorkshire terrier in the early 1900’s named Tassel.

1904 Leslie Williams-- Leslie Williams reported in A Manual of Toy Dog: How to Breed, Rear and Feed Them that “the white Yorkshire, a new variety some folks have tried to push is in no way especially desirable.”

~1950’s Joan Gordon-- From Joan Gordon’s letter to Deb Mullins: “I had heard of Yorkies being born in England that were Tri's but "Trippy" was the only one we'd ever seen.”

1976 Wildweir Kennels-- Joan Gordon, owner Wildweir Kennels produced a tricolor, Wildweir Triplicate from two traditional Yorkshire terriers. Triplicate is AKC registered.

Joan Gordon’s 1976 book, The Complete Yorkshire Terrier, page 205 states that Joan and her sister, Janet knew of the Yorkshire terrier producing other colors including brown and tricolor prior to Triplicates arrival.

Joan Gordon’s letter-- Joan & her sister openly state they heard about tricolors occurring throughout their breeding career

1984 Nikko Kennels-- Gloria Lipman, owner Nikko Kennels, California states that Nikko’s Rolls Royce Ashley first produced a tricolor from two traditional Yorkshire terriers.

1984 Friedheck Kennels-- Herr Werner Biewer, owner Friedheck Kennels produced a tricolor from two traditional Yorkshire terriers.

1992 Nikko Kennels-- Nikko’s Mickey Spillane, the first AKC registered tricolor produced from Nikko Kennels Yorkshire terriers.

1999 AKC Investigation-- AKC launched an Impure Breeding Investigation at the request of Gloria Lipman, Nikko Kennels, Crownridge Kennels and Summit Kennels.

2000 AKC Acceptance-- The result of the AKC Impure Breeding Investigation over 18 months of 42 litters from 3 kennels, it was determined that two traditional Yorkshire terriers could produce a tricolor. AKC accepted the Parti Yorkshire terrier into the registry but with limitations where the Yorkie moved from 7th place to 2nd place in the AKC Most Popular Dog in 6 years mainly due to the addition of the Parti to the Yorkshire terrier registrations.

New evidence. So, a huge question in my mind is, "If the piebald gene was present in Yorkshire Terrier lines from the foundation of the breed, why do Biewer Terriers cluster separately from Yorkshire Terriers in the Mars (Wisdom Panel) test?" The answer could be that the DNA tests are comparing apples to oranges. What I mean by that is that Biewer Terriers are compared with American Yorkshire Terriers in the Mars test, whereas Biewer Terriers were developed from German Yorkshire Terrier lineages. That begs the question, "What happens when Biewer Terriers are compared to standard color German Yorkshire Terriers?" Will they cluster with the German Yorkshire Terriers? Do German Yorkshire Terriers cluster separately from American Yorkshire Terriers? A new study being conducted at the University of California at Davis provides preliminary, but intriguing evidence. The study is titled "Genetic Diversity Testing for Biewer" and the preliminary report can be found at the following link: https://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services...tyInBiewer.php

The purpose of this study is primarily to document the diversity among various groups of Biewers in order to facilitate good breeding practices to improve the health of the breed, and includes dogs that are called Biewers, Biewer Terriers, and Biewer Yorkshire Terriers. (Unfortunately, Parti colored Yorkshire Terriers were not included in the study; however, it should be noted that many Parti lines share common ancestors with Biewer lines, originating at Streamglen Kennels in England.) Based on 33 genetic loci tested, all three Biewer groups clustered together, indicating genetic similarity. A *few* German Yorkshire Terriers were tested on the side to see where they fit in, and the limited anecdotal information is that they indeed clustered with the Biewers and separately from American Yorkshire Terriers. Therefore, a good working hypothesis is that the three groups of Biewers tested are related closely to each other genetically because they are derived from German lines that already carried the piebald gene, and that the American Yorkshire Terrier lines are genetically distinct from German Yorkshire Terrier lines because they were bred separately from each other for many years and had time to drift apart genetically. THEREFORE, WE DO NOT NEED TO HYPOTHESIZE CROSSBREEDING WITH OTHER BREEDS IN ORDER TO ACCOUNT FOR THE PRESENCE OF THE PIEBALD GENE IN BIEWERS IN THE THREE GROUPS TESTED. THE PIEBALD GENE WAS PROBABLY PRESENT IN YORKSHIRE TERRIER LINES THE WHOLE TIME.

That said, there is no reason not to consider Biewer Terriers (and the other Biewer groups) a separate breed, since they do have distinct markings and other common characteristics that set them apart from Yorkshire Terriers. Also, there is no reason for the three Biewer groups (Biewer, Biewer Terrier, and Biewer Yorkshire Terrier) not to come together as a single group in order to broaden the gene pool of the Biewer breed for purposes of improving the health and well-being of these dogs. That would be something that I would encourage these groups to work out together.