The Beginning Of The Yorkshire Terrier In England And The United States

The Beginning of the Yorkshire Terrier in England and the United States
By Connie Limon 

If you are looking for a tiny dog with the spirit of a much bigger terrier, the Yorkshire Terrier most certainly fits this description. Despite the Yorkshire Terrier’s tiny size of just a few pounds, this dog is lively and thinks of himself as much larger than he is.

The Yorkie’s background goes back to the 18th century. During this time of the Industrial Revolution in England, many Scotsmen left their country for the south. They looked for work in the mills in England. They brought their families and also their dogs. The dogs they brought to England during this period were Skye Terriers, Paisley Terriers and Clydesdale Terriers. The dogs ranged weight of 6 pounds to nearly 20 pounds. All of these dogs were heavily coated. Some of them had a silky texture. All of them carried blue-tan or gray coat colors.

One of the most common breeds in Yorkshire, England at the time was the Waterside Terrier. The Waterside Terrier was a blue-gray dog with a long coat. The size of this dog was between 6 and 20 pounds. It was a combination of the Skye Terrier, Paisley Terrier and Clydesdale Terrier and formed the present-day Yorkshire Terrier. This Yorkshire Terrier of today has a long, beautiful coat with silky steel blue and tan colors. The Yorkshire Terrier is one of the smallest dogs in the world and one of the most popular toy breeds.

Weavers who worked in the mills liked the Yorkshire Terriers because of their ability to kill rats as quickly as a terrier, but was small enough to carry in their pockets when they went to rat-killing competitions. The weavers desired a small size of the breed, but also ones with the toughness and intelligence of the terrier. This may account for the attitude much bigger than the actual size a Yorkshire Terrier still possesses today.

Yorkies were being shown in England by the early 1850s. The weight fell between 5 and 18 pounds. The classes they were shown in were: Broken-haired Scotch, Scotch Terriers, Blue and Fawn Terriers or Yorkshire Terriers. At the time the English divided the approved breeds at the time into two groups: The Sporting Group and the Non-Sporting Group. The Yorkshire breed was placed in the Non-Sporting Group. However, the dogs were still shown in the various classes of Scotch Terriers, Blue and Fawn Terriers among whatever other classes the dog seemed to fit into. The English Kennel Club recognized the breed as the Yorkshire Terrier and placed it in the Toy Group by 1886. The Yorkshire Terrier Club of England was formed in 1898. The Yorkie still reigns in the top ten breeds in popularity in Britain.

The breed became quickly known in England and had numerous supporters. The “Father of the Yorkshire Terrier” was a dog owned by J. Forster and bred by Mr. Eastwood of Huddersfield. The dog’s name was Huddersfield Ben. Huddersfield Ben sired numerous champions for other kennels.

The first Yorkie whelped in the United States was in 1872. American shows began in 1887. The breed classes were divided by weight: under 5 pounds and over 5 pounds. Eventually it was decided to have one weight class for all Yorkies with weight between 3 and 7 pounds. There were just too few entries of the larger sizes to have two different classes. The Yorkshire Terrier Club of America was formed in 1951.

The Yorkshire Terrier is a very popular breed in the United States. Many breeders have contributed to the breed through excellent breeding and outstanding wins. The Yorkshire Terrier places in the top ten breeds in popularity of the AKC breeds. It also ranks as the number-one Toy Dog in America. The little Yorkshire Terrier remains a great favorite to many people.

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