50 Fun Facts About Yorkshire Terrier

What is the maximum weight for a Yorkshire Terrier?

That is 7 lb, making the Yorkie among the smallest of all breeds, not just of the terriers.

The Yorkshire Terrier's coat is tan on the head and what colour on the body?

No other colour is accepted by the Kennel Club or the FCI.

Workers from which country brought terriers to Yorkshire in the mid-19th century, seeding the breed?

The early dogs were shown as 'Scotch Terriers' until their improvement in Yorkshire earned them the new name.

The Yorkshire Terrier was chiefly developed by workers in which industry?

Mrs A. Foster noted in 1886 that these 'ignorant men' rarely recorded anything, which is why the breed's early history is so thin.

Miners wanting a ratter crossed the Black-and-Tan with which two Scottish types?

The Paisley was a smaller Skye Terrier bred for its long silky coat, and some believe the Maltese was used too.

The breed is said to originate from three dogs: Old Crab, Kitty and which third founder?

Details are scarce; nobody recorded the third founder's name.

Which show dog of the late 1860s defined the Yorkshire Terrier type and is called 'father of the breed'?

Owned by Mary Ann Foster, he was painted by George Earl, and most show dogs of the 1890s carried his blood.

Which writer called the 1878 show class lumping Scotch and Yorkshire Terriers 'confusing and absurd'?

The class was called 'Rough and Broken-coated, Broken-haired Scotch and Yorkshire Terriers'.

In which year was the first Yorkshire Terrier registered with the American Kennel Club?

The breed had reached North America in 1872, riding the American enthusiasm for all things Victorian.

The breed's American popularity dipped in the 1940s. Which dog is credited with reviving it?

Small breeds had fallen to an all-time low of 18% of registrations before the war dog's fame turned things round.

Where did the AKC rank the Yorkshire Terrier in 2024?

It had been sixth in 2012 and 2013.

Traditionally, how is a show Yorkie's long coat arranged?

The Kennel Club requires it glossy, fine, straight and silky, and it 'must never impede movement'.

What unusual use is mentioned for a Yorkshire Terrier's hair?

The tail hair should be a darker black than the body's dark grey.

How many colour choices does the AKC registration form offer for a Yorkshire Terrier?

Blue and tan, blue and gold, black and tan, and black and gold.

The white in a rare particolour Yorkie is caused by which gene?

Particolours are registerable with the AKC but disqualified by the Yorkshire Terrier Club of America.

Solid golden Yorkshire Terriers produce only which pigment?

Liver or chocolate Yorkies make brown eumelanin instead of black.

Which German-origin breed, once thought a Yorkie variant, should Yorkies NOT be crossed with?

It descends from blue, white and gold puppies named Schneeflocke and Schneeflöckchen von Friedheck and is now a separate AKC breed.

How long can it take a Yorkshire Terrier's coat to reach its final colour?

P. H. Combs grumbled in 1891 that puppy show wins were pointless because the adult colour could not be predicted.

To prevent breakage, a show Yorkie's oiled coat may be wrapped in what?

The oil is washed out monthly and the wraps refixed through the week to stop them sliding and snapping hairs.

In 1878 John Walsh described greasing the Yorkie's coat with which oil and keeping its feet in stockings?

The dog was also bathed weekly; elaborate coat care goes right back to the breed's beginnings.

The Kennel Club describes the ideal Yorkie as having a carriage 'very upright conveying' what?

Stanley Coren ranks the breed 27th in The Intelligence of Dogs.

Where does the Yorkshire Terrier rank in Stanley Coren's The Intelligence of Dogs?

That places it in the upper part of the 'above average working dogs' band.

A 2024 UK study gave the Yorkshire Terrier what average life expectancy?

A Japanese pet-cemetery study found 14.3 years, and an Italian study 13 years against a 10-year average.

Colour dilution alopecia in Yorkies is associated with which coat colour?

It is a form of hair loss common in the breed.

Legg–Calvé–Perthes syndrome in Yorkies causes which bone to degenerate?

It usually appears between five and eight months and is treated by surgically removing the affected bone.

Luxating patellas in Yorkies are graded on a scale running from 1 to what?

Grade 4 is the most severe; many dogs never progress past stage 1 or 2.

A portosystemic shunt, common in Yorkies, is a malformation of which blood vessel?

Blood bypasses the liver and carries toxins to the heart, brain and lungs; seizures after meals are a classic sign.

What is usually the first sign of tracheal collapse in a Yorkie?

Vets recommend a harness rather than a collar, since an energetic Yorkie pulling on a lead can strain the weak trachea.

A 2019 study found what share of Yorkies had early periodontitis on at least one tooth by 37 weeks?

The breed is described as highly susceptible to periodontal disease.

A UK study found Yorkies how many times likelier than other dogs to have impaired hepatic perfusion?

That is reduced blood flow to the liver, separate from the breed's shunt problem.

Transient juvenile hypoglycaemia is most often seen in Yorkie puppies at what age?

Tiny pups lack the muscle mass to store glucose; corn syrup or Nutri-Cal and a vet visit are the emergency response.

Which registries still require a Yorkie's tail to be docked for competition?

Hugh Dalziel opposed docking as early as 1878, and most of the world now follows a no-docking, no-cropping rule.

Which breed was created from the Yorkie?

The Yorkie itself descends from larger Scottish types such as the Skye Terrier and the extinct Paisley Terrier.

Champion Ozmilion Mystification made history in 1997 by becoming the first Yorkie to do what?

Crufts is the world's largest annual dog show.

Sylvia, the smallest dog in recorded history, weighed how much when she died in 1945?

The Blackburn Yorkie stood 2.5 inches at the shoulder and measured 3.5 inches from nose to tail.

Smoky the war dog was found in 1944 in an abandoned foxhole in which jungle?

The soldiers first thought she belonged to the Japanese, but she understood commands in neither Japanese nor English.

Corporal William Wynne bought Smoky for two Australian pounds so the seller could do what?

The price was worth about $6.44 at the time; Wynne came from Cleveland, Ohio.

How tall did Smoky the war dog stand?

She weighed just 4 pounds and flew on combat missions in the Pacific with Wynne.

According to an Animal Planet investigation, Smoky was the first recorded what?

Her therapy work continued for 12 years during and after the war, and her bronze statue sits in a GI helmet in Cleveland.

Pasha, a Yorkshire Terrier who lived in the White House, belonged to whom?

She lived there during Richard Nixon's presidency.

Yorkies are called hypoallergenic for shedding little, but allergists say reactions are triggered by what?

Experts agree 'the luck of the few with their pets cannot be stretched to fit all allergic people and entire breeds'.

Why is a Yorkie described as having poor tolerance for anaesthesia?

Toy dogs are also more likely to be injured by falls, other dogs and owner clumsiness.

Hypoplasia of dens, seen in Yorkies, is a non-formation of the pivot point of which bone?

It can damage the spinal cord and cause anything from neck pain to quadriplegia.

A Yorkie's coat is a tan dog with what?

Adult dogs should have no black hairs mixed into the tan.

How many prizes did the foundation sire Huddersfield Ben win over his short show career?

Ben placed at Manchester in 1869 and 1870 and at the Crystal Palace shows of 1870 and 1871, and also won ratting contests.

Huddersfield Ben, the breed's foundation sire, was killed at the age of six by what?

His body was stuffed and put on display, but the mount has been missing since the Second World War.

Which trick was part of Smoky the war dog's post-war touring act?

Smoky and William Wynne spent a decade performing in Hollywood and on some of the earliest television shows in Cleveland.

Smoky pulled a telegraph wire through a 70-foot pipe at Lingayen Gulf on which Philippine island?

The feat spared about 250 ground crew and 40 aircraft from a three-day dig under threat of enemy bombing.

The 2005 bronze memorial to Smoky in Lakewood, Ohio shows her sitting in what?

Sculptor Susan Bahary's life-size piece sits on a two-ton granite base directly above Smoky's burial spot.

When Smoky died in 1957, the Wynne family buried her in what?

She was laid to rest in the Cleveland Metroparks' Rocky River Reservation, where the memorial was added nearly 50 years later.