SUNDAY DOGS

This is alas is the final Sunday dog and the only "Y" dog I could find.  I am sure they are a delight to their owners but, like so many people, larger dogs are my choice.  However, he does have a delightful little face and if you needed a smaller dog I am sure he would be a good choice, although in Australia it would more likely be the *Silky (see below).

The YORKSHIRE TERRIER is a small dog breed of terrier type, developed in the 19th century in the country of Yorkshire, England, to catch rats in clothing mills and also used for rat-baiting.  The defining features of the breed are it maximum size of 7 pounds (3.2 kg) and its grey, black and tan coat.  The breed is nicknamed Yorkie and is placed in the Toy Terrier section of the Terrier Group by the Federation Cynologique Internationale and in the Toy Group or Companion Group by other kennel clubs, although all agree that the breed is a terrier.  A popular companion dog, the Yorkshire Terrier has also been part of the development of other breeds, such as the *Australian Silky Terrier.

This breed originated in Yorkshire (and adjoining Lancashire), a rugged region in northern England.  In the mid-19th century, workers from Scotland came to Yorkshire in search of work and brought with them several defferent varieties of small terriers.  Breeding of the Yorkshire terrier was "principally accomplished by the people - mostly operatives in the woollen mills - in the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire.  Details are scarce.  **Mrs M A Foster is quoted as saying in 1886 "If we consider that the mill operatives who originated the breed.....were nearly all ignorant men, unaccustomed to imparting information for public use, we may see some reason why reliable facts have not been easily obtained.

What is known is that the breed sprang from three different dogs, a male named Old Crab and a female named Kitty, and another female whose name is not known.  The Paisley Terrier, a smaller version of the Skye Terrier that was bred for a beautiful long silky coat, also figured into the early dogs.  Some authorities believed that the Maltese was used as well.  "They were all originally bred from Scotch Terriers (note: meaning dogs from Scotland, not today's Scottish Terrier) and shown as such ....the name Yorkshire Terrier was given to them on account of their being improved so much in Yorkshire."  Yorkshire terriers were shown in a dog show category (class) at the time "Rough and Broken-coated, Broken-haired Scotch and Yorkshire Terriers.  Hugh Dalzeil, writing in 1878, says that "the classification of these dogs at shows and in the Kennel Club Stud Book is confusing and absurd" in lumping together these different types.

In the early days of the breed, "almost anything in the shape of a Terrier having a long coaat with blue on the body and fawn or silver coloured head and legs, with tail docked and ears trimmed, was received and admired as a Yorkshire Terrier", but in the late 1860s, a poplar Paisley type Yorkshire Terrier show dog named Huddersfield Ben, owned by a woman living in Yorkshire, **Mary Ann Foster, was seen at dog shows throughout Great Britain, and he defined the breed type for the Yorkshire Terrier.

Huddersfield Ben was a famous dog. His portrait was painted by George Earl and in 1891 an authority on the breed wrote "Huddersfield Ben was the best stud dog of his breed during his lifetime, and one of the most remarkable dogs of any pet breed that ever lived, and most of the show specimens of the present day have one or more crosses of his blood in their pedigree."  A show winner,  Huddersfield Ben quickly became the type of dog everyone wanted, and through his puppies has defined the breed as we know it today.  He is still referred to as "the father of the breed".

Yorkshire Terriers - Mrs Foster's "Huddersfield Ben" and Lady Giffard's "Katie" ca1870. 

The Yorkshire Terrier was introduced in North America in 1872 and the first Yorkshire Terrier was registered with the American Kennel Club (AKC) in 1885.  During the Victorian era, the Yorkshire Terrier was a popular pet and show dog in England, and as Americans embraced Victorian customs. so too did they embrace the Yorkshire Terrier.  The breed's popularity dipped in the 1940s, when the percentage of small breed dogs fell to an all-time low of 18% of total registrations.  Smoky, a Yorkshire Terrier and a famous was dog from World War 2, is credited with beginning a renewal of interest in the breed.

All the above information and pictures courtesy of Wikipedia.