Yorkshire Terriers

Full grown Yorkie The Yorkshire Terrier (Yorkie) is a toy dog breed; intelligent and quite easy to train learning new commands quickly at an above average rate. The Yorkshire Terrier sheds practically no hair at all and therefore you will virtually never find a hair in your home.

As they are bred as house pets, their small size makes them great for apartment living. They do not require as much exercise as some dogs, but they do need daily walks. They enjoy playing, and should be given the opportunity to do so regularly.

Yorkies have climbed the charts and are now the most popular dog breed registered with the Kennel Union of South Africa - KUSA.

Although most photographs of Yorkies show them in long coats, it is only one of the styles. If you fail to regularly groom, shampoo or condition your dog's long coat, it will be a mess. To keep your Yorkshire Terrier's coat short, you may give your dog a short crop - more popularly known as the 'puppy cut'. This is no doubt relatively easy to maintain, but you'd still need to groom your dog. The hair on their ears needs regular trimming to help them stand erect.

Our stud's name is Chilli - click here to view his certificate (PDF 55Kb)

Yorkshire Terrier Characteristics
(details courtesy of KUSA)

GENERAL APPEARANCE
Long-coated, coat hanging quite straight and evenly down each side, a parting extending from nose to end of tail. Very compact and neat, carriage very upright conveying an important air. General outline conveying impression of vigorous and well proportioned body.

CHARACTERISTICS
Alert, intelligent toy terrier.

TEMPERAMENT
Spirited with even disposition.

HEAD AND SKULL
Rather small and flat, not too prominent or round in skull, nor too long in muzzle; black nose.

EYES
Medium, dark, sparkling with sharp intelligent expression and placed to look directly forward. Not prominent. Edge of eyelids dark.

EARS
Small, V-shaped, carried erect, not too far apart, covered with short hair, colour very deep, rich tan.

MOUTH
Perfect, regular and complete scissor bite i.e. upper teeth closely overlapping lower teeth and set square to the jaws. Teeth well placed with even jaws.

NECK
Good reach.

FOREQUARTERS
Well laid shoulders, legs straight, well covered with hair of rich golden tan, a few shades lighter at ends than at roots, not extending higher on forelegs than elbow.

BODY
Compact with moderate spring of rib, good loin. Level back.

HINDQUARTERS
Legs quite straight when viewed from behind, moderate turn of stifle. Well covered with hair of rich golden tan, a few shades lighter at ends than at roots, not extending higher on hindlegs than stifles.

FEET
Round; nails black.

TAIL
Customarily docked to medium length with plenty of hair, darker blue in colour than rest of body, especially at the end of tail. Carried a little higher than level of back.

GAIT/MOVEMENT
Free with drive; straight action front and behind, retaining level topline.

COAT
Hair on body moderately long, perfectly straight (not wavy), glossy; fine silky texture, not woolly. Fall on head long, rich golden tan, deeper in colour at sides of head, about ear roots and on muzzle where it should be very long. Tan on head not to extend on to neck, nor must any sooty or dark hair intermingle with any of tan.

COLOUR
Dark steel blue (not silver blue) , extending from occiput to root of tail, never mingled with fawn, bronze or dark hairs. Hair on chest rich, bright tan. All tan hair darker at the roots than in middle, shading to still lighter at tips.

SIZE
Weight up to 3.2 kgs (7 lbs).

FAULTS
Yorkshire Terrier 2
Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree and its effect on health & welfare of the dog.

NOTE
Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without permission in writing from the publisher.

The publisher of this edition is the Kennel Union of Southern Africa.
16-Nov-04

Photos of our Yorkies

(click to enlarge)