A Yorkie OR A Silky WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? W e’ve all walked down the street and complimented someone’s small, silver- coated “Silky Terrier,” only to be told, “This is a Yorkshire!” Then, to be polit- BY SANDY MESMER, TESSIER SILKY TERRIERS
ically correct, we call the next one we see a Yorkie, only to be told, “Can’t you tell the difference? This is a Silky!” So, what IS the difference? First, a bit of history of both breeds. The famous 19th century dog writer Edward C. Ash mentions “bonnie wee Skyes with long silky hair.” The idea here is that in the early 1800s, enterprising Skye breeders produced a min- iature and silky-coated version of their 50 to 60 lb. breed, creating the now extinct Paisleys and Clydesdales. One breed was a beautiful silver blue, the other a deep silver blue and tan. Though smaller, they were long and low like a Skye. In the 1840s and ‘50s, northern English pub own- ers latched on to these “mini Skyes.” They needed small, scrappy terriers for their rat pits (where dogs were thrown into a pit full of rats, and bets were laid as to how fast a dog could kill the vermin). The smaller the dog, the larger the betting. Conjecture says that these small but tough dogs were bred together with the equally scrappy, but slightly bigger, Black and Tans (progenitor of the Man- chester Terrier) to produce the blue, tan, and fawn of the Silky Terrier and the blue and tan coloring of the York- shire Terrier we see today. The father of the Yorkshire Terrier is Huddersfield Ben who lived in the 1860s. The Yorkshire developed from “Ben,” as pub owners recognized the “fancy” quality of Ben’s get. These quickly became a popular milady’s companion, despite the dogs’ regular desire to nip behind the curtains and grab a mouse or two.
Yorkshire Terrier (Yorkie)
Silky Terrier (Silky)
322 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, DECEMBER 2022
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