SIMPLE TALK ON THE YORKSHIRE TERRIER STANDARD by KATHLEEN B. KOLBERT, JUDGE Turyanne Yorkshire Terriers AKC Reg.
A s a Breeder for the past 54 years, and a Judge for the past 39 years. I hope I can enlighten those who are new Judges to this very controversial dog. The outstanding Breed CHARAC- TERISTICS of the Yorkshire Terrier are COAT, COLOR and TEXTURE. Howev- er, for many exhibitors and Judges this seems to be a problem. The general appearance for a Yor- kie is that of a long haired TOY TER- RIER who has a STEEL BLUE and TAN coat that is parted from the base of the skull to the end of tail, and hangs evenly and very straight down each side of the body. Each strand appears to be individual. The coat is distinctively long, silky, glowing and reflects light. The clear metallic color, the single coat and the texture are of the utmost importance in evaluating this breed. The ideal tex- ture of the coat is SILK; Yorkie’s do NOT HAVE FUR. The coat can be compared to human hair. A clue to this is that on a 100 degree day the coat will still feel SILKY and COOL to the touch. Puppies are born black and will start to show markings of gold on the ears and legs first with intermingling black hairs in the tan until they reach maturi- ty. The change from a puppy coat takes quite a long time. Judging the puppies
you can see the changing by checking the part line and shoulder line. It can take from twelve to eighteen months for a complete adult coat. Yorkie’s do not shed, it is a continuously growing coat. Often times you will see a young dog with a full coat and proper color and the dark puppy hair still showing at the bottom of the coat. The correct color of Steel Blue and correct coat texture in our breed are very difficult to achieve. It demands two very different and distinct genes in the DNA to make the LUSTROUS STEEL BLUE and SILKY TEXTURE. THE BLACK BODY COAT: never does and never can break to STEEL BLUE in the adult dog. It is a recessive problem. This is caused by the presence of the gene “gg” instead of the proper gene “GG”. This means both parents of a BLACK DOG must carry the recessive gene “g” even if the parents appear to have a Steel Blue coat. It also means that a Black Dog carries no gene for STEEL BLUE. Judges should never FAVOR A BLACK DOG You will never find an entry of Yor- kie’s that are all the same color. Some will be too light and some far too dark, nearly black. Look for the Bright Steel Blue with a very silky texture, with- out any approach to BLACKNESS. Tex- ture can tell you a great deal because some coats will look steel blue howev- er when you touch them the will feel
wooly or cottony. This is called a Cleri- cal Grey coat. In Europe, the Judges table always has a bristle brush to use. When you brush a really clean silky coat it falls straight in place. Without a brush you can run your hands down the coat, pick it up and if it has the right tex- ture and quality of the coat it will fall right in place. QUALITY, TEXTURE AND QUANITITY OF COAT ARE OF PRIME IMPORTANCE. THE HEAD is one of the Yorkie’s most distinctive features. It is balanced, without being fragile or course. The skull is flat on top, not too prominent or round, definitely not a Chihuahua head. Muzzle not too long, in balance with size of the head. The distance from the stop over the crown to the back of the skull and the measurement from the outside set of ear to ear should be approxi- mately the same length. A “pussycat” or “doll face” will have too short a muzzle and too deep a stop to have correct proportions. THE EYES are expressive, full of sparkle and intelligence, with dark eye rims. Oval eyes are preferred. They should not have small, beady, large round or protruding eyes. THE HEAD FALL should be a rich golden tan, deeper in color at the sides of the head, at the ear roots and the muzzle. The ears are a deep rich tan.
“THE OUTSTANDING BREED CHARACTERISTICS OF THE YORKSHIRE TERRIER ARE COAT, COLOR AND TEXTURE.”
416 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , S EPTEMBER 2018
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