Yorkshire Terrier Puppies

From the Yorkshire mills to the drawing room

The Yorkshire Terrier was made in the north of England in the middle of the nineteenth century, and it was made by working people. Scottish weavers moving south for jobs in the woollen mills brought their terriers with them, and those dogs, Paisley and Clydesdale types with a probable hand from the Skye Terrier, the Manchester Terrier and the Maltese, were crossed and re-crossed in the mill towns until something small, silky and very game came out the other end.

The work was keeping vermin down in the mills and around the mines, and it wanted a dog small enough to get into the corners and bold enough to want to. What nobody planned was the coat. The dogs that came out of those crosses grew long, fine, straight hair that fell like a curtain, and once Victorian society got a look at it the breed’s career changed direction entirely.

Almost every Yorkie alive traces back to one dog. Huddersfield Ben, born in 1865, was the sire who fixed the type, and he is still called the father of the breed. The name Yorkshire Terrier was settled on in 1870, replacing the older broken-haired Scotch Terrier, and the American Kennel Club recognized the breed in 1885. Within a generation a mill-town ratter was sitting on cushions in London drawing rooms, which is a career change no other terrier has quite managed.

Seven pounds, and steel blue over gold

A Yorkie is a genuinely small dog. Most stand around seven to eight inches at the shoulder and weigh about seven pounds, and the standard asks for a compact, well proportioned animal: a small, neat, level-backed dog that carries itself with its head up.

The head is small and rather flat on top, the muzzle is short, and the small V-shaped ears stand erect. The eyes are dark and medium-sized and set to look straight ahead, and the expression is sharp and interested. The tail is carried a little above the level of the back.

The colour is the part worth understanding, because it arrives slowly. Yorkie puppies are born black and tan, and the black clears gradually to the steel blue of the adult coat while the tan on the head, chest and legs brightens toward a rich gold. The blue runs from the back of the skull to the root of the tail, and the tan is meant to be deeper at the roots than at the tips. A puppy in the pen usually looks nothing like the picture in the breed book, and the change over the first two years is one of the things owners enjoy most about the breed.

The coat: floor length or a puppy trim

The Yorkie coat is a single coat of fine, glossy, perfectly straight hair with the texture of human hair rather than fur. It keeps growing instead of dropping out, so it sheds very little. In the show ring it is grown to the floor and parted down the spine, which looks extraordinary and takes daily work to keep.

Almost nobody with a pet Yorkie does that, and there is no reason to. Most owners keep the coat in a short, even trim, usually called a puppy cut, which suits the dog, suits the weather here, and turns grooming into a genuinely small job: a comb through every couple of days to keep it smooth, a bath when the dog has found something worth a bath, and a trim at the groomer every six to eight weeks.

The hair on top of the head grows long whichever route you take, and it either goes into a topknot with a small band or gets trimmed short. Both look good, and it is the sort of decision you can change your mind about every few months. Nails want trimming a little and often on a dog this size, ears get a wipe while you comb, and teeth are worth brushing from the first week so a Yorkie decides early that the toothbrush is simply another thing that happens.

The terrier underneath the silk

A Yorkie in full coat looks like an ornament and behaves like a terrier, and the second half is why people keep them. This is a confident, busy, opinionated little dog that will walk up to a Labrador in the park with no sense at all that the arithmetic is against it, and that assurance is entirely charming once you know where it came from.

With their own people, Yorkies are devoted and physically affectionate. They would rather be on you than near you, they follow from room to room, and they take a close interest in whatever is going on in the kitchen. They are lively company for adults and a great deal of fun for older children who enjoy a dog with something to say.

They do have something to say. A Yorkie will tell you when someone comes to the door, when the mail arrives and when a squirrel oversteps. Most owners settle into the same routine: go and look together, thank the dog, and get on with the day. Taught from the first week that reporting is followed by a thank-you and an end, a Yorkie keeps the whole business brief.

Training a small dog with a large opinion of itself

Yorkies are clever and they like to be right, which makes them very good pupils for anyone who pays properly. Food works, praise works, and a squeaky toy works better than either on some days. Keep the sessions to a couple of minutes, ask for one thing at a time, and finish while the dog is still keen.

Two things repay real attention early. The first is getting the puppy comfortable being handled, combed, held and having its nails done, because a dog that enjoys the grooming routine makes the next fifteen years easy. Start with ten seconds and a treat and build from there. The second is house training, which goes best when it is boring and predictable: out first thing, after meals, after naps, after play, and a proper celebration every single time it goes right outdoors.

Socialization is the rest of it. Take the puppy out through the first year to meet ordinary things, different floors, umbrellas, wheeled bins, calm dogs, people in hats. A Yorkie that has met a hundred ordinary things before six months finds the world a very manageable size.

What a day with a Yorkie looks like

A Yorkie’s exercise needs are modest and its interest in going out is not. Two short walks a day suit it well, and the walk is more about the smells and the news than the distance. In a Florida or Tennessee summer the early and late hours are the good ones, and a shaded route is worth going out of your way for.

Indoors, a Yorkie fills the gaps. It will follow you around the kitchen, take up a position where it can see the front door, and turn a rolled sock into an event. Five minutes of fetch down a hallway does as much for a dog this size as a half-hour route march, and a food puzzle or a treat hidden under one of three cups keeps the terrier brain occupied.

Evenings are for company. This is a lap dog by long tradition and by strong preference, and a Yorkie that has walked, played and been included spends the evening tucked against someone, one ear still up in case the mail comes late.

Come and meet the Yorkie puppies

Photographs make a Yorkie look delicate. Standing next to one, what you notice is how solid and busy and self-assured it is: a small dog with a lot of engine, entirely convinced it is the correct size for any situation it finds itself in.

Our Yorkshire Terrier puppies come from our network of licensed breeders, and our team can tell you how a particular puppy has been getting on with people. We have a store in Orlando and one in Nashville, and you are welcome to sit on the floor and let a puppy come to you before deciding anything. Find directions and hours, and ask about financing while you are here. Every puppy here goes home with its vet records, its vaccination history and a health warranty, and our team will walk you through what those cover.