Yorkshire Terrier: Nutrition, character, training and much more about the Yorkshire Terrier

By Roland Berger

Cute and loyal, yet active and intelligent - you could hardly describe the little Yorkshire Terrier better. There is so much more to this little ball of fur than you might think at first glance. This is also reflected in the career of this little dog: once used as a rat catcher, the Yorkie conquered the hearts of the nobility and fought his way to the position of a popular society dog until today.

The contents of the book are:
- The Yorkshire Terrier dog breed
- Education of a Yorkshire Terrier
- Health and nutrition
- The care of the Yorkshire Terrier
- Character, training and much more
- Many illustrations

In addition to cuddles and the closeness to his caregivers, the little four-legged friend also needs a lot of activity, which concerns both exercise and intelligence development! With this guidebook you have the perfect guide in your hand. It shows you fundamental theoretical knowledge about this small dog breed and then gives you practical tips, exercises and instructions for education, care & Co.

In detail, you can expect exciting information and helpful tips about ...
- the historical development of the Yorkshire Terrier,
- its appearance and character,
- the correct procedure with the acquisition,
- the species-appropriate education, attitude and nutrition,
- the care and promotion of health.

In addition, you will receive valuable tips for adequate employment and the development of a deep bond, so that your intelligent Yorkie is both mentally and physically busy and enriches your everyday life in all facets. With the help of this guidebook, start a happy, mutually respectful life with your Yorkshire Terrier. Have fun reading!

• Language: English
• Publisher: XinXii
• Release date: Mar 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9783987628740

Book preview

Introductory

Probably one of the best friends of man is the dog. No wonder - who can resist those faithful eyes when they look straight into your soul? Who can hold his hand still when the soft and fuzzy fur literally cries out to be stroked, and what lips do not form a broad smile when the dog wags his tail in sheer delight because he is so happy that the mistress or master is back again?

Dogs are part of people's lives - almost everyone knows at least one person or family in their relatives or circle of friends who has a dog, and many are considering getting one themselves.

This is probably the reason why you are holding this guide in your hands. Maybe you are thinking about getting a dog, or you have just acquired a Yorkshire Terrier and would like to know a little more about your new family member.

To inform yourself more precisely about the breed of your own dog or the dog you want to acquire plays an incredibly important and fundamental role. Of course, it is true that each dog has its own character and thus brings its own individual personality to the family. Nevertheless, there are definitely a few similarities that connect the dogs of each breed with each other, so you can get a rough idea about the breed and thus assess whether the breed is right for you or not.

In this guide you will learn more about the bright and lively Yorkshire Terrier, who will quickly conquer his way into your heart with his short legs and his loyal beady eyes and enrich your family with his presence. In the beginning, many people cannot imagine how life with a dog will be and how everyday life with a new family member will be. However, once the Yorkshire Terrier has moved in, you will feel that you have never lived without him, and you will not be able to imagine a life where he does not pant in your ear, beg you for food from the lunch table, or ask you to throw him the ball so that he can catch it and bring it back.

Did you know that you relieve stress when you pet a dog? It's not just your Yorkshire Terrier that benefits from being allowed to snuggle up with you on the couch and receive petting from you - you also get the benefit of many positive effects that come with petting a dog. While you stroke a dog through its fuzzy and soft fur, your body releases the hormone oxytocin. This is a feel-good and bonding hormone that not only ensures a strong bond between you and your dog, but at the same time combats the stress hormone cortisol in your body. Thus, petting a dog reduces stress and increases well-being.

However, so that not only you feel completely comfortable with your faithful and loving four-legged friend, but this feeling is based on reciprocity, it is - as already mentioned - important to know how best to deal with your Yorkshire Terrier.

For these purposes, this comprehensive guidebook will be at your side with advice and support. You will not only dive into the history of the Yorkshire Terrier, but you will also learn everything you need to know about the care, the character of your favorite, the education and also the diet. You can also look forward to great tips that can help you strengthen the relationship with your dog, and at the end you will get 10 interesting and fun game ideas with which you can pass the time together with your Yorkshire Terrier. Get informed with the help of this guide, get to know your dog better and maybe even understand some behavior better. Since dogs can't talk, it's up to you to learn what your dog wants to say with a certain behavior or what he needs to feel good all around.

One thing you should already know - the saying that you should never judge a book based on its cover couldn't be truer, especially when it comes to the Yorkshire Terrier. While this mini dog does enjoy being petted and can be lazy in the corner, it truly is not the lap dog that its appearance may pretend to be. Yorkshire Terriers seem to know that true greatness comes from within, and therefore like to act like a big dog once in a while, fearing nothing and no one. But that's what makes them so lovable - the great belief in themselves, the tendency to overestimate themselves and the big beady eyes that make up for everything with just one look when the shoe has become a toy because the little rascal was bored again.

The Yorkshire Terrier

How would you describe a Yorkshire Terrier if you were allowed to use only three words? This question is quite difficult, because Yorkshire Terriers are very small animals, but they have all the bigger heart and convince with an incredibly loving and intelligent character.

One could try it with the words small, but oho! Because many people underestimate the Yorkshire Terrier and not infrequently small dogs are gladly written off as barkers - the advantages say hello. Of course, the Yorkshire Terrier is visually much smaller than many other dogs - after all, he also belongs to the mini breeds. But as they say - the true size comes from within! Surely, from his small mouth comes sometimes a bark, but that belongs to dogs and therefore does not make them a yapper.

But what makes the Yorkshire Terrier? What distinguishes this small popular dog breed and how does this, at first glance, small ball of fur into the hearts of countless people? Let's take a closer look at the Yorkshire Terrier in this chapter of the guidebook and learn more about where it actually comes from, what its history is like and what you can imagine about its appearance and character.

The origin and history of the Yorkshire Terrier

No wonder that the Yorkshire Terrier, once he has moved into your family, will become the king or queen of your heart in no time - after all, this dog breed comes from England. He won't mind if you have a daily 5 o'clock tea, in keeping with his heritage, with tea and cake for you and treats and fresh water for your Yorkshire Terrier (which should always be available - but you'll learn more about that later!).

The history of the Yorkshire Terrier starts, to be very precise, when the industrialization started in England. The time of industrialization meant for many people that they went to the big cities to find work. So it came about at the time of industrialization that a great many Scottish workers who could not find work at home in the countryside moved to the big cities. Moving always means a lot of stress and often uncertainty - so it's always good to have someone by your side to relieve the stress and make you feel a little more comfortable. Well, who comes to mind when you hear these keywords? - Of course, man's best friend: the dog.

In fact, the Scottish workers brought their native dogs with them to the big cities. Firstly, the dogs kept them company and secondly, of course, they could not just leave them alone. This plays a fundamental role in the acquisition of a Yorkshire Terrier, as you will learn more intensively later - you have a new family member in your dog and you can never just leave it alone. It trusts you, it loves you and it depends on you.

The native dogs of the Scottish workers included, among others, the Skye terrier and also the Clydesdale, which, however, is now unfortunately extinct. The poor workers who lived in the industrial cities of northern England - more precisely and more precisely in the area of the county of Yorkshire - purposefully and deliberately bred small terriers. However, the ulterior motive was not so much to have a friend for life with the dogs, but rather to use them to keep the city free of mice and rats. They thus saw the terriers more as farm animals than as pets and at later times even organized illegal rabbit hunts with the animals.

The breeding of terriers by the poor workers took place with different terrier breeds. This led to the fact that within a very short time many different breeds were crossed with each other. For this reason, today it is not possible to say exactly how the genetic history of the Yorkshire Terrier.

Two aspects that the workers attached great importance to regarding their breeding was that of making the dogs smaller and lighter and that they had long, silky coats. They hoped to be able to give small and light dogs with long, silky coats to people from the more distinguished circles. The workers succeeded in this plan, because after some time they were able to sell many specimens from their kennel to the nobility, thus making profit from their breeding and crossbreeding of different breeds.

Now, of course, it will be very unlikely that your Yorkshire Terrier will ask you one day who his Urururoma and Urururopa were (after all, YOU are his family for your Yorkshire Terrier), but you could well give him an answer to this question. Because it is assumed that the Yorkshire Terrier, as we know and love him today, is descended from the terrier male Old Crab and the female Kitty. So it is thanks to Grandpa Old Crab and Grandma Kitty that your little terrier today - despite his small stature - sprawls long on the sofa and almost throws her off the edge of the bed at night. Because the offspring of Old Crab and Kitty, the show dog Huddersfield Ben, not only won a lot of prizes, but is the progenitor of the breed Yorkshire Terrier.

Officially, the Yorkshire Terrier breed has existed since 1886, although it was registered in the studbook as early as 1874. However, the official recognition took place only in 1886. The nobility could not keep the Yorkshire Terrier for themselves for a long time, because this cute and affectionate little dog quickly sniffed his way into the hearts of other people and thus counted to the end of the 19th century with the most popular dwarf dogs of the British.

More and more people in England acquired Yorkshire Terriers and in the 1970s the breed also became internationally known and popular. The popularity even became a real hype quite quickly, so that the Yorkshire Terrier moved more and more into households outside England. No wonder - such a small, loyal and loving friend that you find in a Yorkshire Terrier, you just can not resist.

Yorkshire Terrier appearance and character

As the saying goes - beauty is in the eye of the beholder and, as mentioned above, true greatness (hand in hand with true beauty) comes from within. In this case, the Yorkshire Terrier convinces both externally and internally, as he not only looks visually incredibly cute, but also internally has a heart of gold and a unique character.

Of course, with dogs, as with people, every dog is unique and every character should be accepted just as it is. Nevertheless, if you want to acquire a dog, it is important for you to know which character traits you should expect in order to be able to assess whether the breed is right for you or not.

What are the visual characteristics of a Yorkshire Terrier and what can you expect from this little companion in terms of character? Is he really as gentle and well-behaved as he pretends to be? Or is there more behind the facade? Let's take a look at what makes this inner and outer piece of gold, which enjoyed incredible popularity among the nobility back in the day.

The appearance

Of course, it is absolutely true that you should never limit a dog to its appearance. A purely superficial evaluation, which refers only to the external appearance, is not particularly helpful. However, in the case of the Yorkshire Terrier, it must be said quite clearly that it is a really beautiful and sweet dog breed, which simply captivates with its own appearance and convinces many people. Who can resist big and loyal beady eyes, while the little tail wags back and forth with joy, literally begging to free a little space in the heart for the little four-legged friend? As you will find out, provided that a Yorkshire Terrier will move in with you and thus become part of your family, the little friends of man not only take a little place in the heart, but completely fill it with their presence.

However, let's start with the size of the Yorkshire Terrier. These dogs are among the smallest breeds that can be found among dogs. Although the breed standard does not specify a certain size for the Yorkshire Terrier, but usually the dogs have a size of about 20 cm.

At this point it is quite interesting to know that the size of a dog is measured from the ground to the highest elevation of the shoulder blade. In this case, the measurement is made along the front leg.

Thus, the Yorkshire Terrier is quite a small and quite compact dog. But, as the saying goes, the well-known and popular adage small but mighty applies to him. Why this is so, shows the following section, which deals a little more intensively with the character of the faithful companion. Due to its rather small size, the Yorkshire Terrier also has a rather low dead weight. Thus, the small quadruped brings a weight of about 3.2 kilograms on the scale. The minimum weight of 2.4 kilograms should never fall below the small dogs. This lower limit has been set by the German Kennel Club (VDH). The reason for this lower limit is the fact that the VDH wants to prevent a so-called dwarfing of the Yorkshire Terrier.

This distortion is counteracted so much because these Yorkshire Terrier mini versions are much more prone to injuries than the normal Yorkshire Terriers. This means that the mini versions have a much greater health risk. So, refrain from getting a mini Yorkshire Terrier from a breeder and rather refer to a Yorkshire Terrier that has the minimum size and is within the specified range in terms of size. It is not for nothing that the breeding, which deals with the breeding of the Yorkshire Terrier minis, bears the name of the torture breeding. The dogs often do not have an easy life, get injured more quickly and cannot live up to their urge to move and their great energy, because their physical condition simply does not allow them to do so.

As for the Yorkshire Terrier's coat, it is characterized by very long, silky and extremely smooth fur. This not only gives him an extremely beautiful and appealing appearance, but also triggers irresistible tingling in most hands - you just want to spoil him with caresses.

By the way, you can tell from the ears whether a dog enjoys being stroked or not. When he likes to be stroked, his whole body relaxes and so do his ears. In general, the ears in a dog represent a very important and fundamental means of communication. Dogs do communicate with their owners through their face (they have a few more muscles in the facial area), but especially the ears play a very important role in the communication.

As for the shape of the ears of the Yorkshire Terrier, they are set high and have a sympathetic V-shape. In turn, the tail, which happily wags back and forth when the friend of man is happy and wants to express his joy, is slightly above the back line of these animals.

Last but not least, there is the question of the color of the coat. According to the breed standard, Yorkshire Terriers - which, by the way, are also often called Yorkies - have a beautiful, steel-blue coat starting from the occiput. However, this coat does not extend over the whole dog. In fact, the Yorkshire Terrier is characterized by golden-brown fur on the head, muzzle and chest. This is also called Tan. No wonder - it looks a bit as if the little four-legged friend had been on vacation and enjoyed hours of fresh water together with some tasty pieces of sausage in the sun and thus got this great color.

However, more and more Yorkshire Terriers are now found deviating from this classic color, which corresponds to the breed standard. Although this is absolutely no problem for the owners who love their four-legged friend unconditionally and do not reduce it purely on its appearance, any color deviation that does not correspond to the standard is considered a mismatch.

But in this connection it is interesting that Yorkshire puppies always deviate from this standard. Namely, they are distinguished by the fact of having black fur. Only when they grow out of the puppy status, the right color spreads, which then characterizes the coat throughout his life. By the way, Yorkshire Terriers are called puppies for 7 or 8 months. After a maximum of 8 months they have reached their height - in other words, they are considered fully grown. However, they can continue to gain weight. Finally, they are considered completely ready after 12 to 18 months.

However, this miscolor