At a glance
- Type
- Purebred, FCI No. 86, Group 3 (terriers): a toy terrier
- Height
- Typically about 18–23 cm; the standard sets no height
- Weight
- Up to 3.2 kg under the FCI standard
- Life expectancy
- About 13–16 years
- Coat
- Long, fine, silky single coat, steel blue and tan; sheds very little
- Grooming
- Daily combing if kept long; a short pet clip every 6–8 weeks
- Exercise
- About 30 minutes a day, plus play indoors
- With children
- Best with calm, school-age children
- In an apartment
- Yes, one of the easiest breeds for an apartment
- Cyprus summer
- Copes fairly well with early and late walks; shade the skin from the sun
- Our price
- from €1,250
About the Yorkshire Terrier
The Yorkshire Terrier was not bred to be ornamental. Scottish labourers who came south for work in the Yorkshire mills and mines arrived with their terriers, and the dog that emerged from them in the 1850s earned its keep on rats. The silk coat came later; the terrier underneath did not go anywhere.
Take that seriously when you meet one. A Yorkie is alert, quick and opinionated, with far more confidence than three kilos justify. He will notice everything that happens on your street and tell you about it. Early socialising and a little structure make the difference between a self-assured small dog and a noisy one, and this breed is bright enough to learn either.
Exercise needs are genuinely small — half an hour a day is enough, which makes the Yorkshire Terrier a realistic choice for apartment living in Nicosia or Limassol. The coat is where your time goes. It hardly sheds, which many owners love, but that long silky hair needs combing every day and will mat within a week if you let it slide. Plenty of Cypriot owners keep their Yorkies in a short pet clip: it looks smart, handles the heat better, and cuts the work to a few minutes.
He is small enough to be underfoot, so households with toddlers need to supervise. Otherwise expect twelve years and more of a busy, devoted little dog.
Origin, purpose and temperament follow the official FCI breed standard; exercise, grooming and family suitability follow The Royal Kennel Club (UK). Every puppy is an individual — ask us about the one you are considering.
Living with a Yorkshire Terrier in Cyprus
A summer cut is fine. A Yorkie has a single coat with no woolly undercoat, more like human hair than fur, so clipping it short for the hot months does no harm and it grows back the same. Ask the groomer for two or three centimetres rather than a shave. A long coat falls open along the spine, and that thin line of pale skin burns in the July sun; so does a fresh clip, so keep daytime outings in the shade.
Fearless and fragile. A three-kilo Yorkie will square up to a colony cat by the bins or a village dog off its lead, and he would lose. Outside a fenced space keep him on a lead, walk him on a harness, which spares his small windpipe, and pick him up when a loose dog approaches.
Teeth and knees. Toy breeds fit a full set of adult teeth into a tiny jaw. The teeth crowd, tartar builds quickly, and baby teeth often stay in beside the adult ones; ask your vet to check at about six months, and brush a few times a week. Yorkies are also prone to slipping kneecaps (luxating patella), so give him steps or a ramp to the sofa and rugs on smooth tiles.
Evening bites. The cool tiles indoors are where he will spend July afternoons. The evening walk is the pleasant one, and also when sandflies feed, from about May until October; they carry leishmaniasis, so ask your vet which repellent is safe at his weight. Ticks are covered in our puppy care sheet.
