Golddust Yorkshire Terrier Dog Breed

Below are details and specs for the Golddust Yorkshire Terrier dog breed.

Golddust Yorkshire Terriers are very small dogs in the Toy category. These rare lapdogs are about 8 to 10 inches high when fully grown and usually weigh no more than 11 pounds.

Expect your Golddust Yorkie to be intelligent, headstrong and curious as well as friendly, robust and amenable. They can be difficult to house train but tend to get along well with kids and other pets, and will always be exploring due to their inquisitive nature.

Keeping a Golddust Yorkshire Terrier happy and healthy will require a moderate to great amount of maintenance. While the exercise aspect will be moderate, the need to keep his hair clean, trimmed and problem-free will require a lot of brushing, bathing, trimming and trips to the groomer.

The Golddust Yorkshire Terrier is a mutated breed that was inadvertently produced from the Biewer Yorkshire Terrier, the latter of which was recognized by German kennel clubs in 1989. (It was not initially known as a Golddust Yorkshire Terrier, however, but as the Biewer White Gold when the pedigree was first registered in Germany.) Although the color of the Golddust Terrier-to be was appreciated and popped up inexplicably during the 1980s and early '90s, it was for a long time simply regarded as an incorrectly colored Biewer.

Kirsten Sanchez-Meyer, a genetics biology teacher in Germany, was the person who brought the breed to be recognized when she took a professional interest in the recessive gene mutation that was responsible for the specific color that granted the Golddust Yorkshire Terrier its name. She discovered that a Golddust Yorkie was produced when the black and/or brown pigments (called eumelanin; it's also found in humans and its volume determines the darkness of skin) is formed in the skin but not visible. Due to this phenomenon, the reddish-yellow pigment pheomelanin is uniquely visible in the skin and this is what grants the Golddust Yorkshire Terrier his beautiful golden hue.

To produce a Golddust Yorkie, one must have one of two combinations: either both parents must be a Golddust Yorkshire Terrier (which will always result in a Golddust), or one of the parents must be a Yorkshire Terrier or Biewer Yorkshire Terrier that possesses the recessive gene and be bred with a Golddust Yorkshire Terrier.

In 2007, Sanchez-Meyer bred a sire, Bellini Butch baron vom Klosterbach (a blue-and-tan Yorkshire Terrier), with a dam, Sissi Prinzess vom Klosterbach (a Biewer Yorkshire Terrier), and the result was two Golddust Yorkshire Terrier pups born on October 14. These pups, Alicia Goldschatz vom Klosterbach and Anjalie Goldschatz vom Klosterbach were the first two Golddust Yorkies to be officially registered in Germany and were done so on December 12, 2007.

Because of the breed's former name (Biewer White Gold) and due to the allowance of those registered as such prior to the original Golddust papers, registries that recognized the breed by both names allowed owners who had originally registered Golddust Yorkies as "Biewer White Golds" were allowed to change the name. Because of this, there may be some Golddust Yorkies that are older than the above registry date.

Golddust Yorkshire Terriers were first shown in the United States by Sharon Brown in August, 2009 at a North American Kennel Club (NAKC) Rarities show.

The breed is not recognized by the American Kennel Club or the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI, translated into English as World Canine Organization).

Golddust Yorkshire Terriers tend to have small, flat heads with a moderately sized muzzle topped by medium-size eyes and compact bodies. The triangular ears are small, and the straight hair of the silky, shiny coat will reach the ground or hang very close to it. They may have a scissor bite.

Golddust Yorkshire Terriers are great family dogs and are remarkably strong as well as somewhat territorial. They are extremely smart, very curious and rather fearless. They can also be difficult to house-train, however, and they don't respond well to repercussion-based training.

Golddust Yorkshire Terriers are said to not be susceptible to disease, but they are known to have delicate digestive systems as well as soft teeth that are receptive to decay.