Teacup Yorkies or Teacup Yorkshire Terriers Do They Exist?

This is a question that keeps coming up because of a lot of deceptive information distributed by the Yorkshire Terrier Club of America and many Show Breeders.

Do Teacup Yorkies Exist?

The answer to this question is technically NO. The reason being that Yorkie is a slang term for Yorkshire Terrier and AKC only recognizes the Yorkshire Terrier. There is no Yorkie Breed. Now if you accept that Yorkie can be used interchangeably with Yorkshire Terrier then you need to read further.

Do Teacup Yorkshire Terriers Exist?

This is where the Yorkshire Terrier Club of America and many show breeders have been very deceptive in an attempt to confuse the general public.

If one is referring to a Teacup Yorkshire Terrier as a dog breed the answer is NO, TEACUP YORKSHIRE TERRIERS DO NOT EXIST.

The answer is YES, TEACUP YORKSHIRE TERRIERS DO EXIST if one is referring to a Teacup Yorkshire Terrier as an extra small Yorkshire Terrier where teacup or extra small are meant as adjectives describing the noun Yorkshire Terrier. Just as AKC Yorkshire Terriers, Female Yorkshire Terriers, Champion Yorkshire Terriers, Chocolate Yorkshire Terriers, Blue and Gold Yorkshire Terriers, and Etc. exist.

This is a section of an article on the YTCA website:

"An Important Message About "Teacup" Yorkies"

"If you are interested in purchasing a tiny Yorkie, sometimes called a Teacup, Micro Mini, Teenie, or any other name that means "extra small", there are several things you should consider. The YTCA's Code of Ethics precludes the use of the words "teacup", "tiny specialists", doll faced, or similar terminology by its members, and for good reason."

Three things are interesting from this section:

1. They broke their own code of ethics in the first sentence by using "tiny Yorkie".

2. They are only concerned about adjectives that mean extra small but yet they threw in the word doll face, which has nothing to do with size. I will go into detail about YTCA's code of Ethics in the article, The How and Why's of the Deceptive Practices of YTCA and many Show Breeders.

3. They are acknowledging that the people using the terms Teacup, Micro Mini, Teenie, and etc. are using the terms as adjectives modifying the noun Yorkie and are not tying to imply a new Yorkshire Terrier Breed as many show breeders profess.

Personally, I don't know of a single breeder that ever thought that a Teacup Yorkie was another breed of Yorkshire Terriers and I know that whenever I'm talking to someone and I sense that they think that a Teacup Yorkie is a different breed than the Yorkshire Terrier I try to educate them on the facts.

For the publics sake, the ethical and professional way to handle any misunderstandings about the term Teacup Yorkshire Terrier could have been as simple as stating:

TEACUP YORKSHIRE TERRIER, MINIATURE YORKSHIRE TERRIER, AND ETC. REFERS TO A SMALLER THAN USUAL YORKSHIRE TERRIER AND IS NOT A NEW YORKSHIRE TERRIER BREED.