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The transition from newly-born puppy to adult Yorkshire Terrier is a very confusing period.  any
attempt by a novice to come to grips with this period by reading opinions of Yorkie breeders can
only add perplexity to confusion. No one agrees. This fact alone offers the greatest hope to any
breeder. The answer lies in the fact that a bloodline generally follows a course, but it never holds
entirely true for all members of the bloodline.

Each Yorkie puppy commences its transition from the newly-born black-and-tan to the adult blue-
and-tan by its own inherited and constructed glandular system. The combination of its inherited
genes from its' sire and dam at conception, and the development of the fetus into a thriving new
born puppy, determines the health and makeup of the glandular system that supplies the pigment
for the hair, skin, eyes, eye rims, nose, and toenails.

The black tan-pointed, newly-born puppy must change into an adult with a pure clear golden tan
and a pure even dark, steel-blue. Not all puppies achieve this goal. Some fall because their coat
texture is unable to provide a means for light rays to be refracted and reflected to the human eye.
Others fail because their systems fail to provide the necessary amount of pigment particles to the
cause, the result is that the Yorkie is unable to visually match the standard in desired colors at specific areas.

To correctly match the standard the Yorkie puppy must remove all black or blackish-brown hairs
from its golden tan. This is first noticed on the skull which may go from black to tan at the hair
roots, with any outgrowth of hairs being tan. Or the hair on the skull may go from black to
the black intermingled hairs diminish the roots and new outgrowth will gradually assume a richer
golden tan.

The black on the muzzle, sides of head, front ear-base and around the eyes generally achieves a
richer golden tan at the roots and new outgrowth as the black intermingled hairs diminish. These
areas are always a darker shade of golden tan.

The chest and legs follow the same program as the skull. All early tan marks are always a richer tan

In the case of a very light pale golden tan (creamy colored) there is usually no distinction between
these early tan marks and the newly grown tan hairs.

The rear of the ear leathers are the last to surrender from the black's hold. They should be a deep
rich tan minus any blackish hue. Failure of the ear to achieve a dark golden tan from the puppy
black is very indicative of a Yorkie who will never clear its blue or clear its tan of black-hued hairs.

The newly-born to adult's skin pigment is identical in color transition as the outgrowing hairs.

The greatest block to a Yorkies complete assumption of the desired colors is the failure of the coat
texture. The newly-born puppies have flat, smooth, short-coated hairs. Only as the hair grows can
texture be felt. It may be wiry, woolly, cottony, or silky.

A wiry coat can develop the visually correct colors, but it will not attain great length. Most wiry
coated yorkies do change coat texture prior to one year. The hair at the roots commences to grow
out a finer grade and thus becomes silky.

The puppies with woolly and cottony coats, although growing great length and heaviness fast,
never attain the correct visual colors. Their qualities-thick heavy, downy, and sort-deter or dull
any light rays from proper play on the hairs.

Wavy coats are visible in Yorkie puppies at a very early age and in general portend a light silver
adult. A slight waviness on the upper hindquarters is not unusual in may Yorkies, but should be
watched

"Breaking Patterns"

As no two Yorkies ever seem to follow an exact transition pattern, or "breaking" as it has come to
be termed, we have included the most general facts of this trying time:

A puppy tha is about 3 to 4 weeks of age that shows gold hairs on the top of its head when the
black hairs are parted, will as an adult have a clear golden tan. If the coat texture is silky, the blue
will have no intermingled colors.

A puppy that has a wiry coat texture, with a tan that is a very bright red gold by four to five
months, will as an adult do one or two things: First, if the puppy as it approaches five or six
months, or at least by nine months, shows the transition from black to blue, the coat texture will
retain the wiry coat which will never attain any great length.

A puppy that has a bright orange-red tan by four or five months, will as an adult have a bright
steel-blue, which may have areas of lighter or darker blue. This coloring shows the greatest
tendency to have the tan placements run into the allotted areas for the blue. The texture will be
silky.

A puppy whose coat appears sparse of thin will, as an adult, have a thick, long coat of the correct
fine silky, glossy texture. This coat's growth is like a human's hair, in that it is born with very little
but by adulthood has an abundance of hair, the quantity having doubled and redoubled all during
puppy-hood (or childhood). Both colors will be totally clear.

A puppy of around four months, that has changed the color on its head from black to gray to a
very pale sooty color, will as an adult enrich all the tan areas to a clear golden tan. The blue will
follow the correct manner of transition from black to blue starting to do so around six months. The
coat texture will be the correct silky type

A puppy whose tan has been cleared of all the intermingled black or sooty hairs by four months
of age, and whose texture is fine and silky, will as an adult have correct colors. The tan of this puppy
will probably enrich to a darker shade as an adult.

A puppy approaching adulthood with a thick heavy coat that has pale cream colored legs, sooty
head colors, with intermingle black hairs in tan at sides of head, on the ear and ear fringes, may
as an adult diminish some of these black and sooty hairs. Its desired blue area may eventually
achieve a transition from black to grey but it will never have a clear golden tan, or a dark steel-
blue. The coat texture is either a wooly or cottony.

A puppy approaching adulthood that has a black stripe in the center of its head, intermingled into
the whiskers, sides of head and up into the top-knot, with ears that are more visibly black than
rich dark golden tan, will as an adult have a tan that is never totally cleared. As the year pass
some of the black and sooty hairs will diminish, but a check of the pigment under these
intermingled areas will show that it is a dark gray which will never lighten. The black on this dog
will show a few hairs that will some hears hence go from black to gray, especially at the lower hips
and lower shoulders, when the hair is parted down through the upper layers. The coat texture will
be woolly or cottony.

A puppy approaching adulthood that has intermingled sooty or black hairs at the sides of its head
running up into the top-knot, with sooty area between the eyes, and who's ears are sooty tan,
will have a gray body coat by around three years. The gray will be lacking a blue hue. the tan will
always have some intermingled sooty hairs especially at sides of head, ear fringes and between
the eyes. There my be some black or sooty hair on top of the muzzle but not in the foreface
furnishings. The coat texture is cottony.

A puppy of three to four months that has a very pale gold tan and whose black has gone to light
silver-blue, will as an adult be a light silver-blue. A check of this puppy's pigment will show that it
is incorrect, as it will be light-gray flesh color. The texture will be silky

A puppy that shows coarse white hairs intermingled in the blue will usually shed most of these as it
approaches adulthood.

A puppy approaching adulthood, (or over a year) that has an inch wide stripe from the hair root
out, then blue, with the tip and last inch or two still showing its transition from black to blue, will
with age lose the blackish tips on the end as they are worn off or cut off as the coat achieves floor
length. The dark stripe will remain although it may be lessen in width. It shows that the
pigmentation of the hair is extremely dense at its beginning and does not diminish until it reaches
this point. The tan will be clear, and the coat texture silky.

A puppy that at some stage in its puppy hood shows a brownish cast to its blue or black body caot
is passing through a stage in which there is a hormone imbalance. this condition will normally
right itself, as it is purely a growth stage.

Excerpts from "The complete Yorkshire Terrier" by Joan Gorden

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