New research conducted by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC)’s VetCompass programme, exploring the demography, clinical health and longevity of Yorkshire Terriers in the UK, has revealed they are largely healthy and long-lived dogs. Despite this, the breed is increasingly being overlooked by prospective owners when deciding which dog breed to acquire.

The Yorkshire Terrier, fondly known as the ‘Yorkie’, is an old-established breed and was once highly popular among pedigree UK dogs registered with the Kennel Club. However, recent Kennel Club registrations indicate that the pedigree subset of the breed (maximum body weight of 3.20kg) is in significant decline, dropping sharply from 0.93% of all registrations in 2013 to 0.18% of all registrations in 2022. This means the pedigree Yorkie may soon be classified as a ‘vulnerable breed’ that is close to extinction, as more fashionable newly invented breeds such as Cockapoos become popular with the UK public. However, there may be more to the Yorkie story, given that more than two-thirds of UK dogs are not registered with the Kennel Club and to date, there has been very little information published on the popularity and health of the overall UK pet population of Yorkshire Terriers.

This study from the RVC, which is the largest ever of its kind, set out to find out more about the health and demographic trends of the wider UK pet population of Yorkshire Terriers. Researchers analysed anonymised veterinary clinical information of 28,032 Yorkshire Terriers from a VetCompass study population of 905,542 dogs of all breeds under UK veterinary care during 2016.

The findings of the new study revealed that the wider pet population of UK Yorkshire Terriers, which are generally kept as companion dogs, are a very different type of dog to the pedigree version, with a much larger body size, averaging 5.06kg. The overall levels of ownership of pet Yorkies is much higher than for the pedigree subset, and the drop in popularity is much less pronounced, with the general pet population decreasing from 3.54% of all dogs born in 2005 to 2.15% in 2016. This is good news for the long-term future of the Yorkie breed overall and suggests that the larger non-pedigree subset of the breed retains some favour with the UK public.

Average population lifespan is often used as a reliable indicator of overall health in humans and dogs. Further good news for the Yorkshire Terrier was identified in this new study, as the breed has an average lifespan of 13.56 years. This is substantially longer than the average lifespan of 12.00 years for dogs overall and suggests that the Yorkshire Terrier can be considered to have very robust health overall.

However, Yorkshire Terriers were found to be especially prone to dental disease, and other commonly diagnosed disorders were overgrown nails, anal sac impaction, obesity and persistent deciduous teeth, which may not limit the length of life but can reduce the quality of life. The researchers therefore encourage owners of Yorkshire Terriers to be vigilant about their dogs’ dental hygiene and regularly implement preventative home care methods such as tooth brushing and feeding specific dental diets to maintain oral hygiene.

Other key findings from the study included:

• The average body weight of male Yorkshire Terriers at 5.50 kg was heavier than female Yorkshire Terriers at 4.67 kg.
• The overall median age of Yorkshire Terriers during the study was 5.52 years.
• Of the Yorkshire Terriers that died, 85.7% of the deaths involved euthanasia, with the remaining being unassisted deaths.

Dr Dan O’Neill, Associate Professor of Companion Animal Epidemiology at the RVC, and lead author of the paper, said: “There seems to be growing awareness by the general public of the suffering that goes with extreme body shapes, such as extreme miniaturisation in dogs. Therefore, this new study provides good news that the general pet population of Yorkshire Terriers are robust dogs with long lives, whose welfare can benefit further from extra attention to good dental hygiene. Perhaps it is time for us all to reembrace the pet Yorkie as a good choice of breed to acquire.”

This study was supported by an award from the Kennel Club Charitable Trust and Agria Pet Insurance.

Dr Alison Skipper, Veterinary and Research Advisor at the Kennel Club, said: “This research shows that Yorkshire Terriers, a British breed with a long history, are generally healthy dogs with an unusually long lifespan. Their main disorders, such as dental disease and overgrown nails, are common problems across many breeds. This new study confirms that ‘Yorkies’ are a good choice for someone wanting a healthy pet with low levels of breed-related disease.”

The publication of this research also marks a milestone for the RVC’s VetCompass programme, which has now published 175 academic papers on a range of topics aimed at improving companion animal health. You can find out more here: https://www.rvc.ac.uk/vetcompass.