All Yorkshire Terriers are considered toy dogs because the breed is, in fact, a toy breed. Yorkies weight should range between three and seven pounds.

A teacup yorkie is more of a slang term which is not used by the American Kennel Club (AKC) and is not a real classification of yorkie. It has been argued that teacup yorkies do not exist because of this fact. However the concept does exist and teacup yorkies are some of the most sought after dogs. “Teacup yorkie” refers to a yorkie hopefully on the smaller end of the three to seven. Unfortunately there is a large market for breeding dogs smaller than three pounds.

These teacup yorkies are very fragile and have many problems. A full grown yorkie under three pounds pushes the genetic material of the Yorkshire terrier, as this dog (and few other dogs; get a hamster) is not intended by nature to be that small. Teacup yorkies under three pounds are the result of breeding runts of two litters. The result is poor genetic material. Unfortunately these extremely small yorkies are at a high risk for a variety of health problems.
What should a teacup yorkie look like?

For the purposes of this article we will use the term “teacup” as a term of endearment; that’s how I like to define the word. Teacup yorkies are small dogs- Yorkshire Terriers are already small by breed standard-even the seven pound yorkie is very small. Teacup yorkies should be colored black and tan, black and gold, blue and tan, or blue and gold. The hair on a yorkie’s legs and head should be the lighter color. The “saddle” or torso/back of yorkie should be black or blue. The blue color is a lovely sheen blue. The body of a yorkie is low set, with an erect tail always clipped at a few days old. The yorkie’s ears should stand erect as well- if your yorkies ears do not stand up they probably need a clipping. A yorkie has an almost stout build that is usually described as compact. Their stance should look as though they are proud of the way they look.
Short haired teacup yorkies…
Short haired teacup yorkies do not really exist. All Yorkshire terriers’ hair grows long like yours and mine unless it is cut. If your yorkie has short hair and isn’t growing- and you haven’t cut it- then your yorkie is probably not a yorkie!

Puppies hair can be cut to avoid tangles and having to brush constantly. A yorkie’s hair should be brushed every day if possible. I have tried this, but it is hard!!! Bella’s hair gets tangles because we don’t brush her hair enough. So she will be getting a haircut soon.