Minor British Institutions: The Yorkshire Terrier

"Yappy" is the word that springs to mind when one meets a Yorkshire Terrier, possibly because of the gross disparity between their size and the noise these little fellows make.

The tiny, fancified examples seen poncing around at Crufts nowadays are some way away from the breed's original function, which was going after rats and other rodents for the purposes of sport and vermin control, especially in 19th-century Yorkshire, where it was "developed", if that's the right word for such a small animal. (The originals were about four times heavier than the ones we see snapping around our ankles today.)

The breed was given its unique status by the Kennel Club in 1886, having been known as the "Broken-haired Scotch Terrier". Somewhere along the line people decided to put bows on them, which was a little demeaning. The breed standard says they should be "spirited with even disposition".

Numbers peaked at 22,665 in 1990. They're still in the top 10 breeds, though in today's less genteel dog culture they have lost out to the likes of the pitbull, for which a Yorkie might make a nice snack.