--- title: The Yorkshire Terrier: A Small Dog With a Winning Personality description: As the Westminster Dog Show gets underway in New York, LIFE presents photos celebrating a rare and singularly winning breed: The Yorkie. canonical: https://time.com/3879059/yorkshire-terrier-a-small-dog-with-a-winning-personality/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-10T03:13:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:47:34.807Z og:title: The Yorkshire Terrier: A Small Dog With a Winning Personality og:description: As the Westminster Dog Show gets underway in New York, LIFE presents photos celebrating a rare and singularly winning breed: The Yorkie. og:url: https://time.com/3879059/yorkshire-terrier-a-small-dog-with-a-winning-personality/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta99160a21efb92b9/69884b43a988ca5e4a6b208c/140206-yorkshire-terriers-10.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Yorkshire Terriers og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Yorkshire Terrier: A Small Dog With a Winning Personality twitter:description: As the Westminster Dog Show gets underway in New York, LIFE presents photos celebrating a rare and singularly winning breed: The Yorkie. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta99160a21efb92b9/69884b43a988ca5e4a6b208c/140206-yorkshire-terriers-10.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Breed Apart: Portraits of Yorkshire Terriers by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Feb 10, 2014 3:13 AM UTC  A Yorkie jumping. A Yorkie jumping.Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Feb 10, 2014 3:13 AM UTC In November 1964, LIFE magazine noted that “a small dog with a sweeping hairdo and a peppery disposition” was pushing the poodle aside as the elegant canine accessory-of-the-moment. LIFE also noted that the small, dynamic Yorkie — for it was none other than the [Yorkshire Terrier](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire%5FTerrier) to which the magazine devoted a multi-page feature — “is no lap dog. It has the dash and spirit of all terriers and is a better ratter than most cats.” The image of a fearless rat-killer is hardly the first that comes to mind, of course, when one thinks of the Yorkie — and the Nina Leen photos in that LIFE feature focused on the breed’s cute, lively nature rather than its innate (if rarely exercised) ferocity. But the point was clear: while small in stature, the Yorkie has huge appeal. Here, as the 138th annual [Westminster Dog Show](http://www.westminsterkennelclub.org/) gets underway in New York, LIFE presents some of Leen’s pictures from 50 years ago — photos celebrating a rare and singularly winning breed. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Champion Yorkie Wildweir Moon Rose. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Champion Wildweir Moon Rose of Glenview, Ill. proudly sits among some of her many trophies" Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "To keep the trailing hairdos long and impressive for any special occasions a Yorkie's fur is rolled up in wrappers and brushed out once a day. The head fur can be trimmed up around the face, rolled into a bun or left to droop." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  A Yorkie in curlers. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Proud Girl, 1963's top Yorkshire, is carried by Mrs. Leslie Gordon. Her head fur reaches to tip of her tail." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Yorkie with two puppies. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Tank, a 3-month-old-puppy from Westport, Conn., looks like a stuffed toy. At birth Yorkies weigh 2 ounces." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. "Feather, owned by Beryl Hesketh of Westport, Conn., goes for a swim. Like all terriers, Yorkies love to take a swim. They can be trained as hunting dogs, learning to point and even retrieve the smaller game birds like doves." Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Yorkie after a swim Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  A Yorkie jumping. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Running with a running Yorkie. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  A hunter with a Yorkie. Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3879059/yorkshire-terrier-a-small-dog-with-a-winning-personality/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3879059/yorkshire-terrier-a-small-dog-with-a-winning-personality/"},"headline":"A Breed Apart: Portraits of Yorkshire Terriers","datePublished":"2014-02-10T03:13:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:47:34.807Z","description":"As the 138th annual Westminster Dog Show gets underway in New York, LIFE presents photos celebrating a rare and singularly winning breed: The Yorkie.","url":"https://time.com/3879059/yorkshire-terrier-a-small-dog-with-a-winning-personality/","keywords":["animals","Newsfeed","Dogs","photography","1964","Nina Leen"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta99160a21efb92b9/69884b43a988ca5e4a6b208c/140206-yorkshire-terriers-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta99160a21efb92b9/69884b43a988ca5e4a6b208c/140206-yorkshire-terriers-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Yorkshire Terriers","caption":"Yorkshire Terriers","creditText":"Nina Leen—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3879059/yorkshire-terrier-a-small-dog-with-a-winning-personality/","name":"A Breed Apart: Portraits of Yorkshire Terriers"}}]}] ```