But in the late 1860s, a popular Paisley-type Yorkshire Terrier show dog named Huddersfield Ben, owned by a woman living in Yorkshire, Mary Ann Foster, was seen at dog shows throughout Great Britain, and defined the breed type for the Yorkshire Terrier. In the early days of the breed, 'almost anything in the shape of a Terrier having a long coat with blue on the body and fawn or silver coloured head and legs, with tail docked and ears trimmed, was received and admired as a Yorkshire Terrier'. Hugh Dalziel, writing in 1878, says that 'the classification of these dogs at shows and in the Kennel Club Stud Book is confusing and absurd' in lumping together these different types. 'They were all originally bred from Scotch Terriers (meaning dogs from Scotland, not today's Scottish Terrier) and shown as such the name Yorkshire Terrier was given to them on account of their being improved so much in Yorkshire.' Yorkshire Terriers were shown in a dog show category (class) at the time called 'Rough and Broken-coated, Broken-haired Scotch and Yorkshire Terriers'. Some authorities believed that the Maltese was used as well. The Paisley Terrier, a smaller version of the Skye Terrier that was bred for a beautiful long silky coat, also figured into the early dogs.

The breed comes from two distinct dogs, a male named Old Crab, a female named Kitty, and another female whose name is not known. Foster is quoted as saying in 1886, 'If we consider that the mill operatives who originated the breed were nearly all ignorant men, unaccustomed to imparting information for public use, we may see some reason why reliable facts have not been easily attained.' Breeding of the Yorkshire terrier was 'principally accomplished by the people-mostly operatives in cotton and woollen mills-in the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire.' In the 1800s, miners wanting to develop a ratting terrier, bred Black-and-Tan Terriers with the Paisley and Clydesdale Terriers. In the mid-19th century, workers from Scotland came to Yorkshire in search of work and brought with them several varieties of terrier. The Yorkshire Terrier originated in Yorkshire.

A painting from the 19th century depicting a Yorkshire-like terrier by Ernest Gustave Girardot

Silverback yorkie