No offence to anyone but I always thought Yorkies look a bit silly with the long hair!! Kingsley looks really sweet, I never liked the look of yorkes 'till I saw a pic of him...

I think if it's to make the dog's life easier then definitely, as I posted somewhere else we used to clip parts of our cav's coat, especially the underbelly when he was a pup cos he used to get wee all over it!

HOWEVER, when it's going to make the dog's life more difficult or even make him suffer I don't agree. Before I got Archie (WFT) a few people told me it would be fine to clip him, I never heard anything about skin diseases until Olive told me (so glad I spoke to you before I decided how to groom Archie!). I'm happy to learn how to handstrip if it means having a happier, healthier dog

I am a leave it alone type, as it should be, unless there is a medical or significant reason for clipping it off. I cannot stand clipped dogs, especially when people think they are cooler in the summer! Clipping exposes undercoat leaving the dog at risk from chills etc.. I understand how many people must feel, and of course its entirely their choice. I do advocate paw trimming, think its essential in some breeds, particualrly Spaniels and such like, grass seeds are often found in this type of dog, so keeping them short and neat will benefit the dog.
Dawn.

Well perhaps if we had left them alone rather than bred dogs with coats for the show ring perhaps pet owners wouldn't need to clip them to let them have more comfortable lives ? I understand yorkies were originally bred as hunters I doubt the original yorkies had long coats like show dogs do - this is something we have done to them and to allow them to have happy comfortable lives outside the ring we need to do whatever we can to help them, and in my case that means clipping. Duncan was a rescue, when he came to me I would have rather his previous owners had clipped him than let him get into the matted state he was in.

I think as with most things dog it depends on the individual circumstances This is a clipped Schnauzer, she was 12 years old here and I would not dream of making an elderly dog with a bad heart stand for hours which is what it takes me to hand strip a dog to show standard. I think she looks smart and clean and tidy, also, as she spends a lot of time where it is very warm (70-80 degrees at work) and dogs thick coats were not designed for central heating, I am able to put a coat on her when it is very cold outside so she never feels too hot or cold.

She looks lovely Mini !

Thank you Julie she loves being clipped and bathed, and I thing she looks ok, also she is happy, clean and comfortable with the minimum of fuss and discomfort and to me that is the most important thing but as I said it differers for each dog and their individual curcumstances.

I was going to say that Mini, I wouldn't strip an old or frail dog, or any dog that had an objection to stripping, some dogs really do not like stripping and I would never put a dog through stress or discomfort. Thankfully Olive enjoys all the attention that goes along with stripping, however when she was very young she wasn't keen on me stripping her bum, so I scissored that area - now she doesn't care what or where I do. The one thing she would not let me do was use clippers on her, she got herself into a terrible state anytime they went near her .

We have made Duncan so happy to be clipped we just need to buzz them and he charges in and demands to be done - only becomes a problem when we are doing my husbands hair

A working yorkie would of course not have that length of coat... but then show yorkies only achieve that length by having their coat brushed out, oiled and kept wrapped up in 'crackers' most of the time. Let one in a full coat hare about for hours in the park every day and the coat will break off at a more natural length.

My fathers family had yorkies as workers for a long time, and the ancient photos of them show them to have a very similar coat to a show yorkie, just shorter and a bit harder.
They were also a bit bigger and a lot gamer back then though, some of todays yorkies would struggle with a mouse, never mind a rat!

Em

My uncle had an Old English Sheepdog (Dulux type) called Misty (absaloutley nuts) on his farm years ago (she wasnt a worker though just a pet). at times of the year At the time of year the sheep were sheared her coat used to get the once over too with the clippers (not in the same manner as the sheep mind). This was done becausewhen they were really busy the dog used to come out to work with them and would get absoloutley filthy each day after trudging around in the field, normally she would be bathed and combed each night but in lambing season or when your out from 5 in the morning till 12 at night it's not practical so I dont think it always fair to judge or say they shouldnt have that type of dog everybody is different and everybodys circumstances are different. Nobody has the right to say who should & shouldnt have a certain type of dog just cause they choose to do things a little different. IMO as long as the dog is treated well and kept fit, active and healthy with lots of love and affection I really dont care whethery they choose to have them pink, clipped, long or short lol.