Breed Information

“So how did this breed started?” In 1984, This breed began in Germany after two Yorkshire Terriers with recessive piebald genes were bred by the Biewer family. Both Gertrud and Werner Biewer were Yorkshire Terrier breeders, who raised and bred them for 20 years. They discovered the Biewer Terrier breed after noticing the recessive piebald gene their Yorkshire inherited. This breed is named after the Biewer family. In Germany, the Biewer Terrier breed fell in popularity by the year 2000, but still not very well known. Finally, In 2021, the AKC recognized the Biewer Terrier as a full, pure breed in the Toy Group.

“Do they shed?” “How big do they get?” The Biewer Terrier is considered hypoallergenic and fairly easy to groom, though if you let the coat grow long, you'll need to keep up with daily brushing. We like to say their fur is very much like human hair, their fur mostly only falls off if tangled up in a comb, just like when human combs their hair. The Biewer Terrier is a small breed size, basically comparable to the size of their forefather breed, the Yorkshire Terrier. Most biewers weigh in the range of four to eight pounds and for height, they range in height between seven to eleven inches full grown. Our dogs are 10 lbs and 6lbs.

“Why are some Biewer Terriers’s ears up and some are down?” When biewer puppies are born, their ears will be floppy or rest flat on their heads. As they grow older, their ears may begin to stand up or stay floppy. Typically, most breeders would tape ears, starting 4-6 weeks because most families want to see their puppy with erect ears. We recommend families to stay on top of keeping the puppies’ ears groomed short. It helps to keep the ears erect, if the fur grows long, the ears will most like fall over and becomes floppy. We will ask families if they would like us to tape their puppy’s ears or not. Taping ears or not, is the owner’s preference and we respect that. 

How long do they live for?” “What health problems they may get?” The life expectancy of the Biewer Yorkshire Terriers is in the range of 12 and 15 years. Since, the Biewers was bred from the Yorkshire Terriers, they share the same common health problems. Some of the most common health problems seen in this breed include patellar luxation, Legg-Calve-Perthes syndrome, portosystemic shunt, bladder stones, tracheal collapse and hypoglycaemia.  Fortunately, with daily exercise and healthy diets, these health conditions can be avoided. 

“What are their energy like?” This breed is well known to be friendly, energetic and playful, which are some of their most best qualities. The Biewer Terrier is a natural active breed that requires regular daily exercise to work off the excess energy. If a daily walk is not possible, some active playtime will usually fulfill the the need to burn off the extra energy, such as ball fetching. However, without enough exercise, this breed is most likely to develop behavioral problems such as digging and chewing. “Zoomies” in the evenings are very common for dogs that don’t get their daily exercise in. The technical term for Zoomies is called FRAPs - Frenetic Random Activity Periods. The zoomies are built-up energy in all dog breeds and ages and is normal for all. When dogs have Zoomies, they will often sprint around the room or yard, run quickly back and forth, and spin in circles. This random explosion of energetic behavior or “massive overdrive”, typically lasts no more than a few minutes. Most dogs would do this often after a bath, it can be very entertaining to watch! Overall, the Biewer Terrier breed is a very easygoing breed to enjoy and love!

“Are they easy to housetrain?” Biewer Yorkshire Terriers are very intelligent dogs that listens well to a firm and consistent training. Like many small breeds, the Biewers is prone to developing “small dog syndrome” if not properly trained. Without consistency in training, Biewer Terriers can be somewhat difficult to housebreak and they can be a little overprotective at times. As long as you train early and stay consistent, you should not have any issues training your puppy. When looking for our puppies’ forever homes, We look for families that are willing to have the time, effort and patience to train our puppies. It can take 4-6months to train your puppy to go outside for bathroom breaks. Our dogs are fully housetrained and goes outside for their bathroom breaks. We don’t train them with puppy pads indoors, as we believe it may confuses them. Our dogs don’t mind going outside when it is cold, especially here, during Alberta winter seasons.